Nobody is entitled to venture capital. Plenty of people start companies without it.
From a founder view, we shouldn't be carrying the weight of the effective cost of the fact that the VCs can't pick companies worth a damn and want to make it up on us, if we happen to be good.
Nobody is entitled to venture capital, and starting a company without it is a good idea.
And VCs are not entitled to more equity & control than makes economic sense for the founders. That's what I'm opposing, but I don't think you disagree.
People don't sell equity to VCs because they've been snake-charmed by them. They do it because if you need 2MM+ for your company, they're the only realistic option. Ever talk to a bank about a line of credit against receivables? That's a fun conversation.
The reality is, VCs are herd animals, and when the herd is spooked they make a lot of stupid decisions.
I've seen this more than once-- a later company was forced to sell for $10M, by the VCs, during another "oh the money spigot might be turning off!"
It is not an orthogonal concern-- how was I to know the VCs were going to screw us over? The return would have been dramatically better if that hadn't happened.
So the lesson learned is-- the right company to work for is one where the founders either don't take VC money or are very distrustful of VCs and only take it on favorable terms.