Taking VC money when your company is already successful makes a huge difference. If you already have a decent valuation, you can raise money while keeping a majority stake.
The difference is:
* Taking VC money from day 1 and have a founder with a 10% stake
* Taking VC money when the company is already successful and highly valuated, so it can raises millions while the founder retains 70% of the capital
That's day and night. In the first case the VCs decide, and they can fire the founder if they don't like it.
In the second case, the founder controls the company and can tell the VC "thank you for your advice but I'm doing it my way" during board meetings.
But ... Their talk and brand and story is "doing it our way, in Chicago, away from all that Silicon Valley VC nonsense"
I'm not disagreeing with their choices (if Bezos offers to in est you say yes) but it does rather dim their core story.
That's fine - this is all part and parcel of HN - the real "how we got there" is always more educational for those following than the story told afterwards
The difference is:
* Taking VC money from day 1 and have a founder with a 10% stake
* Taking VC money when the company is already successful and highly valuated, so it can raises millions while the founder retains 70% of the capital
That's day and night. In the first case the VCs decide, and they can fire the founder if they don't like it.
In the second case, the founder controls the company and can tell the VC "thank you for your advice but I'm doing it my way" during board meetings.