The best part? Every penny of that $11M ARR is yours to spend however you wish. Nobody's going to question you if you take your company's money and spend it on a private helicopter or a summer beach home in Cyprus (all easily affordable for $11M). If you had accepted even a tiny pre-seed investment, you wouldn't have that freedom - the company's money is not yours, and although you could live comfortably on executive salary, bonuses, and stock sales, you can't avoid scrutiny until you've sold the company or IPO'ed.
The second best part about bootstrapping (specifically: solo bootstrapping)? The immense satisfaction of eating from the work of my own hands. I finally launched my side project last month, and it's making enough to pay for rent and food. I have no other source of income or savings, and the feeling is fantastic -- even though the amount I am earning right now is tiny, far less than what I earned as a private consultant or employee of a VC-backed firm before. I wouldn't trade this feeling of satisfaction for any other job in the world. The freedom of 100% ownership: earning, managing, and spending every dollar without having to answer to anyone is priceless.
Taking VC money is just a glorified type of employment with lottery returns.
The first one is only true for a solo founder. Given that they said "we", the company's money is still the company's money.
Also, it's not clear to me that avoiding accountability is really a plus for a startup. Basically the first thing I did when I was exploring a solo founder/bootstrapped thing was to hire a startup-focused coach to serve as an accountability partner.
He's brilliant, and he started Bootstrappers Breakfast, so he's very comfortable with bootstrapping and solo founders. He asked so many good questions.
In the US context, of the company is an LLC then you can't just spend its money like it's yours without "piercing the veil" and jeopardizing your LLC status.
But point taken! You don't have to answer to VC whose interests don't necessarily align with yours.
Shameless related plug: I run https://www.trypaper.io/ which helps SaaS companies find non-dilutive and non-VC funding. Bootstrap doesn't need to mean "no outside capital". There are capital sources out there that align with what most bootstrappers value (e.g. retaining control of their company, calm growth, etc.).
The second best part about bootstrapping (specifically: solo bootstrapping)? The immense satisfaction of eating from the work of my own hands. I finally launched my side project last month, and it's making enough to pay for rent and food. I have no other source of income or savings, and the feeling is fantastic -- even though the amount I am earning right now is tiny, far less than what I earned as a private consultant or employee of a VC-backed firm before. I wouldn't trade this feeling of satisfaction for any other job in the world. The freedom of 100% ownership: earning, managing, and spending every dollar without having to answer to anyone is priceless.
Taking VC money is just a glorified type of employment with lottery returns.