As a scaling tech venture and business, it is very important to find funding that fits. One thing I find perplexing about the tech industry is when people deify venture capital and private equity. This is especially true with venture capital. For some reason, people think that venture capital is the best form of capital—the ideal thing to get. They’re constantly trying to get the attention of venture capitalists.

In reality, a venture capital firm is merely a middleman between the real money (the limited partners and investors in the fund), and they are merely dispensing that money. By nature, they have to take a very, very selective view of the investments they make. So, why as an industry are we entirely focused and fixated on how venture capital is doing?

I think this focus is misplaced because most companies need to focus on how they can get to cash. Obviously, revenue is the best money you can ever raise. Public capital markets are also quite attractive. Many business people fund their ventures themselves, use debt effectively and judiciously, or find other ways to fund their businesses. There are dozens and dozens of ways.

So, I encourage you to think about other ways to fund your business, especially in early-stage and scale-up phases, rather than relying solely on venture capital equity.