Right now, I am going through the motions of co-founding a company with some friends of mine. We raised 50k for our first 6 months of existence. And I realized some things through this experience.
Previously, I was running my personal business as my personal business - trending towards stability, happiness, and ethicality. In a way, a "lifestyle business" - a term used condescendingly by VC. Fuck the people who use it like that (I don't have to worry about them hearing that because they ain't reading my blog anyway).
And, suddenly, when we raised and did our equity splits, something happened. My thinking changed, entirely. From "what makes me and the people around me happy" to "what makes us grow". My aversion to raising disappeared. This company does not represent me, it represents not-me, and this is freeing. While I own a substantial part of the company, I now owe it to my cofounders and investors to put the company interests first, rather than my own personal beliefs and interests.
Growth is fantastic because it encourages cooperative behavior rather than zero sum competition. Growing is just more fun. At the same time, the impersonality of business may lead to shitty decisions down the line. We'll see how this company goes.
Keoni Gandall