Why I wrote a 350-page free ebook that goes against everything Silicon Valley teaches about startups.

The consulting-first model that works for the 99.95% of founders who will never raise VC - and why the traditional advice is poisoning young entrepreneurs.
The brutal reality nobody talks about:

• Only 0.05% of startups ever raise VC funding (5 out of 10,000)
• Yet 100% of startup advice assumes you will raise millions
• 3 out of 4 VC-backed startups never return cash to investors
• 75% of US VC money goes to just 3 cities: SF, NYC, Boston

My personal wake-up call:

• Spent 6 years following YC playbooks, reading Zero to One, trying to raise capital
• Applied to YC twice, got interviews both times, rejected after
• Sat in Waterloo dorm room as 19-year-old immigrant with zero connections
• VCs told me: "Come back with more traction" or "Move to SF"
• Realized I was reading a Ferrari manual while riding a bicycle

The lie I bought into for years:

• Thought raising capital was THE path to startup success
• Believed I wasn't good enough when I couldn't raise
• Tried to optimize for VC metrics instead of customer problems
• Almost went bankrupt following Silicon Valley's "build first, charge later" advice

Chapter 1: Why most founders fail (and why you think it's your fault):

• The 0.05% lie - all resources written for the 0.05% who raise VC
• The geographical trap - if you're not in SF/NYC/Boston, you're fighting for scraps
• The assumption trap - books assume you have Stanford degree, $2M to burn, US visa
• System isn't broken - it just wasn't designed for 99.95% of us

Chapter 4: The revenue lie - why "build product first" almost killed my company:

• Started SimpleDirect charging $29/month thinking it was "smart positioning"
• Had 20 customers = $600 MRR but costing $2,000/month to support them
• Paid sales team thousands monthly to close $29/month deals (insane math)
• Customer told me he pays $12,000/month for Google Ads consulting
• Switched to $2,000/month consulting model - 5 customers = $10,000 MRR
• Cost to deliver: $3,000/month = $7,000 profit vs. losing money before

The consulting-first model that actually works:

• Start with value proposition, get paid through consulting while learning problems
• Validate with real money instead of surveys
• Build product AFTER understanding customer needs from paid consulting
• Revenue first, product second - build from position of strength
• Don't need to quit your job to start (friends at Apple/Google can build too)

Why customers pay 67x more for consulting vs. product:

• Accountability - they want someone on the line if things go wrong
• Personalized onboarding and handholding vs. self-service software
• Service model beats product model for early-stage validation
• Customers make rational decisions based on projected value created

Chapter 11: The 30-year mindset - building for decades, not exits:

• Traditional VC path: build fast, scale aggressively, exit in 5-7 years, start over
• Most founders who exit get scraps after liquidation preferences
• Starting over in your 40s after "successful" exit - loss of purpose
• My model: Berkshire Hathaway for tech - own 100%, never sell, compound forever
• Stack profitable businesses, reinvest profits into more businesses

Why the VC game isn't designed for most of us:

• VCs optimize for their outcomes (1-2% management fees), not yours
• They need exits in 5-7 years for their fund structure
• Their advice is written for their benefit and the 0.05% who can play
• Nothing wrong with VCs - their game just isn't YOUR game

The book details:

• 13 chapters, 350 pages (currently Google Doc draft v0.0.3)
• Completely free, always will be free
• Real stories, real numbers, real mistakes so you don't have to make them
• Comments open for community feedback and collaboration
• Final version launching in 1-2 months as PDF and audiobook

Three chapters that will change how you build:

1. Why most founders fail and why you think it's your fault (the 0.05% lie)
2. The revenue lie - why "build first, charge later" is poison for bootstrappers
3. The 30-year mindset - ownership beats valuation every single time

Who this book is for:

• The 99.95% who will never raise VC
• Bootstrap founders and consulting-first builders
• Founders in Toronto, Arkansas, Oregon - anywhere but SF
• Freedom-over-growth founders who want to own 100%
• College students who deserve truth before wasting 6 years like I did

Red flags you've been poisoned by Silicon Valley advice: Thinking you need to quit your job to start, believing raising capital = validation, optimizing for VC metrics instead of customer problems, assuming you're not good enough because you can't raise.

Bottom line: The startup advice industrial complex is fundamentally broken. It's making people afraid to start companies while pretending that everyone will raise VC when 99.95% never will. This book is the antidote - the consulting-first playbook for building profitable, owned, compounding businesses you never have to exit.

Read the draft (Google Doc with comments open):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/114epRAQ34iNeI2QYjTf88V6p82GxchRTz-3pvcIalQY/edit?usp=sharing

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Email: [email protected]