“No Venture Capital Needed, or Wanted”

No Venture Capital Needed, or Wanted – The New York Times.

The business world is filled with starry-eyed entrepreneurs who hope that the blessings of angel investors and venture capitalists will transform their start-up dreams into companies with billion-dollar valuations. But some successful start-ups have been bucking the trend by growing and expanding without taking a dime from major outside equity investors.

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Mr. Walsh of the Small Business Administration said it was rare that a company went public without at least some outside equity holders. “I don’t remember seeing a company going public on the Nasdaq in the last 20 years who arrived at the I.P.O. with only management owning the company,” he said. “It’s almost a rite of passage.”