Well, it's not saying it's literally a mortgage-- more that it's yet another area that is often associated with people spending beyond their means.
Ideally, I think founders should skip the VC if they can grow/sustain things themselves or at least think hard about taking the loss of equity. Not every business model can make that work, though.
And, of course, not all companies want to go IPO, though I can understand that desire for a lot of people.
It very much depends on the competitors out there. VC capital can work like an arms race, if your competitor takes an infusion of capital and you do not then two things can happen:
- they manage to buy themselves the top spot leaving you in the dust
- they lose focus and think that because of the capital infusion that they sky is the limit and start doing stupid stuff.
In the second case you clearly are the winner, otherwise you have a real problem.
Ideally, I think founders should skip the VC if they can grow/sustain things themselves or at least think hard about taking the loss of equity. Not every business model can make that work, though.
And, of course, not all companies want to go IPO, though I can understand that desire for a lot of people.