Business Week: Why Less Is More for Startups

By Vivek Wadhwa

If I only had another few million dollars to spend on…

That's the refrain I grew accustomed to rattling off when I was getting my tech startups off the ground. I now hear it with increasing frequency from nervous entrepreneurs who can't find capital and want my thoughts on what to do. I always respond with the same three-word phrase: Less is more.

Yes; it's a cliché. But it's the best piece of survival advice for young companies, bar none. When a company is running on a tight budget, it will perform far better than a company that has gotten a chunk of cash from VCs. While this seems like common sense, it's actually news to many entrepreneurs (and aspiring entrepreneurs) who learned that raising venture capital is essential for high-growth companies.

Seasoned Pros Want Perks
A growing body of research implies that the correlation between raising money and success of startups has been exaggerated. In a study released this month of 79 tech companies funded over a 10-year period, David Townsend, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at North Carolina State University, along with a co-author, professor Lowell Busenitz at the University of Oklahoma, found that a venture's success isn't necessarily dependent on funding. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, undercapitalization is not a death sentence. We found that moderate levels of undercapitalization—even capitalization ratios as low as 20% of the venture's initial goals—are not statistically related to a venture's probability of surviving. What appears likely to matter more for these ventures is the creative transformation and use of resources at hand and a disciplined approach to cash management," says Townsend. (more)