Inc. Magazine – September 2019

WHY DID YOU TURN DOWN VC?

“It was extremely

important to me

to maintain

control over

my business. I

waited until I hit

$20M in revenue

to sell equity.”

NO. 4,370ALISSA BAYER,

Milk + Honey

“When you take VC money,

you commit the business

to a certain performance

trajectory ... and if you

don’t meet those projec-

tions, you risk being fired

from your own company.”

NO. 2,453GREG BUCHHEISTER,

Coffeebar

STATE OF YOUR BUSINESS

Saying no to investors, yes to artificial intelligence, and never mind to bad advice:

When it comes to running a business, Inc. 5000 CEOs are nimble, dauntless,

and financially resourceful.

HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU USE TO START YOUR FIRST BUSINESS?

WHAT WERE YOUR SOURCES OF STARTUP CAPITAL?

PERSONAL

SAVINGS

CREDIT

CARDS

LOANS FROM

FAMILY/FRIENDS

BUSINESS

BANK LOANS

VENTURE

CAPITAL

A.I. REVOLUTION,

ALREADY IN

PROGRESS: THE

TECH YOU ARE USING

OR WILL SOON USE

AS A SUBSTITUTE

FOR HUMAN LABOR

HAVE YOU EVER TURNED DOWN

VC FUNDING?

“ ‘Don’t do it. You

wouldn’t be able to

handle the competi-

tion.’ But I did.”

NO. 778NANCY NIP ROUGUINE,

Team Adhoc

“You should bring in a

professional CEO.”

NO. 3,931MATT FRARY,

SmarterChaos.com

“Work more while your

kids are young—they

won’t ever remember you

never being there!”

NO. 1,542MIKE MCINELLY, Spring Dental

WHAT’S THE WORST ADVICE

YOU GOT FROM A MENTOR?

45% Less than $5,000

19% $10,000-$49,999

16% $100,000+

10% $50,000-$100,000

10% $5,000-$9,999

47%

Never been

offered/

sought out

41% Yes

12% No

74% 22% 20% 8% 4%

Artificial intelligence 57 %

Machine learning 41 %

Robotics 14 %

Drones 8 %

Virtual reality 7 %

OR JUST TALK VIRTUALLY TO

REAL PEOPLE: 54% of respon-

dents said they have workplace

policies to support remote

workers; only 18% were not open

to remote work.

WHAT’S YOUR

EXIT STRATEGY?

of respondents want to sell

to another company.

Other responses include:

Haven’t thought about it 20 %

Sell to investors 13 %

Sell to employees 11 %

Pass to family 10 %

IPO 4 %

WHO TAKES OVER WHEN

YOU RETIRE?

of respondents are trying to

establish a succession plan

I have a plan and

successor(s) 21 %

I have no succession plan^20 %

I’m not thinking about it 18 %

I have a plan but am still

deciding on my successor(s)^12 %

46% OF RESPONDENT

CEOS MAKE PERSONAL

FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS

IN OTHER STARTUPS

54% DO NOT