Raising $100M vs earning $1

Them startup founders: We’re happy to announce we just raised $100M for our startup!

Us indie hackers: Look mom, I earned $1 from the internet!

We’re not built the same.

Here’s a totally biased take on why that $1 is better for most of us:

• That $100M isn’t even yours to take home. It’s mostly for hiring 10x developers, buying ads on Google and Facebook, and the remaining for a cool office. Most of them earn nothing for years, all in hopes for an asymmetric payoff (if it even does). That $1 is all yours to keep (of course, not accounting for taxes yet).
• That $100M comes with lots of strings attached. Too many, including giving away your first-born. That $1? Only what was promised in the sale.
• You just got yourself a boss (your VC funder) with that $100M. I stay being a boss with that $1.
• The more you raise the more you lose freedom. The more you earn the more you gain freedom.
• Getting that $100M means you signed up to work as a slave with zero work-life balance for the next 5 to 10 years. Earning that $1 means you are getting towards better time freedom and balance within the next 5-10 years.
• Being happy with $1 keeps me grounded and real. Drinking the tech startup Koolaid of changing the world, going big or going home, makes me lose sight of reality.

What other reasons are there to go for that $1?