Greg Isenberg: VC funding works for less than 1% of companies. Here’s the actual math.

Most people treat "not VC-backed" as a consolation prize. Greg Isenberg and Derek Andersen (Startup Grind) make the actual case for why that's backwards.

The real numbers: venture funding works for less than 1% of companies created. Of the companies VCs do back, only a small fraction ever return the capital — the model is built around that outcome, not despite it.

Derek gets specific about what that looks like from the inside: six engineers at $100K each against $300K in recurring revenue. $600K in cost, $300K coming in. He calls it a "golden anchor" — something that looked like success and nearly sank the company.

The reframe: if the model only works for a tiny fraction of builders, it was never supposed to be the default for most people building something real. A leaner team, sized to the actual problem, was always the more correct model — AI just made it more viable than ever to run that way.

Full episode is worth the watch if this lands.

Clip credit: Divot (Derek Andersen) & Greg Isenberg — full episode on their channel. DM for credit or removal requests.