I swear to god, competing with VC backed firms drives me nuts. None of you guys are ever going to cover your overhead, ever. But a couple of you are going to get rich shoveling bullshit, and I’m just going to be stuck running a business.

totally agree with this.

Then don't compete with them. Target a new area that isn't being addressed by a VC backed company. Even VC backed companies feel the same way that you do when they have to go up against the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and other large companies; they might come across as confident but most VC backed founders are terrified that a large company will crush them. This is why we see that most of the successful VC backed companies have not gone against large incumbents, but rather addressed new markets.

For instance, AirBnB addressed an area that was not being targeted by any major company; same with Dropbox, since they offered syncing across devices and Microsoft, Google, and Apple did not want to play nice with one another, which left the situation open for an independent company to make file sharing between those services easier.

Anyways, my point is that if the game is rigged, then play another game. You don't have to go up against Goliath.

I'm sick of VCs investing in bullshit ideas because they are investing in their buddy's company or doing it for political cover.