new-venture success most often arrives in the shape of Plan B or Plan Z, not the Plan A that has been so lovingly articulated in the business plan.

Drawbacks continued: 3. Risk: The further you progress in developing your business, the lower the risk, as early uncertainties become more certain. Less risk translates into a higher valuation and a higher stake for the founding team. 4. Baggage: The terms and conditions attached to institutional capital are (for good reason) onerous, as investors seek to protect themselves from downside risk. The further along the path, the less onerous the baggage. 3. Difficulty: raising capital, even in the best of times for the best aventures, is a difficult task! Why make it even harder by trying to do it too early? 

there are significant drawbacks to raising capital too early: 1. A distraction: Raising capital often requires full-time concentration, but so does starting an entrepreneurial business. One or the other will suffer when investment capital is sought. Why not raise money later when the business is less fragile? 2. Pitching vs. proving merit: Nascent entrepreneurial ideas, however promising, always raise numerous questions. Proving the merit of your idea (to yourself and to others), based on accumulated evidence and customer traction, is much more convincing than using your own wisdom and charm to pitch its merit.

• Finally, there's freedom! Gaining one's freedom is high on every entrepreneur's priority list, and the best source of freedom- even better than cash in the bank-is positive cash flow! And with the magic of customer traction and the cash flow it brings, you'll sleep better, too!