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Why This Founder Said NO to Easy VC Money

Published 3 months ago • 2 min read

Why This Founder Said NO to Easy VC Money

Matt Gira

July 24th, 2025

This week's deep dive is a fun one for me.

This company was being built while I worked with this guy on a daily basis. We were working on my last startup together and on the side, he worked on this venture.

Ironically, his venture was the successful one.

This deep dive is jampacked. Reply and let me know what you think :)

In 2020, raising money was easier than ever before, and yet, Bryce Kaiser and his wife Lauren did something that was a bit crazy.

They said no to all of it.

While everyone was raising money because it was "free money" during the COVID boom, the HoomHouse founders deliberately chose to stay bootstrapped.

Then on top of that, they walked away from maybe the hottest market in the entire world at the time: telehealth.

And instead they just doubled down on one simple growth strategy.

Three years later it all worked out. They sold the company on their own terms.

In this deep dive I break down with Bryce, his simple approach to building a marketplace business, why saying no to VCs was actually the smartest move they ever made, and the surprisingly simple approach that made their exit possible.

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Loved this step-by-step guide by Michele Kasl for landing large clients. Messaging is such a big deal when it comes to landing the right clients and Michele's guide does a great job framing it all. Give it a look!

​Instagram is getting more search-friendly​

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Matt Gira

Connect with me on LinkedIn!

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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Matthew Gira

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