What do these startups need so much money for?
staunch: For a VC backed startup that's at 15-25 employees with a successful product I can make up some numbers that aren't totally unrealistic:Advertising: $30k/moPR firm: $10k/moRent: $12k/moSalaries: $100k/moServers/bandwidth: $20k/moThat's a $2 million/year run rate and I don't think this is even particularly on the high side and doesn't include upfront investments in servers, desktops, furniture, software, etc. I'm leaving out lots of stuff, really.Taking VC means you're aiming high. Spending $2 million/year to take a shot at becoming a huge business is not that extravagant.