Venture Money Is Expensive Money

Firewall with Bradley Tusk · Oct 27, 2026 · 39m

The quiet truth of venture capital is that it's not the optimal way for many new businesses to fund themselves. Bradley does the math on how bootstrapping can often be the wiser choice. "Venture funding is really great if you fail," he says, "because you don’t have to pay us back. But if you succeed, it’s really expensive." Plus, he previews this huge week in politics: Israel’s election, the noisy stretch run of the midterms and the big blue wave he sees coming, though he doesn't expect the winning party to do much with it. "Democrats," he predicts, "will run a hell of a kabuki show for the…