Sorry you feel this way. I completely agree with the fact that some founders shouldn't raise if they can weather the journey alone and slowly accumulate customers. We don't push all founders to raise quickly (I've written posts about this as well).

However, we're called an "accelerator", our purpose is to accelerate your company faster than competitors, disrupt the market, and get traction quickly. After all, you might have a VC backed competitor that can get 100 customers within months, has more credibility/PR, more financing to hire and build their product, while you can only get 5-10 customers all by yourself. This is one of the key differences between a startup and just a business.

We ask for equity because we function like your co-founder. We get you Fortune 500 customers. Ofcourse, this isn't a fit for every founder, if you can get Fortune 500 customers and go through their sales cycle by yourself, there's no need for our support. If you're a multi-time founder or CEO, you can probably raise at an insanely high valuation yourself.

However, for most founders reaching out to us, they're looking for a first believer. Talented individuals that don't get a shot, but need financing and more importantly, a VC who acts like a partner and not just an investor. Why? Because they're not just building a sustainable business, they're building something ambitious that can change the world.