I thought is was similar to the "if you work for someone that started the company with his own money, you have an insane boss" -
The cynical angle: if you can get someone else to put up the cash, it seems a little foolish to put up your own, when the venture will probably fail anyhow, no? why not get paid either way?
Next, if all of your net worth is tied up in this one venture, well, that's going to effect your actions. Depending on your preferred outcome, for better or worse. I mean, all of my net worth is tied up in prgmr.com, and I think I've been slightly too conservative about accepting investors/partners. (I've turned down people that would have contributed serious technical ability as well as a little money, which may have been a mistake.)
And, of course, you have the emotional stress of losing your own money. (which varies by person. I've been poor before, I'll probably be poor again. It's not as scary to me as it probably is to some people. Personally, I find the idea of losing other people's money more stressful, so maybe there is just something wrong with me.)
The biggest downside to not taking money might be that there is nobody to make me slaughter my sacred cows. If I think X industry practice is wrong, well, there is nobody else to stop me from destroying the company by going against industry practice. (of course, the other side of that is that if you take money, it's very hard to do anything nonstandard, even when it would be good for the company. If you are doing it right, you know more about this sort of thing than your investors do.)
The cynical angle: if you can get someone else to put up the cash, it seems a little foolish to put up your own, when the venture will probably fail anyhow, no? why not get paid either way?
Next, if all of your net worth is tied up in this one venture, well, that's going to effect your actions. Depending on your preferred outcome, for better or worse. I mean, all of my net worth is tied up in prgmr.com, and I think I've been slightly too conservative about accepting investors/partners. (I've turned down people that would have contributed serious technical ability as well as a little money, which may have been a mistake.)
And, of course, you have the emotional stress of losing your own money. (which varies by person. I've been poor before, I'll probably be poor again. It's not as scary to me as it probably is to some people. Personally, I find the idea of losing other people's money more stressful, so maybe there is just something wrong with me.)
The biggest downside to not taking money might be that there is nobody to make me slaughter my sacred cows. If I think X industry practice is wrong, well, there is nobody else to stop me from destroying the company by going against industry practice. (of course, the other side of that is that if you take money, it's very hard to do anything nonstandard, even when it would be good for the company. If you are doing it right, you know more about this sort of thing than your investors do.)