Stupid question, take the $1M, right? Well, I’m not talking about salary, I’m talking about capital to use in your business. And time is capital too.

Let’s say you’re doing a startup with 6 guys. Your burn rate is gonna be around $100K/month, give or take, depending on where you live, who you’ve hired, and if you were stupid enough to rent a copier or something. So figure $1M buys you another year of burn before you have to do something unexpected and amazing like earning money.

Thus, for our purposes, $1M is equal to a year without revenue pressure?

So, here your are, working on your project like MIT Beavers on Ritalin, and a djinn comes to you and offers you $1M extra or an extra year to get ready. (Yes, I know, this is a bit contrived, stick with me.)

Do you take the money and launch NOW or take the extra year?

I say the decision is easy. You take the money and launch now.

Look, if you’ve picked such a big topic that you discover that you need an extra year, you’ve probably made some horrid fundamental mistake and are gonna fail anyway. Best to get out while you’ve still got hair and a firm midsection.

I think every product worth doing should be pushed out the door as quickly as possible these days. And you can buy a lot of extended revision time with $1M since your revenue certainly won’t roll in as quickly and easily as you think it will.

I have one word for you to ponder: Valdocs.