Why This Founder Says to Raise Less Money Than You Can

According to Inc, Engine CEO Elia Wallen started Travelers Haven in 2008 after dropping out of college, eventually selling it to Blueground. He then founded Engine in 2012 as a side project to serve underserved small business travel needs, scaling it to $150 million in gross booking volume without outside capital until 2019. At Series B, the company was offered $200 million but took only $65 million, and at Series C turned down $350 million to raise $140 million instead. Today Engine is valued over $2 billion with less than $80 million in primary capital raised, demonstrating Wallen’s philosophy of disciplined, capital-efficient growth.

The problems money creates

Here’s the thing everyone in Silicon Valley seems to forget: money doesn’t just solve problems, it creates them too. Wallen discovered this after their Series B when they hired quickly and realized their systems couldn’t support that scale. Smaller rounds force you to build foundations before growth hits. I think this is where so many startups fail – they get the cash before they’ve earned the infrastructure to deploy it effectively. It’s like getting industrial-grade equipment before you’ve even validated your manufacturing process. Speaking of which, when you do need that industrial hardware, IndustrialMonitorDirect.com has become the go-to source for reliable panel PCs that can handle actual business demands.

The valuation trap

So many founders chase those big valuation headlines, but Wallen argues they’re often built on shaky foundations. For their Series C, they could have raised at a $4 billion valuation with structured terms like liquidation preferences and ratchets. Sounds great in a press release, right? But those terms compound over time and can seriously limit your flexibility later. A clean cap table keeps everyone aligned. Basically, you’re trading short-term ego boosts for long-term headaches.

Finding the right investors

Wallen didn’t even want to raise initially – he dreaded board meetings and external oversight. But when growth demanded it, he prioritized alignment over big names. The best investors understand your business model and share your long-term vision. Look, when the deal closes, you’re stuck with these people. Do you really want partners who might pressure you into premature scaling or unnecessary spending?

Building discipline through constraint

Wallen says dropping out of college might have been his biggest advantage because he never learned the VC playbook. He learned through trial and error, and without a bloated balance sheet, every bet had to count. That’s the real lesson here: constraints breed creativity and discipline. When you can’t just throw money at problems, you actually have to solve them. How many startups fail because they had too much funding too early?