Founder Who Refused VC Funding Forced to Eat Lunch at Regular Restaurant
After refusing VC funding, a Singapore startup founder faces the unthinkable... eating at Subway like a regular person.
SINGAPORE — 29-year-old founder Darren Lim was spotted eating lunch at a regular, non-concept, non-pop-up restaurant on Tuesday, after refusing to take venture capital funding for his SaaS logistics startup.
Eyewitnesses confirm Lim was seated alone at a Subway outlet in Tanjong Pagar, quietly unwrapping a six-inch meatball marinara on wheat.
“Bro, I thought his round closed already,” said one acquaintance, who declined to be named because he is still fundraising. “Then I saw him holding a paper cup with… fountain drink. No cold brew, no adaptogens. Just… Coke. That’s when I knew something had gone wrong.”
According to sources close to Lim, he recently made the controversial decision to bootstrap his company instead of raising a $3–5 million seed round led by a well-known regional fund, citing a desire to “remain independent” and “build a real business.”
As a result, he now finds himself living outside the startup elite bubble. Once a rising star on LinkedIn, Lim now relies on tap water, recycled coffee filters, and homemade tempeh for sustenance.
“Since he refused funding, the man hasn’t even seen an acai bowl,” said Sarah Loke, community manager at SeedHub. “Last I checked, he was drinking kopi peng from Lau Pa Sat like it was 2003. We had to revoke his co-working space access. He started bringing Tupperware.”
While Lim’s business has started to stabilize financially, the social cost has been severe. He reports a significant drop in invitations to founder brunches, panel discussions, and “fireside chats” where no actual fire is seen and no actual chat is remembered.
“I got removed from a WhatsApp group named ‘Future Unicorns of SG’ after I mentioned we were profitable,” Lim said. “Someone replied, ‘This group is for serious founders only.’”
Industry observers confirm that bootstrapped founders are often excluded from mainstream startup events due to their “low virality” and “unhelpful example.”
“If Darren’s story gets out, we’ll have founders thinking they don’t need to give up 30% of their company just to afford salad,” warned the anonymous VC partner. “Imagine if it becomes normal to have lunch at Hawker centres. Our entire aesthetic collapses.”
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