If you take venture capital money...
1) You increase the chances that you may not be CEO of your own company one day--and that also might be the best thing for its long term success.
2) You are signing up to sell the company one day--to another company or to the public market, but definitely to someone.
3) You will almost certainly take more venture capital money after that.
4) You will almost certainly go cashflow negative, increasing the risk that your company will fail.
5) You now have the responsibility to report the progress of the company to others--and to consider their opinions and feedback.
6) You have prioritized growth and your company will be bigger next year than it is now.
7) Some of the people working for and with you now will not be suitable for a growth phase and will have to leave.
8) There are smaller exit opportunities you will not be able to take because your capital structure makes them financially unattractive.
9) You will own less and less of your company over time as you take on additional investment.
10) You will face more competition as venture investment signals that what you're doing may be attractive.