I see lots of start-ups that are raising money. And I see lots of start-ups with the ability to raise money from angel and strategic capital sources and avoid the professional VCs. I've been on both sides of the table, as a VC and as an entrepreneur, 
so I don't think I wear either rose-colored glasses or turd-colored glasses when it comes to the non-monetary value that professional VCs bring to a start-up....sometimes they are incredibly valuable, sometimes they are incredibly detrimental.
You can't really generalize because its so dependent on the individual personalities involved on both the management side and the VC side.
But one thing you can generalize on is that professional VCs have a different perspective on growing a company than does management. It comes because professional VCs are getting paid to manage other people's money in the venture asset class using a fund-based economic structure. Lots of important concepts stem from that seemingly simple statement, but that is subject matter for another time.
The point of this post is that growing a venture-backable high-growth company without professional VCs in it, is like a child being raised by a single parent. Yes, sometimes kids are better off without their 
biological father or mother in their lives, but in general kids are best served by having both the "male-influence" and the "female-influence" really engaged in their lives as they grow into adulthood. No doubt that many happy, healthy and high-performing individuals have come out of single-parent homes, just like many high-performing companies have been built without the "VC-influence". But if you can raise money from VCs, and are consciously choosing not to, just be aware of the perspective that your company is foresaking.
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