I agree that we shouldn't celebrate raising money. Unfortunately that is just a standout metric that many companies are still judged on and was added at the start of the article to give some credibility.
it wouldn't have been as catchy if the title was "here's a tactic that helped me start a company that became profitable and delivering value" ;)
Quite the opposite. It should be a badge of honor to do more with least funding, waste, capital, effort, etc. as possible. I'm convinced at this point that too much funding, especially to inexperienced ops scaling-hat wearing founders, is far, far more destructive than the focused struggle of slightly underfunded, hungry shops that are focused on delivering and not on the tired mythology of funding == success == exit.
OTOH, the campaign to get the last slot cost him only $0.01.
PS: Don't buy a Ferrari if you get funded, it's wiser to milk the poverty appearance card for all it's worth. (I know a guy that recent sold his startup to EMC for 8 digits that ran around with 3 missing hubcaps.)
it wouldn't have been as catchy if the title was "here's a tactic that helped me start a company that became profitable and delivering value" ;)