That’s already an option? You can get small business loans, bootstrap, get grants etc that don’t require massive growth.

You can found or work for a company like this anytime you like. But the “leeches” the op mentions are a voluntary funding mechanism for a particular kind of company. If you found or work for one of those the trade off is clear.

You can’t have it both ways though. As an employee you can’t live off the largesse of investors as you build the business and then not expect them to want an elevated return on that risk.