"... I am constantly amazed how often people equate VC investment to a loss of control... If you've got good VCs (they exist) and good leverage (because you had some traction before you raised money), your VC has very little power to submarine your business (by design or by negligence). Exactly how does a VC reduce your chances? ..."
Because hackers are by definition optimists and Venture Capital + successful Startups "can" be risky. A counter view can be read in "Founders at Work" Livingston, Ch24 Phil Greenspun and here ~ http://philip.greenspun.com/business/startup-tips/ and http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/
Lack of control is a subset of risk.