I was just with a founder who owns 40% of his startup. He just turned down an offer for $500,000,000 to sell his startup to a public company. He is 33. I do not believe he has any life savings. I do not believe his parents have any savings, and he did not come from any money. He has never sold a share.
40% of $500,000,000 is just about $200,000,000.
Turning that down is nuts.
Why?
Because he must think those shares are worth at least $1b (5x) to risk-adjust.
And maybe, he’s just not done.
Also — he is a much better CEO than I was. I was a good founder, but not nearly as good as he is.
Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? What future do you see? We’re all different here.
Selling often is logical, the highest return on time, the best risk-reward return.
But once you sell, it’s not yours anymore. And once you sell, it’s on a different journey. If you’re OK with both … then sell. It makes so much more sense.
So if you look at the tweet above, and say, that’s who I want to be. And that even an IPO will be just the first 10 years of a 30+ year journey. And you’re OK for committing for decades to get there.
Then push on.
