Being an infinite company is an idea that my friend, author Simon Sinek, has been discussing with me. Simon explained that a company’s purpose is to advance its

Being an infinite company is an idea that my friend, author Simon Sinek, has been discussing with me. Simon explained that a company’s purpose is to advance its vision, and since a vision is a mountaintop you never quite get to, you should have an infinite time horizon. But many companies are designed to be finite. Finite companies are focused on beating their competitors and appeasing short-term interests. But business is not finite. I love AirBnb and I hate being negative about Brian's post but I stopped reading there. Perhaps this is AirBnb's reality but it certainly isn't the reality for 99.999% of other companies, who aren't dwelling in unicorn land. Companies don't think finite because it's fun, but because they have to. Because there are bills and salaries to pay and shareholders to satisfy. Because there are people who expect a return on their investment in a finite time, because their lives are finite and because their kids will grow up a finite time before they enter college. Don't get me wrong, as a founder there's not much I despise more than short-term thinking, but if a strategy can't work within a time frame of, say, a couple years it's kinda worthless. It's hard enough to plan and predict 2 years into the future and god knows what's 5 years from today. Why be concerned with infinity?