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The debate is for people/companies who have a choice-- obviously you're right about the fact that there's no debate where there is no choice. Mint sold for $15

The debate is for people/companies who have a choice-- obviously you're right about the fact that there's no debate where there is no choice. Mint sold for $150m, but perhaps could've aimed bigger. Blogger sold pretty early-- perhaps they could've been/beaten WordPress. Google famously tried to sell for $1m to Excite. LOTS of companies who sell early have an opportunity to aim bigger. I think partial cash-out Series B rounds are a good development which allows founders to have their cake and eat it too. Aaron Patzer probably could've raised a big Series B, pocketed a few million for himself and retained a fairly massive chunk of ownership.

staunch 16y ago
The problem with the Mint example is that the acquisition price was really quite high. Patzer's personal stake was $40 million(!). That's in the same ballpark as he might make in an IPO 5 years later, after being diluted to hell. It's FU money 4-6 times over. I think cashing out a couple million only works when a) the founders are obsessed with the company's mission above all else b) the acquisition offer is small enough that VCs can give the founders ~20% of their would-be cash now.