3 ms·

Isnt a "lifestyle" business a business to support the lifestyle of the founder? IE money is not typically a problem, either the company is profitable or the fou

by ian0 8y ago

Isnt a "lifestyle" business a business to support the lifestyle of the founder? IE money is not typically a problem, either the company is profitable or the founder will support it loss making. The main function of the company is to keep the founder entertained more than anything else. There are a lot of companies like this (big & small), though sometimes its not recognisable from the outside. Note the goal is still ostensibly to make money. You don't run a business when you could have retired if you don't love growing businesses. I cant imagine a founder turning down an offer to expand rapidly, if it made sense. They just tend to avoiding going all in on a particular bet and for obvious reasons don't like ceeding control to outside investors.

pandapower2 8y ago
>Isnt a "lifestyle" business a business to support the lifestyle of the founder? IE money is not typically a problem, either the company is profitable or the founder will support it loss making. The main function of the company is to keep the founder entertained more than anything else. I don't think I've heard the phrase lifestyle business used that way. I'm not in the US let alone silicon valley so that might be relevant. Rather I've heard lifestyle business used to describe a business, typically with zero to half a dozen employees, which the founder can run without putting in a whole bunch of time. A real but deliberately vague example. A company that acts as an authorized dealer for a manufacturer. The sales company handles the sales process and takes orders through a website supplemented with phone calls. Actually shipping the merchandise and handling after sales customer support is done by the manufacturer. Why they don't want to do their own sales I don't know. Staffing requirements are one person to answer any phone calls and someone to do the books. Owner's required time is maybe a few hours a day. Commissions on sales cover all the bills etc and let the owner pay themselves handsomely but it will never be a giant enterprise.

by ian0 8y ago

pandapower2 8y ago

>Isnt a "lifestyle" business a business to support the lifestyle of the founder? IE money is not typically a problem, either the company is profitable or the founder will support it loss making. The main function of the company is to keep the founder entertained more than anything else. I don't think I've heard the phrase lifestyle business used that way. I'm not in the US let alone silicon valley so that might be relevant. Rather I've heard lifestyle business used to describe a business, typically with zero to half a dozen employees, which the founder can run without putting in a whole bunch of time. A real but deliberately vague example. A company that acts as an authorized dealer for a manufacturer. The sales company handles the sales process and takes orders through a website supplemented with phone calls. Actually shipping the merchandise and handling after sales customer support is done by the manufacturer. Why they don't want to do their own sales I don't know. Staffing requirements are one person to answer any phone calls and someone to do the books. Owner's required time is maybe a few hours a day. Commissions on sales cover all the bills etc and let the owner pay themselves handsomely but it will never be a giant enterprise.