3 ms·

I am not sure I follow your comment. For most startups, if I understand correctly, the founders get rich on a liquidity event - either the company getting sold

I am not sure I follow your comment. For most startups, if I understand correctly, the founders get rich on a liquidity event - either the company getting sold or IPO'ing. So eventually you are going to flip, if things go well, right? Or go public in the rare but usually better outcome. Anyway this is Andreessen's view. I work on a "smaller problem" right now. :)

swombat 15y ago
Absolutely not. There are many ways for a founder to get rich. Liquidity is just one of them. A pretty standard way is for the company to start issuing dividends. The founder is presumably a major shareholder, and so if a big dividend is issued, they'll get a big chunk of that. Obviously if you've raised VC, then that won't work - though angels will probably be more understanding. So, the conclusion is, liquidity events are only necessary if you've raised VC money. So don't raise VC money if you don't have to.