When you are selling an open source project, what outcome do you expect? People who are interested in the project non-financially will demonstrate their value i

When you are selling an open source project, what outcome do you expect? People who are interested in the project non-financially will demonstrate their value in other ways (PRs, reviews, docs, etc) leading to the more common succession of maintainers without exchanging money. I don't think it's reasonable for software authors, who take the route of giving their projects to buyers rather than top contributors, to act surprised when the consequences roll in.