Let's assume a few things: 1) The base valuation is high enough to be significant. 2) It's not a passion project. 3) I have other ideas. 4) The IP stays

Let's assume a few things: 1) The base valuation is high enough to be significant. 2) It's not a passion project. 3) I have other ideas. 4) The IP stays with the company. 5) The employees get taken care of. As long as 1, 2 and 3 are true, it's worth getting the money to start the next thing. I include #4 because it's kind of a copout to assume you can start over with a forked code base. Then it's not a real choice. #5 is included because what goes around comes around. If the founder takes the money and runs, but everyone else gets screwed, it'll be much harder to start the next business. #2 and #3 are really the critical pieces. It's the difference between "This is special" and "This is one idea of many." Microsoft, Google and Facebook all would've answered "No" to a similar question. In all 3 cases it was the founder's first company, so they weren't playing with the House's money. Very good question!