<i>He was extremely clear that anything less than a multibillion dollar IPO was a pathetic failure, and he’d resign before he’d let such an abomination happen. So his startup is not actually for sale.</i><p>An IPO is essentially a partial sale. But, really, if someone came and offered him $30bn right now, would he sell? If so, it's for sale (and, yep, there are certainly people who <i>would never sell certain things at any price</i> so it's not just an academic exercise).<p>There's an old joke along these lines:<p>"If I gave you a million dollars, would you sleep with me?" .. "A million dollars is a lot of money, and you don’t look that bad, so I guess I would consider it." .. "Ok, since I don’t have a million dollars, would you sleep with me for $100?" .. "What kind of woman/guy do you think I am?!" .. "We’ve already established the answer to that question. Now we’re just negotiating the price."
Some things are not be for sale. I own a replica of Jackie Robinson’s Kansas City Monarchs Negro League Jersey. I wear it to baseball games (where else?)<p>I once was offered $100, cash for the jersey at a Blue Jays game. I said “no.” The offer was raised to $200. Again, no. I explained it wasn’t for sale. The fellow offering me the money explained that “everything was for sale.”<p>I find such people manipulative. They have money, so they try to twist the rest of the world to play by their rules. I told him that it would take me four hours to earn $200, so it was worth four hours to me, right? He agreed.<p>I told him he could have the jersey if he worked for me for four hours. End of conversation right there.<p><a href="http://raganwald.posterous.com/this-jersey-is-not-for-sale" rel="nofollow">http://raganwald.posterous.com/this-jersey-is-not-for-sale</a><p>This may or may not apply to your dream startup.
> <i>"Not everyone thinks about their company this way. I have a good friend who is running a very successful startup with a fantastic future ahead. He told me – and I quite believe him – that he would sell the company for a billion dollars over his dead body."</i><p>I don't think this friend is really different from Eric. Both companies are for sale, just at different price points. A startup that <i>isn't</i> for sale is one where you'd have to physically threaten the founder to acquire it.<p>Of course, the number of founders that have breathlessly pitched me their company that will be "a multi-billion dollar business in 5 years" are uncountable. So I'd argue Eric has a more pragmatic and realistic view of his possible outcomes.
I've had a lot of recent discussions about this. My Dad always says one of the worst decisions he made when he was running his first company was not to sell it. The price was right, but he could see was the turnover and the potential to earn more later. Little did he know the 90's recession was just around the corner.<p>I often wonder what I'd do now if faced with a similar situation.
I think this article applies directly to people who have not sold a company before, or "reached the shore".<p>Talk to some guys who have sold a company for more than 10 million and are now working on their next one. In some cases its about the cash, but mostly its because they love doing what they do.
The morale is that everything is for sale. Of course you would not sell a person, a pet, or something you LOVE - and some people are passionate about their startup but the bottom line is that it is just a business. But the story does not say what happened next? Did the company receive an offer? Did some people leave because they heard a rumor and were afraid of their jobs or perhaps lost some passion for the startup?
From experience those who say they'll never sell at any price are often the ones that end up selling for peanuts.<p>Anyone can talk the talk, and since <i>that</i> movie saying you wont sell is the "tough guy quote of the day".