Why the obsession with EXIT strategies?

Once an itch is scratched it turns into a scab. And new itches appear.<p>Seriously though, businesses change over time. Are people who are great at getting things going the right people to run them long term? In some cases yes, in others no. In my case I plan to be involved in one of my companies for a long time, but for another I am involved in we are building to exit.

Here's a Planet Money podcast on manufacturing (<a href="http://goo.gl/rEg8" rel="nofollow">http://goo.gl/rEg8</a>) in which you can hear how the world changed around a button maker, but he did not evolve to match the changes.<p>Also, in my unstudied opinion, the theory seems to go that those who are best at launching a new venture, are not necessarily the best to run it long term. These require different skill sets. To profit most from your entrepreneurial skill set means getting out once that skill is no longer required by your business.<p>And finally, in the recent (last two decades) business environment research has shown the most likely new companies to survive are those that are 'disruptive', one set of criteria is considered to be cheaper and poor quality - so as not to incite the competition to try it your way (forgive the lack of citation). The theory suggest that working towards sustainability (that is, not looking for an exit) is statistically a doomed strategy. Just like they say about stockbrokers though: past performance does not guarantee future results, so take that theory cautiously.

If investors are obsessed about it, entrepreneurs have to at least have an interest in exit strategies, and one picked out to placate their potential investors.<p>Don't take investor money if you want to work on one company for your entire career.

I understand all the reasons for the exits and I realize that proper exit strategies must be planned ahead of time. The reason I opened this thread was to ask whether the effort and popular obsession with exits is something that needs to be done/thought of prior to starting to work on the startups? Is proper exit strategy is a deal breaker for starting a company... I believe there might tons of reason for an exit once the startups becomes a sustainable business (as many of u pointed out)... But unless u are a investor or a seasonal entrepreneur is it something that u need to be obsessed with when planning your startup?!

The fact that the person that founded the company might not be the right person to run it after a certain period, I think it is a very valid point... Still, in my humble opinion I personally think that thinking or discussing the exit strategies before u actually found a company is a disservice to yourself.. sort of demonstrates that one is obsessed with the "desired" outcome and not so much with the opportunity to make something better, which makes the loyalty to the startup idea somewhat questionable.

If you're starting a business doing something you love <i>so much</i> that you'd be happy in it all your life... sure. Don't worry.<p>But it's rare that you'll have that kind of certainty. If you don't, it's best to have a plan to get out, so you can move on to your next fun. You can always change course and stay longer if you want.

Exit strategy is an element of startups designed to scale rather than those intended as hobbies or lifestyle businesses.<p>Startups which scale is what Ycombinator is looking for and therefore of interest to many HN readers.

Most people don't know what they really want, so they fixate on a huge payday.<p>Only a few people truly want the huge pay day.<p>You can tell whether they truly wanted it after they get it -- I've met a whole lot of long-in-the-face founders after their babies were sold.