Are you sure you want to start a company? (A Letter to Y Combinator Applicants)

Fair enough, and I agree with that. I don't want to "build a company to flip," but if - in the process of building what I hope will be a billion dollar company - I get an early / unexpected chance to walk away with a nice chunk of bank; it would be hard to turn down. That's all I'm really getting at.

I sold my company for less than 20 million because I came from a middle class family, I had never had money, my parents were the epitome of middle class and I lived a modest life. The amount of money we settled on was enough for me to life for a very long time without significantly changing my lifestyle. It gave me a sense of security and a parachute in case I was to fall on hard times later.

Even at a young age I knew i was giving up alot of possible future profit for a short term payday, but that said i have never really regretted selling because it gave me the freedom to do anything I desired, as it turns out what i want to do and what I was already doing arent terribly far apart, but the projects I am working on now are EXACTLY what I want to do and will make money as time goes on but do not have to be rushed or turned into something they are not.

My current project I would not sell unless my percentage of the exit netted me over 250 million probably however I am a long way from that and just having fun right now.

Though for the most part I agree with the author of the original posts I just think people should consider that there are reasons why some people choose to exit for smaller amounts, some make perfect sense and others make very little however as long as the person selling is happy with the outcome who is to judge?

I also think a lot depends on how you're wired. I'm relentless & tireless when I believe in what I'm doing and good things tend to happen when I'm in that space. But I can't see myself getting there from a starting point built only on $$$.

An entrepreneur needs confidence, freedom, and opportunity. There needs to be a problem for him or her to solve, he or she must believe that it can be solved, and he or she needs the resources and freedom to do it. Then, he or she needs to be right on the solubility of the problem given available resources, and able to capture the value created (if he or she cares about being wealthy). That's all. It's not wizardry. It is something that few people have the freedom to do.

I think 20-year-olds' garage startups are very cool but overrated. People write about it because it's rare. The best time to start a business, for most people, I would put around age 35-50, when one is still young but has the experience to judge whether it will work, enough years to one's name that one can hire experienced people (no one wants a younger boss) and the connections to pull it off. (I'm 27, by the way; not an older person trying to justify himself.) Y Combinator gives the people in their 20s a bump by providing connections they'd otherwise never have, and that's an awesome service, but that's atypical for people of that age, and the prestige and contacts of YC, if not singular, are something most of its brethren don't have.

Also, I think it's very naive to believe anyone wouldn't "sell out" for $20 million personally. At $20 million, that lie school tells smart people about the world being their oyster becomes true. Ideas come and go, but being rich means you actually own your life instead of renting it from a series of employers (or, if you're lucky enough to be in a startup, VCs). The second-best thing about being rich is having the freedom not to work, but that (from what I've heard) is like a toy that gets boring after a few years. The actual best thing about being rich is having the freedom to work. (The shuffling around and taking orders from others, in an artificially stressful office environment, that most people do? Not really work. Real work improves the world and matters.) I can think of very few legal and ethical things (and some ethically acceptable but illegal ones) I would not do for $20 million; I'd have the confidence of knowing that I can do real work for the rest of my life. Seriously, I'd love to kill all of life's stupid anxieties and dedicate (most of) my existence to useful work.

Excessive greed is idiotic, like a mental illness. We'd call a guy with 300 cats insane, and not want kids around someone who has a different sexual partner every day, but someone who works 100 hours per week to chase inordinate amounts of money he doesn't need is lauded as a hero. That, I'll agree, is a pathology. On the other hand, moderate greed is (very unfortunately) a survival trait in this morally crippled, creatively desolate, fiercely individualistic world.

That said, though I want to be rich, it's mainly because of the positive things I could do for the world, not what I would take from it. I can't ever see why I would want a private jet. If I had the money, I'd rather invest it in something that can make others' lives better-- maglev transport, green energy-- than fly around in absurdly ridiculous comfort as opposed to the merely ridiculous comfort of international first class. Besides, I'll probably marry my current girlfriend-- she's quite awesome-- so I have no interest in the "party" culture or impressing women, and I'm too abrasive to have a shot in politics, so what exactly would I need to be a billionaire for?