Of course already rich investors think you should risk it all so they can make their funds. Personally I think Techcrunch should be a bit conservative. Arrington was making millions a year by himself in almost pure profit. There's no obvious (to me) way he can replicate his success by throwing resources at it. He found a solid niche and if he just managed to grow it a few times what it is today he'd making $50 million+ over the next 5-10 years or so and he could share that with a small group of helpers.
That's probably the kind of business most of us will grow. It's up to investors to choose businesses like Facebook or Google, which really proved the grow fast/big quick idea. They had some huge ideas and by taking equally huge risks they've managed to do really well. All the people (myself included) who would have sold Facebook for $1 billion to Yahoo would have lost out on the amazing opportunity Zuckerberg has now to fundamentally change the way people use the internet.
I'm not so sure...is Facebook really likely to be around in 10-20 years? If it was me, I'd have cashed out a while back.
Although, I'm sure that if Zuckerberg had his way Facebook would become FacebookOS, with Word/Excel/Open Office running as Facebook Apps next to your wall. Now THERE'S a business idea!
If Zuckerberg sold Facebook to Yahoo! for 1 billion he would have around 300 million dollars. Right now all he has is a fictitious valuation. On the other hand he does have the freedom to go around creating crap like Beacon which Yahoo probably would never have allowed them to do.
Upon immediate inspection it looks as if good business sense went straight out of the boardroom windows from this article. Looking closer, however, you can see the reasoning behind these decisions.
One just has to be aware of where the profitability is arising from. Since IPOs seem to be a dying breed and acquisition becomes the latest exit strategy du jour, its clear that larger firms are buying startups not just for brand value or even the developed application itself but rather the collective expertise of the individuals involved.
So in some sense startup acquisition may be seen as a one-time consultation fee, with no hourly rates attached!
Now the "newcomer entrepreneurs" have had the chance to lay employees off and are encouraged by the VC's on their boards to focus on survival instead of bold growth.
That's probably the kind of business most of us will grow. It's up to investors to choose businesses like Facebook or Google, which really proved the grow fast/big quick idea. They had some huge ideas and by taking equally huge risks they've managed to do really well. All the people (myself included) who would have sold Facebook for $1 billion to Yahoo would have lost out on the amazing opportunity Zuckerberg has now to fundamentally change the way people use the internet.