Earlier I was thinking about smaller companies that sell themselves to big ones, and how sometimes no one cares or even notices (e.g. 7digital) that they sold out, vs companies like Bandcamp or flickr where everyone freaks out. It’s a sign of how special the company is to the people who use it. If you’re starting a company, that should be your goal: to create something that would make people freak out and sad if you sold out. A business loved that much is an accomplishment that can’t be measured in $ I started SomaFM because I couldn’t find what I wanted to listen to on the radio. I wanted to create something i would love rather than simply found a startup to make a bunch of money. Creating/Doing something people care about is much better than “increasing shareholder value”.