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Rich vs. King in the Real World: Why I sold my company

longform.asmartbear.com · 1,587 words · saved by 1 readers

I sold my company, Smart Bear, in December of 2007. I haven’t talked about it at all on this blog, and it’s time1 I spill my guts about the whole affair. You’d think selling a company would be a glamorous, exuberant experience, but I was surprised at the reactions I got. These are actual quotes: Interestingly, 100% of the negative reactions were from people who had never started their own company. But that doesn’t make them wrong, and it doesn’t make their words sting less, especially when they’re your friends. Now that almost two years have passed, I can relate exactly why “selling my baby” was right for me. Hopefully this thought process is interesting to you and possibly useful in the happy event that you’re faced with the same choice, but the truth is I just need to get this off my chest. I need to explain to those who still consider me a sell-out. You may have heard Noam Wasserman’s “Rich or King” choice: Company founders are either in it for the money (“Rich”) or in it to build a

Rich vs. King in the Real World: Why I sold my company by Jason Cohen on October 19, 2009 Reflecting on selling Smart Bear in 2007, offering insights for entrepreneurs facing similar decisions. source I sold my company, Smart Bear , in December of 2007. I haven’t talked about it at all on this blog, and it’s time I spill my guts about the whole affair. You’d think selling a company would be a glamorous, exuberant experience, but I was surprised at the reactions I got. These are actual quotes: “How could you sell your baby? I’m shocked.” “I thought you said things were going well. Hmm.” “ You’r

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