In my own case, I absolutely want to build a profitable, sustainable company that "becomes one of the tech giants" or whatever. I'm not into the "build to flip" mentality, and we have some very specific goals and values[1] driving what we're doing. But all of that said, IF we reach a point where our company has some value, and the right acquisition offer comes along, it would be damn hard to say "no" when you consider the opportunity to do things like I spoke about above: Buying my mother a new house, travelling the world, etc. And no matter which decision I might make, I reject the notion that you're a "failure" if you choose the earlier exit.