Should I Sell My Startup?

When my great friend & MyBlogLog co-founder Eric Marcoullier and I are asked by other founders:

“Hey, we just received an offer of $XX Million to sell our company to [Google/Microsoft/Yahoo!/etc.].  Do you think we should take it?”

Our answer is always the same:

“Is it enough money for you to never see your startup change again?  Would you be comfortable calling this project you have worked on so hard ‘done’ — including reading posts in the media saying that you have stopped innovating?  If so, and the organization is a good fit for you and your product, then absolutely sell.  If not, you should think very deeply if selling is really the right move for you now.”

I am now wondering if we should go even further:

“Would you be comfortable never touching your product again?”

You are selling your company after all.  It now belongs to someone else .  Perhaps the best move for the startup, founders and the acquiring company alike would be to make the hard choice — like parents sending their kids off to college — to let their baby grow up without those that brought them into the world.