This post is almost entirely dead WRONG. It's revenue that matters, period. "People" are not what matters. Satisfied customers matter. If you provide a product or service that people are willing to pay for, then nothing ... NOTHING can take that from you. You don't NEED investors. Get off that trip. This article mentioned that, "the reason Larry and Sergey are so rich is not so much that they've done work worth tens of billions of dollars, but that they were the first investors in Google." Sorry, but again WRONG. The reason they are so rich compared to the rest of us is that we've lost track of the concept that we live in a Shared Fate world. We're all in this together, but we've forgotten that fact. It is physically and philosophically IMPOSSIBLE for any individual human being to be worth BILLIONS more than any other human being. We all put our pants on one leg at a time and we all only have 24 hours in a day. "All men are created equal." Remember that? It's called the Declaration of Independence. I believe your writing eminates from the right motives, but it fosters many of the wrong reactions and sentiments. Find a customer. Provide what the customer requires. No customer, no business. End of story. Yes, this post is intentionally terse and dialectical in order to to elicit meaningful dialog instead of pointless ass kissing.
Beautiful. Declaration of INTERdependence time?