I was reading a blog post by Seth Godin “The story of money is not a straight line“. Read the article, as with all Godin blog posts, they are short and easy to digest.

“Just about every great, brave or beautiful thing in our culture was created by someone who didn’t do it for money.”

Many entrepreneurs approach their startup in this manner. They are there to create something amazing and sometimes a big payout happens, but, really this is a by-product of what gets created. Some founders, CEO’s, entrepreneurs don’t pay themselves or take $1 of pay, in exchange they do their best work. There is heroic effort and creation of something special. The goal should not be I want to make a billion dollars, the goal is to create something of so much value that people are willing to pay for it.

Built to Sell or Built to Last?

What is more motivating, bringing in co-founders with the outcome of “built to sell” or “built to last”? Now bring in employees and ask the same question. What do they want to be a part of?