Building a company to sell is a very bad thing to do. There is no guaranty it will even happen. You should always build a company with the idea that you will go public as doing so forces discipline in how you do things (there are a ton of internal processes, accounting, etc.). Having that work done and clean makes you more attractive to someone that would want to acquire the company and also gives you a better negotiating position. In an ideal world, you build it to go public and are at a point where you are starting the paperwork, and someone makes an offer which you can then shop to their biggest competitor in the space. A bidding war starts and you are sold for IPO price++++, a number that is 12 months down the road from where you think you would be after the IPO. You have just made a ton, and removed a years worth of risk.