Pitching your company to be acquired by the next corp is in itself a form of sadness. While exits are great when they have great outcomes, 9 times out of 10 (maybe more), these acquisitions end up providing less benefit for the founders that sell their company than they might expect. The sheer number of fire sales, acquihires, ripoff acquisitions, and more shows that acquisition by BIGCORP shouldn't be blindly seen as a success. In fact, when I see an acquisiton announcement from a company I really liked working with I can't help but feel sad for what I know will be a likely outcome: the death of the product I like so much.

Focus on building things people want and building a sustainable company that can grow and continue to provide benefit. Not the tech startup equivalent of house flipping where you build something that's not meant to last in hopes of flipping for a return. When you raise venture capital, especially, these stakes are poor.

Build to last. Build to compete. Build to make your customers thrilled. Never build to flip.