I am mostly interested in using my technical skills to solve long-standing problems in education. I want to get paid close to market rate for the work I'm doing, but I am much more interested in leading a long-term project than building something quickly and selling.

Most of my work is open source, but I would also like to use my growing skills to build something closed at some point, in another domain. Even then, I would rather build something small that I can maintain and grow without funding, than jump on the VC train.

That said, I have nothing against people who are using the VC model, and I understand that capital is quite necessary for building many businesses.