“I need to find a industry or product I’m passionate about.” I often hear this from entrepreneurs and it frequently means wanting to start a business in a consumer space that they love—music or gaming, for example. It’s an understandable impulse. If you’re going to start a business that will consume your life for years, why not make it something you’re interested in?
Imagine you’ve spent years working on a startup with the hope and a credible plan to build a billion dollar business and along the way get an offer for $100M? You still believe in your vision, but a nine-figure sale would represent a rich premium based on your traction and early revenue growth. Should you take it?
We’ve been trained by infomercials that “But wait, there’s more!” is a powerful sales pitch. Not surprisingly, this approach is used frequently by entrepreneurs pitching their startups. Somewhere between slides 12 and 15, the passionate founders take a breath, clear their throats and declare “But the real opportunity in this business is …”