So, you sold your company for several million, what's next?

Original author: Emre Sokullu
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What would you do next if you sold your company to an Internet giant for several million dollars?

Existing examples show that there are 4 types of Internet millionaires:

• serial entrepreneurs - continue the business;
• dreamers - expand their horizons;
• assistants - invest and help many entrepreneurs develop new areas of business;
• permanent - remain at their work.

Now let's look at each type and illustrate it with a series of well-known examples.

Serial entrepreneurs



Serial entrepreneurs know how to make money, select the best people and promote their company to the acquisition of another company or the initial public offering of stocks. Investors simply adore them, and are ready to give them the money, because they are sure that he or she will succeed again. Note that most serial entrepreneurs are also investors.

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis

Kazaa, Skype and now Joost. By destroying decades-old companies and changing the way we use our computers with P2P technology, North European stars have not calmed down. Their latest venture, Joost’s Internet television service, received $ 45 million in funding from major venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital.

Marc Andreesen

He founded Netscape, and now rides in the same web dvarka team along with Ning - a network of social networks. Follow his fascinating blog http://blog.pmarca.com .

Joe Kraus

Does anyone say anything? JotSpot became his second venture, subsequently bought by Google for an unknown amount. So, Joe is now Googler. But I suspect that soon a new idea may rekindle the thirst for a new startup in him.

Mark Fletcher

His first successful business, ONEList, became part of Yahoo in 1999, but it wasn’t enough for him. He further organized Bloglines, bought by Ask.

Reid hoffman

A former member of the Paypal board of directors, but now he is preparing for the largest public offer in the era of Web 2.0 (unless, of course, Facebook does not come out too) with his professional LinkedIn network.

Pierre Chappaz

Founder of the Kelkoo store price comparison engine , Europe's biggest hit after it was bought by Yahoo. He currently runs Wikio , a mix of Digg and search engine aimed at European audiences.

Dreamers



Dreamers navigate this business very well, but pursue other dreams and face different risks. As a rule, they leave the Internet business and begin to engage in research projects. As regards financing, they are not so lucky here as their counterparts are serial entrepreneurs - they usually need government grants, since the possibility of a refund is much lower.

Elon Musk

From the Internet to Space. His new goal is space exploration with his new SpaceX company , which recently successfully launched a rocket into space .

Martin Roscheisen

One of the founders of eGroups. Now working in the field of green energy at his solar energy company NanoSolar .

Marc Cuban

Started with broadcast.com (bought by Yahoo for several billion), and now leads the NBA Dallas Mavericks team. Well, this does not apply to science, but it is definitely a dream come true!

Carl Page The

elder brother of one of the founders of Google Larry Page (Larry Page). Carl not only helped his brother build Google, he was also among the founders of eGroups, acquired by Yahoo. And now, he is the chief technology officer at HandHeld Entertainment , a portable gadget company.

Trevor Blackwell

Launched a company called AnyBotsdoing humanoid robots in her quiet office in Mountain View. He also co-founded Viaweb, also sold to Yahoo.

Mark Shuttleworth

His new target is Bill Gates and Microsoft. The South African, founder of SSL certification company Thawte (now Verisign), is currently leading the Ubuntu project , the first Linux-based OS included with Dell.

Michael Robertson

Like Mark Shuttleworth, he also deals with operating systems. Founder of mp3.com (purchased by French Vivendi Universal). He now leads a controversial Linux company that has caused a lot of controversy, Linspire .

Sabeer bhatia

Founder of Hotmail (acquired by Microsoft for $ 400 million). Today is trying to rebuild Silicon Valley in India called Nano City .

Assistants



This is perhaps the longest list, because almost every venture company in its state has one or more successful entrepreneurs. However, we will limit ourselves to just a few examples. These people, instead of focusing on one company and one idea, share their experience and money with new entrepreneurs, receiving shares in return.

Peter Thiel

Along with Ken Howery and Luke Nosek, founders of Paypal, now heads the venture capital firm Founders' Fund , which has already invested in Facebook , Geni , Powerset and Slide .

Paul graham

Helps young entrepreneurs participating in his Y Combinator program. His successful investments include iminlikewithyou , reddit , Scribd and Justin.TV .

Josh Kopelman

Founded half.com and sold it to eBay. Now managed by First Round Capital , an investment company that invests in projects at their initial stage, it already has a decent portfolio including Wikia, OpenAds, Powerset and Riya.

Permanent



Permanent, as a rule, are those who have achieved success and brought their company to an initial public offering. For example, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, and today runs the company. Like him, Pierre Omidyar is the founder and chairman of the eBay board of directors. But, interestingly, they also fuel their passion for new technologies by investing in young companies. For example, Bezos invested in 37Signals , while Omidyar's company invested in SocialText .

It rarely happens that the founder of a purchased company remains in it. Scott Shambarger, who worked for eGroups, still works with Yahoo. Sometimes, as in the case of MySpace, the founders of the purchased company may require solid compensation, only to stay in his new company.

Conclusion



For none of these entrepreneurs is money the only motivation. After all, there are safer and equally profitable ways to make money. It seems to me that their ongoing investment and entrepreneurship can only be explained by the desire for new technologies and creation.
All these people are engaged in what, in their opinion, they do well, and what can make our life better. Perhaps this is the main condition for a successful business. If your motivation is a holiday in the Caribbean, then you have chosen the wrong path. It seems that it is the passion for technology that makes our heroes come back again and again.

On my blog with photos.

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