A $1 Billion company valuation is fantastic.
It is unbelievable when the company has no actual revenue.
In my (not always) humble opinion:
If you can’t make a profit, you don’t have a business.
I totally agree that large, existing companies can find value in buying another company to get a robust user base of specific people, or to prevent a possible competitor from entering their space.
What I disagree with is the need to bank on that – literally.
The odds a company can make that happen are really low, so why not plan to have a profitable revenue-generating business right from the start and ensure you’ll have some equity and a business in the future?
You can still take on investor capital or debt to scale faster, plus you’ll be adding value to your personal, local, and perhaps the global economy.
You’ll still get to work really hard and put “Founder” on your business card, but you won’t be serving at the discretion of others (except your customers!) and will retain controlling equity. It might not be a Unicorn, but you’ll be riding and driving.
