A company isn't a charity. It's a business. It's there to make money. It does this by delivering a product that solves a problem for someone (or another business) and, by means of the value it offers, it can generate revenue and a profit. If a company has investors, those investors are there because they want to make money with the business activity they funded. Plain and simple.

So, a business is there to solve a problem for it's customers while making money for shareholders. All ends of that equation derive the desired benefits. A company MUST focus on shareholder value. And the way to do that is to solve real problems and do so as well as possible and as efficiently as possible.

These things are interrelated. Based on the down-votes it is obvious some have missed the point of my prior comment's hypothetical about the three friends funding a business.

These three shareholders are jumping on the deal because they want to make money. Even our beloved YC jumps on deals to make money. That's what business is about. It isn't a bad word. And, yes, there's nothing wrong with shareholder value being a priority because the ONLY real and sustainable way to increase shareholder value is to ALSO increase CUSTOMER VALUE. One feeds the other.

Have a crappy product and there is no long terms sustainable way to increase shareholder value. Have an excellent product that solves a real problem as well as excellent customer support, marketing, pricing, etc. and shareholder value WILL increase.

You actually WANT a company you invest in to maximize shareholder value.