I noticed the same thing. The one that jumped out to me was something like, sold before it launched for $10000. Why would you build something and take 10 grand instead of launching it? Desperation?
I would gladly take $10k and move on to my next project over building, marketing, sales, etc., with no promise of a return. He obviously enjoys the inception/building phase and that time he got to build and then cash out with very little investment. If I was very confident that my idea would take off, I'd reject early offers and go for it. However, for many of us, everything after the building phase is like pulling teeth. For others, its great. But I definitely relate to that decision.
Part naivety on how markets/competition worked at the time and part “I have a $10k tax bill that I need to pay” (which is a whole other story in itself).
I suppose it depends how much you need 10k, and how much you believe in the business.