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Comment by ericmcer | Hacker News Reader

It is interesting that creating a healthy bar with 'No B.S.' seemed to be motivated entirely by money, no idealism, no concern for public health, etc. He was totally willing to sell to a massive corporation that will almost certainly dilute his product to save cash and his main concern around that seemed to be 'but what will I do now?'.

Maybe his life doesn't seem empty now that he has money, maybe it has always been empty.

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That seems like a partial mis-characterization - he did insist that the buyer keep the company as an independent unit and retain all the employees, which is about as much as you can do when you’re selling. And he was likely tired and burning out as well - better to sell than run it to the ground or wait till someone else kills you off.

That said, he does seem to have been hustling from a young age, so why not? Could have just as easily been a new department store chain or movie theatre chain that he started instead, and we wouldn’t think he had “no idealism, no concern for public health”. Why the negativity for a food company?

>Why the negativity for a food company?

Presumably because a food company has direct effect on the health of a person consuming the product.

But all points seem to indicate that the food was good and clean, and he went through great trouble to keep it that way. But why is someone making food more obligated to continue doing so than someone making non-food?

His selfish motives resulted in a new product that many people seem to like. I think it’s amazing that we have a system that can harness his ambition, benefitting both him and the consumers of his product.

I was more referring to his level of personal satisfaction than the actual value provided by the product. He was never working towards a fulfilling goal (providing healthy food) but towards making money.

Eh, that's a bit tough on him. He ran the company for 6-7 years. Considering how much he grew, he probably run through some challenges and quite a stress.

Maybe it was a journey worth going, but it's understandable that people need to take a break.

I was thinking about this as I read the story as well.

I'm not familiar with the product at all, but I suspect it's hardly a "healthy" snack to begin with, and then Kellogg is not exactly a company dedicated to public health.

Similar concerns exist in tech as well, for example, if Facebook wants to buy your startup, would you feel good about selling it to them?

I suspect that people who are not bothered by ethical considerations are much more likely to succeed as entrepreneurs.

I wish I was more like them to be honest.

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