You really have to consider opportunity cost at that price.
Is the good you're doing via whatsapp enough to outweigh how you could leverage 19B?
Is the good you're doing via whatsapp enough to outweigh how you could leverage 19B?
That's a very good point. Still, with $19B on the line, I bet there's no shortage of people who would help me rationalize doing something else with that money once it was in my hands.
I tend to have a pretty pessimistic view of human nature, but maybe I'm unfairly projecting my own weaknesses onto the rest of humanity.
Look at Google. We have a bunch of people who don't want to use their new APIs because they've experienced those APIs going away in the past. Ironically, by resisting using them they create a self fulfilling prophecy. An API that lasts 3 years is not more likely to last 6 years than an API that has been around for 1 year will last for 4. By delaying they've just put themselves closer to the drop dead date.
Point is, that dynamic hurts everybody, not just the people avoiding engaging with someone with a questionable track record.
He refused to sell repeatedly.
19B is an insane price. Clearly the buy was worth it for FB so it's not mispriced, but really think about the 19B.
They had 30 employees? I think people that worked there for one year cleared $140M.
If someone held out until 19B I would trust them to be more principled than 99% of founders.
It's not perfect, but it's not an easy question and there isn't an easy answer.