I don't understand what's so complicated about my original question. She says she's not going to sell the company. It's reported that she took $2.5M. Let's say she gave up 50% of the company for that (which I'm sure she didn't). And let's assume that the investors want their return within the next ten years (they probably want it sooner). And let's assume it's 10x. So these are ALL very conservative numbers for early stage investors. Let's say she ends up with 50% net profit (never gonna happen). And let's say she pays out 100% of profits as dividends (never gonna happen). That means the investors have to average $2.5M/yr in dividends over the next ten years, which means she has to be doing $10M in gross per year, on average, with 50% in profit. For a tech blog, I think most people will agree this is probably beyond unreasonable. And remember, she said she's never going to sell it.

So again, all I'm asking is where are the investors supposed to get their returns?