Should I abandon my dreams?
I am a regular reader of HN but this is my first post here.
I am living in a country where opportunities are not as big or as much as in the US. Nevertheless, I have been fortunate to work for some of the biggest startups here in my country. We had numerous successful exits (most 7 digits), all bootstrapped. Though, the shares I had were much less. I think, I can say I am a good executor from technical POV.
I then started building my own startups. I focused on the mass market and I was trying to earn money through ads. I know the importance of the business model, but I know my skills and as a business owner for example, I won't be able to handle an e-commerce business well.
So, I built a couple of sites in time. Some failed and I lost some money, though two of them have become successful, with more than a million member together and millions of unique visitors monthly.
So, you may think I've become rich. Nope. I am earning good amount of money, but there are offers on the table which offer 2x more money than what I earn from these sites. And of course they offer less stress and every other thing which simply you don't have as a business owner, like a life.
If I wait another 3-5 years, I know my sites can have a real business model and market will be much bigger for the potential business models.
So, the question is; should I abandon my dreams and become a pure tech guy and a career guy, as my abilities won't allow me to have a high growth startup. Or should I continue on my path and be not regretful and play for the future? As a career guy I know I can be happy from many respects, like salary or a regular life. However, I have a deep passion about running my own startup, and it is not about money. If it would be about money, I would abandon it years ago. BUT, money is still an important factor, at least to figure out how things will play in the future, and I don't see a high or big growth in my sites as they are purely ad based sites. (and high cost, close to 20 fat servers)
I am also a married guy and having a child soon. That's another thing that confuses me.
So what would you do? Would you abandon your dreams and accept the offer?
(I can't give much details about myself and my sites as this is a very personal question. I want to stay fully anonymous, hope you respect that.)