My goal in life is to get bought out of acquihired.
2) Start profiting enough to quit my job
3) Hire people + have office
4) Either get bought out or acquihired
5) Retire
If #2 at least doesn't take off by the time I'm 35 at the latest I'm killing myself.
I believe it's an inferior mode of operation, besides. Having the "at least I can do X if this fails" option lowers cognitive load caused by worrying about the consequences of failure. I don't remember where I saw this, but I believe you are actually harming your chances by setting too harsh an alternative. Then again, you may be different.