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Great Companies Don’t Have an Exit Strategy

Nope. But they have a liquidity strategy. Liquidity is the "exit" (path) for investors and is critical to retention of staff. Frankly the title seems more to be linkbait than insight.

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Tell that to the journalists who have been asking me what my exit strategy is for the last four years, and especially since I hired a CFO. This article started as a literal response to them.

Great companies are not built to be <flipped>. I think that is a great and valid point. It's also a valid PR strategy to make such point in public if you think it will help you raise money, hire good staff, and build relationships with strategic customers. But in making this point, I think more precision in your language would be helpful. Because all of those people may legitimately be interested in your strategy to generate investor/employee liquidity (and what thay might mean for a strategic partner). And for them, "asking me what my exit strategy" is neither a sign of ignorance nor lack of understanding. If journalists are asking you this question, its not clear what their motive is. But in that case, I would argue, precision still wins the day and provides you the upper hand to both educate them and to message clearly and precisely (which helps build your credibility with all parties). I hope this puts my earlier comment in more useful context.

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