Might be a good question to ask potential future cofounders/employers.

Great story of how Vinod convinced Larry and Sergey to sell Google to Excite for $750k: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/29/excite-passed-up-buying-google-for-750000-in-1999/

The original link -- that everything in a startup is for sale if the price is right -- makes a good point about the fine line we walk as missionaries.

Ultimately we need to ask ourselves What best serves the mission? and act accordingly.

Agreed. All I meant is if you are a mission person, and your co-founder is an exit person, you are in for a world of pain.

Here's a question then... how does an entrepreneur with a dream and a (rhetorical, hopefully sonic) screwdriver tell the difference between an exit guy and a mission guy? b/c an exit guy can be just as enthusiastic as a mission guy...

I was wondering this myself:) Thanks for asking, Jason!

You can't know.

Even if the person THINKS s/he is a mission person, we do not really know how a person will behave in a situation until that person is IN the situation.

The past is not necessarily a predictor of the future.

So you do your best to keep communicating with each other to see where you are.

The truth about human nature comes out when millions of dollars are at stake. Things can get ugly fast. I've seen life-long friends turn on each other. I've seen relatives file legal papers.

You can't predict what will happen in advance, but communicating well (and putting everything in writing) can help you limit the downside.

Whoever said cofounding is like marriage was dead right... and marriages are killed by money, communication, different expectations... I was thinking how much this sounded like "why startup partnerships fail (except #4)

http://www.divorce.com/article/top-10-reasons-marriages-fail