That’s why, among its many definitions and identities, BitTorrent is ultimately a very curious thing: a gigantic question about what startup success should look like. Most startups don’t achieve their world-changing ambitions, but the lucky ones happily settle for being acquired. BitTorrent seems to be stuck in the middle of all this--profitable, but unable to truly ever capitalize on the revolution it unleashed. “I would argue that BitTorrent did solve a problem, and it did solve the one it set out to solve,” says David Cohen, the CEO of startup accelerator Techstars. What’s supposed to happen next?

It's supposed to make a lot of money and live happily ever after.