So funny. I saw this blog post titled:

“Who Cares About Majority Ownership Anyway?”

We’ve always insisted on strict control of our business which is why we constitute a majority of ownership of our company – roughly 100% majority. However, I don’t think our way is the only way.

I thought the gist of the article would be how even without majority ownership there are techniques and realities for maintaining control over the direction of your business. I imagined it might talk about how even though investors may have certain rights, in practice, they only exercise those rights against your wishes on rare occurrences.

In fact, what it really says is that majority of stock is irrelevant because any savvy investor has already wrested the main elements of control from you over your future long before your ownership stake has been diluted below 51%.

Ha! ;)

I know there are upsides to having savvy investors expertise and capital as part of your business. I also know that there are businesses that simply can’t exist without a non-trivial infusion of capital. And yet, despite the presence of many excellent investors and VC folks, I’m also very glad to not take their money. I stopped working for other people when I wanted to control my own destiny. If we were to turn over control of our company to investors, I’d have just traded one boss for another. Maybe even a good boss, but a boss nonetheless.

(P.S. Come to our tiny conference — Small and Special — if you want to hear from several founders who’ve done it without taking on any outside investors.)