I would think at this stage it is all about growing. In fact, even well established companies like Facebook are still trying to grow. I can't imagine Zuckerberg's Internet.org movement was created for the sole purpose of bringing internet to underprivileged areas of the world; he wants to spread Facebook's influence to those regions as well. And at the very end all investors want to see is growth and a high ROI.
More seriously, if you're taking a company through the investment/VC pseudo-Ponzi pipeline, you have to grow. Otherwise, early investors don't get an exit.
OK, lets break that down more though - Imagine this scenario: You are a founder, you go YC, you grow a bit, but end up with a company that is settling down into a lifestyle company, while it still satisfies you personally. The early investors (YC) push for an exit, but they are a minority of the shareholders. Certainly, you are grateful to them, and have learned much. But at the end of the day, the growth and big exit is a goal of a minority, not you personally.
I understand completely why this is a problem for YC. I just don't see it as being such a problem for the founders.
Maybe if YC is their /only/ investor? I'm not familiar with how YC's initial investment is structured. But your scenario won't exist for many (close enough to all?) startups who have investors. What likely happened is the startup either:
1) raised their money in a priced round. It's therefore unlikely they have unilateral control of the board.
or
2) didn't do a priced round but went with convertible notes. Those initial investments are now interest-accruing debt on their balance sheet.
In either of those scenarios there's going to be immense pressure to not let the business get comfortable.
YC's standard deal (at least according to their FAQ) is for 7% equity. So I think it is quite likely that YC startups do hold the majority interest.
As for other scenarios, I can't really speak to that - I personally have never been with a company that accepted any deal that included loss of control. I'm sure it happens, it just doesn't match my experience.
Y'all are some cowards with the downvotes on this. The failure of startup people to recognize that the entire VC complex is a machine designed for making a tiny sliver of people even wealthier is embarrassing given how smart the world thinks they are.
Some of us recognize it...and I wasn't being judgmental. It's just that, well, you're either under the bus or driving it. Not much room left for riders anymore. :(
ouch. :) And yet what you're saying is true, even for those who are avoiding said pipeline as long as possible! @sama is right... growth and momentum are inextricably linked, and I've found @ userify that days with good numbers (and there are more of those these days!) keep us plugging through the harder days.
With momentum and growth, all things are possible. Without either, nothing is possible, and it messes with your mind. These are the days that you start messing with side projects and taking your eye off the ball.
It's all about building a growth machine on some meaningful axis (users, server, revenue, whatever) and figuring out what makes it grow fastest. Cashflow is derived from that. That's really all it is. Funding, hiring, even the technology itself: all just sideshows. Growth first.
The corollary: build something that helps you track your numbers. My thing literally just emails me a CSV with a new line appended every day. If it ever gets too unwieldy, I'll do something more sophisticated but for now it's a few hundred lines of python that helps me track trends etc in a spreadsheet. (I'd love to see a startup that can do API POST'ed metrics for $10/mo!)
Userify is growing at 50% monthly, but it's still not fast enough. Growth is everything, and the measurement of that growth is critically important. It doesn't need bells and whistles.. just get it done.
