What if Reddit is around for 50 years, paying dozens of employees the whole time while never making a net profit. Would that not be a successful company to essentially everyone? (except the investors)
If all your business does it extract money from investors and deposit it into employee's pockets (and never generates self sustaining revenue, let alone turn profits), I think we'd call that a charity, more than anything.
Yeah, I should have been clearer - the assumption is that it would have self sustaining revenue at some point (I can't imagine many investors would keep putting $ into it after 50 years). It would just be a break even business.
That's why I would say it's a success to everyone but the investors who never got their payday.
> That's why I would say it's a success to everyone but the investors who never got their payday.
Yes, so it would not be a successful venture backed company. Lifestyle businesses are fine if you pay for them. When someone else invests and expects a return you need to provide a return to be successful.