"As a founder, I have a personal goal that's just as important and just as core to our culture: I do not want to sell this company. [....] So let me put it this way: Selling is not success to me. If I wind up selling, I've failed in some way. We didn't get as big as we should, we didn't execute on the opportunity or I didn't hire the right team and got too burned out."
Sarah Lacy made it quite clear in the post that her heart was not in the game anymore, and that she had become as cynical as other bygone journalists. She isn't selling for money, she's selling because she doesn't want to do the work anymore. You can call that failure, but I would call it resignation.
https://pando.com/2012/01/16/why-i-started-pandodaily/
"As a founder, I have a personal goal that's just as important and just as core to our culture: I do not want to sell this company. [....] So let me put it this way: Selling is not success to me. If I wind up selling, I've failed in some way. We didn't get as big as we should, we didn't execute on the opportunity or I didn't hire the right team and got too burned out."