[hkarthik]

Why not find a new CEO to run the day to day, while you switch to more of a chairman/advisory role? You could then create enough incentives in place to grow everything towards a meaningful exit.

I worked at a company that used this exact strategy. Took a few years to play out, but it allowed the founder to take some money off the table through a private equity round, and finally get a meaningful acquisition spearheaded by the new CEO.