[mjr00]

The second one the author had in mind is almost certainly IPO.

Your (1) isn't a pot of gold in the colloquial sense of "suddenly finding a life-changing amount of money". Running a profitable business is ideal, especially in a post-ZIRP world, but it almost never culminates in a single "all my hard work has paid off, I can take it easy now" moment like IPO or acquisition.

[gumby]

> Running a profitable business is ideal, especially in a post-ZIRP world, but it almost never culminates in a single "all my hard work has paid off, I can take it easy now" moment

That first time you pay yourself $20MM sure feels like that, and repurchasing from your employees or paying out large bonuses sure can for them too.

> like IPO or acquisition.

Have you been through either? "Take it easy now" is the opposite of what happens in an IPO -- you're now subject to the scrutiny of the financial press, SEC, and random shareholders when before you could send monthly updates to your board. And unless you avoided an earn-out in your acquisition, the slog just continues.

[bruce511]

agreed. I think IPO is the opposite of "take it easy" (gotta keep that stock price up quarter by quarter.)

acquisition is also "long term". Usually there's months involved before hand, and months, if not years, hitting targets after acquisition to actually get the fully agreed-to payout.

Equally, sure, I agree, there's seldom a "can take it easy" moment running a profitable business, but over the same sort of time frames as IPO and acquisition you can certainly "wake up" and realize that all that hard work is now paying off. Once a company is in the black, for multiple years, and has accumulated "large enough" reserves, and you're not putting out fires three times a week, it can certainly feel like retirement (financial independence) is getting closer...