[ElevenLathe]

Why does the health of a company matter at all, independent of the people who comprise it? It matters if there are investors, because then "the company" is shorthand for "the investors". If there are none, and its just a literal "company of people" doing stuff, then the right thing to do is the thing that makes those people happy. The corporate form is a tool we invented, not a god to be worshipped.

[fuzztester]

Solid point. Always thought that way myself, even for individual work, not only for company work. Too many people in the world think they are successful only if others think or say so.

Who gives a flying fuck what others think, as long as you have confidence that you are doing the right thing, after having put in the thought and effort?

Basically they don't have confidence in themselves, and hence look for external validation from others, which is a trap. Today they like you, tomorrow they don't. Whatcha gonna do about that? Cry?

what you gonna do with your life now that I'm leaving - Santana.

Google lyrics of that song, and check the first two sentences.

[pwthornton]

If you keep losing customers, market share, and mind share, eventually, you won't have a company. Basecamp went from being an industry-leading product to pretty much something that legacy customers too afraid to switch are still using.

You don't need investors to care about the long-term health of your company.

[ElevenLathe]

I think this is another case of mistaking a metaphor for actual reality. A company has no "health". This is a metaphor. If the people who constitute a company care whether or not it has customers, market share, "mind share", or about "having a company", then of course they should pursue the things that will make those goals happen. "having a company" is just one of many goals the people who make up the company might or might not have. The "one man shop" of someone close to retirement might be winding down and therefore not care about acquiring new customers. Maybe the people of the company would rather do something else and don't want to be bothered selling it -- fine, close it down and do something else. Serving the company itself is just serving Moloch, in my opinion. Always remind yourself that its just people.