[callmeed]

There's a difference between being a long-term middle manager at someone else's company and being a long-term founder at your own company. I wouldn't choose the former and I doubt DHH would either (of course, I don't know him so maybe I'm wrong).

[ChuckMcM]

The transitive insight here is that operating the company for the long haul comes from the top, so when I was at Intel there was never any doubt in my mind that Intel planned to be around 100 years from now, so being a middle manager there would (and for some has) been a lifes work. My manager there, the guy who hired me in 84 retired after having been there for 30 years (he had started in 1980).