[misterjangles]

Actually a lifestyle company is pretty much the term for any business that makes a great living for the owners and employees, but never results in significant profit for investors.

Investors won't touch a company with a 10 foot pole if they get a whiff of lifestyle corporation because they'll never get their investment back. But this doesn't make it a bad company, despite what you read around here on HN. In reality a lifestyle company can be just about the greatest, most satisfying and financially rewarding job that you can have. You just won't get any investor telling you that because there's nothing there for them.

[einhverfr]

> Investors won't touch a company with a 10 foot pole if they get a whiff of lifestyle corporation because they'll never get their investment back.

It's not actually that they won't get their investment back. It's that they won't get it back in a form that really works for them. If I were to offer a VC an investment plan that would mean reliable payments of 30% of what they invested every year starting in five years and continuing forever, that would not be an attractive deal. Would they get their investment back many times over? Sure. But the thing is, it wouldn't happen all at once as a large payoff.

[misterjangles]

Yea good point. They would probably be more likely to get their money back actually, but it won't be a massive payout.