[gkoberger]

Stories like this make me think it's almost not worth starting a company. Give 1,200 talented people an awesome place to work, be CEO of a company you truly enjoy leading, provide thousands of companies with a service that makes their lives easier, entertain 150k Twitter followers, make a bunch of your employees first-time millionaires, make millions for your investors, make yourself more money than you'll ever be able to spend... and people still consider you a failure.

[declan]

This article was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. One thing that struck me when I read it this morning is that the headline is practically unrelated to the article: the word "rich" appears only in the article's 7th paragraph, and the bulk of the piece is pretty straightforward reporting on Box's fundraising efforts.

Box's market cap is approximately $2B. If the founders ended up with, say, $150M combined (the article says over $100M), it may be a relatively small slice -- but of a pretty big pie. I suspect 99.9999% of HN readers would be happy with the results that those two folks managed, and the fact that the company, in this post-Sarbox era, conducted a successful IPO. To put it in perspective, I'm not aware of a single YC-backed company that has had an IPO, though Dropbox seems a likely near-term candidate.

[dang]

We replaced the title with the subtitle, which is hopefully more accurate.

[SilasX]

If that's failure, I don't want to win.

[gkoberger]

For the record, my point was that Aaron is anything but a failure, and all the press and people saying/implying this upset me.

[ricardonunez]

I see your point, but I'm sure for their families, friends, VCs and all the people that really matter to them, they are successful and inspiring. Everybody else is not important.

[bfuller]

If I woke up with 50 million dollars, no matter the situation, I would not consider myself a failure

[austenallred]

I read the first sentence and thought you were saying it's not worth it. I'm glad I finished your comment.

There's certainly a difference between $100 million and $1 Billion, but not one that will change your level of happiness.

[thom]

If the only reason you're starting a company is to be considered a success, it's probably easier to just convince your parents love you in the first place.

[PhasmaFelis]

To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, I'm sure they'll be crying themselves to sleep on top of their mattresses stuffed with hundred-dollar bills.

[ojbyrne]

Except you're out at 35, a few million in the bank, and a track record that has VCs lining up around the block for whatever you do next.