I love this story from the LA Times about the founder of Sriracha hot sauce. Sriracha was introduced to me in 2003 by Joel S Aufrecht, an employee at my company at the time, who'd spent a couple of years in China and become an avid stir-fryer.
He's turned down multiple lucrative offers to sell his company, fearing his vision would be compromised.
"This company, she is like a loved one to me, like family. Why would I share my loved one with someone else?" Tran said.
He intends to keep it a family business: His son is the president, and his daughter is vice president.
He has repeatedly rejected pleas to sell stock in the company and turned down financiers who offer him money to increase production significantly.
"If our product is still welcomed by the customer, then we will keep growing," Tran said.
What if business and entrepreneurship is not about who can make the mostest money the fastest (while screwing the mostest people along the way), but about creating something that you're proud of, and trusting the universe to take good financial care of you while you do? I think it is.
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