Threewords.me, Mark Bao's toy project that suddenly took off virally (as discussed here), has gone from launch through viral success and then to sale within only a few weeks.
Mark sold the business for an amount which will remain undisclosed.
Some people are complaining that this has a "used car salesman" feel to it. I'll let Mark himself respond:
I had the opportunity to take six-figure funding amounts from big firms and individuals, but I said no to that. I'm passionate about building better support systems for startups. I'm passionate about building an OpenTable competitor. I don't feel the same passion with threewords.me, and since I never take capital on something I don't really think my soul has a connection with (to go all zen on you), the other option was to sell it.
If one of your side projects takes off but you don't have the time or passion to devote to it, you can do a lot worse than selling it to someone who will make better use of it. This mindset, which some seem to disparage, is precisely the mindset that successful businesses need to have. As Sebasian Marshall puts it:
... this should be a case study on what to do when you've got a successful project on your hands that you aren't inspired by... a number of people fall into this circumstance, and usually they just let the project languish and die a slow death. I think you handled this really well and I'm inspired by it.
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