He turned down $100 million

"I had about $13,000 to my name at the time."

"Based on my shares, I would have received about $100 million if the deal went through."

These were the words spoken by Martin Basiri, one of the co-founders of ApplyBoard.

ApplyBoard is a Canadian tech unicorn, valued at $3.2 Billion USD last funding in 2021.

I was in the audience at Elevate, a conference in Toronto, listening to Martin as he was interviewed about his startup success.

Martin was recounting a moment in ApplyBoard's history where they rejected a $400 million acquisition offer.

$100 million is a lot of money, and of course Martin was tempted to take the deal.

However, he was self aware enough to ask himself an important question...

"If I had $100 million, what would I want to do with my life?"

"I'd want to start another company. But I already have a company that's growing, so why sell now just to start again."

I had to smile at this logic.

I've done similar thought experiments about the future when making important decisions.

I ask myself what do I enjoy doing day-to-day, and what outcome most excites me.

Then I do my best to focus on the day-to-day activities I enjoy and apply them to the project that leads to the outcome I most want.

Sometimes what looks like a desirable result doesn't actually make your life any better, and could even make it worse.

Many an entrepreneur has been lost after an exit.

Meaningful work is a beautiful thing. Don't under appreciate it when you find it.