I don't quite mean "greedy" --- I mean dangerous. The OP is about to "win at life". Why tempt fate?
What I'm saying is, if PG hadn't sold Viaweb at all, then YCombinator would never have existed. But if he had sold Viaweb for, say, 15% less than he did... then there's a good chance YC would have been created anyway, because he would still be wealthy.
So again, why tempt fate? It seems like the best advice is "just get the deal done".
Wanting to keep the proceeds of what you've created greedy? No. And he sounds like the sort of person who'd do something far more useful to society with the extra 15% than the federal government would.
I don't understand why you'd characterize it as "greedy," "dangerous" or "tempting fate." Nobody's advocating doing anything legally or medically sketchy — that's why he said to get the plan approved by the people who know what's OK and what isn't.
I also don't understand what PG's cut of ViaWeb has to do with anything.
Assume for a moment that the OP has received an offer for a large amount of cash.
That cash isn't in his bank yet. The offer isn't final until the cash changes hands.
In that position, it seems like a bad idea to try to micromanage the details of the offer. Just take the money before they change their minds.
Who knows what the OP could accomplish next? I do: if the offer falls through, he'll accomplish whatever his current startup is designed to accomplish. In PG's case, that would've been online stores. YCombinator probably wouldn't have existed.
I don't quite mean "greedy" --- I mean dangerous. The OP is about to "win at life". Why tempt fate?
What I'm saying is, if PG hadn't sold Viaweb at all, then YCombinator would never have existed. But if he had sold Viaweb for, say, 15% less than he did... then there's a good chance YC would have been created anyway, because he would still be wealthy.
So again, why tempt fate? It seems like the best advice is "just get the deal done".