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Why I Decided to Take the Money and Sell My Startup The founder of 2-year-old digital card startup GiftZip.com decided to sell to gift-card behemoth SVM. He shares his views on the dangers of not doing the math.

By Sam Hogg

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Sam Hogg

Groupon's snubbing of Google's $6 billion purchase offer was an eye-opener for me. At the time, I was split between the prospects of selling my bootstrapped internet startup to a much larger firm, or taking on outside capital to grow and compete.

I ended up selling after 24 months of operation--much earlier than many friends and colleagues expected. I sold for a price that I describe as "I don't have to work for a while, but I will have to work again someday." It was certainly short of anyone ever knowing my name. People ask me why I sold so soon. The answer is simple: math.