Why Smart Founders Say No to Billions
As I’ve spoken with founders who have made it to the other side of an IPO or exit, some have said that their biggest mistake has been the very thing they were chasing.
The tech industry has a fetish for exits. IPOs, acquisitions, SPACs—pick your flavor, each one sold as the ultimate validation of success. All of these are the desired outcomes for venture capitalists. After all, they took the risk and put the first money into the business, and an exit is the much-awaited return for the investment they’ve made.
But what if that exit story is outdated? What if the smart move for a unicorn founder isn’t to sell or go public, but to simply stay the course?
Dream Games just gave us one of the cleanest examples of that mindset. The Turkish mobile game maker, best known for Royal Match, recently completed a $4.5B deal combining equity and debt financing. The headlines screamed "massive exit," but here’s the kicker: the founders didn’t cash out. The investors did.
The Exit That Wasn’t
Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) represent two fundamentally different relationships with founders:
VCs invest early, take bigger risks, and expect exponential (often unprofitable) growth followed by a clear exit, usually within a decade. PE firms, by contrast, are more comfortable with mature, profitable companies. They often prioritize operational excellence and long-term cash flow, not just a quick flip. In this case, Dream Games gets a new financial partner without the pressure of a public market or the culture shift of being acquired.
In the case of Dream Games, it looks like everyone won. The early and consistent investors, Makers Fund (disclosure: they were investors in a company I co-founded) and Balderton, walked away with one of the biggest VC exits in mobile gaming history. Private equity CVC took over as the sole equity partner. Proceeds? Used to buy out existing investors. Founders? Still in control. Still building.
I think it’s only fair to compare Dream to King, after all, both have titles of similar size and in the same genre. The makers of Candy Crush went public, then sold to Activision Blizzard for $ 5.9 billion.
Financially, it was a windfall. But culturally, things shifted. IPOs bring structure, scrutiny, and quarterly expectations. Selling brings a boss—sometimes a great one, often a transient one. The DNA of a founder-led company doesn’t always survive the transition. And in the case of King, the founders are long gone.
King’s case isn’t an anomaly. CB Insights reports that approximately 36% of startup founders depart within six months following their company’s acquisition. And according to a study highlighted by MIT Sloan, about 33% of employees from acquired startups leave within the first year 33% of employees from acquired startups leave within the first year, indicating a broader trend of post-acquisition departures.
The Unicorn Founder Archetype
The kind of person who builds a unicorn isn’t just optimizing for cash. They are obsessive. Vision-driven. Almost paternal. Handing over their company for more money? That’s like selling your child because you got a good offer. It doesn’t compute.
And why would they? Without knowing the details, I’d assume Dream Games’ founders are already millionaires many times over through Peak’s exit to Zynga and (potentially) selling a portion of their shares as secondaries during one of the 5 funding rounds.
Going forward, they will earn handsome dividends as they operate one of the biggest games in the world. More importantly, they love what they do. They're not working for a "life-changing exit" because their lives have already changed.
Playrix pioneered this approach. Despite being one of the largest mobile game companies in the world, it remains fiercely independent. No IPO. No sale. Just compounding success and total control, with founders being proud of still being deep in the weeds of day-to-day game development.
That model isn’t just rare; for many unicorn founders, it’s aspirational.
Philosophical Musing
There’s a quiet philosophical war happening in gaming right now. On one side: founders who want to build, shape, and control. On the other hand, investors are looking for the exit ramp. The Dream Games deal is a masterclass in reconciling the two.
Let the investors exit. Let the founders build. When you're already rich, working with people you trust, and doing something you love—what's the upside of more money if it comes with less freedom?
Turns out, the dream isn’t an exit. The dream is to keep dreaming, uninterrupted.
