“My personal position is still that you should never build a business to flip. If you’re a basketball fan it is like jumping up and then looking for the pass… if you don’t find the open man you’re screwed.” – Jason Calacanis – founder, Weblogs Inc.

I couldn’t agree more. In my view, when you build a business to flip, the customer is not top priority. If the customer isn’t top priority, it’s not likely you’ll earn money. If you don’t earn money, it will be difficult to flip your business.

This is the dilemma I faced while learning about exit strategies in business school. I never believed in them. Sure, you need a goal, and that goal should be to provide the best service to customers indefinitely. Build a great service with real value to consumers, and the business model will take care of itself.