The best time to think about the exit is before you start the company. Where do you want this business to go? Do you want to build something that lasts forever, or do you want to build something to sell?

The difference between a business and a cult is that a business creates value for the outside world; a cult extracts value from insiders and gives it to the leader. Most startups fail not because the idea is bad, but because the founder confused the two.