> I literally found someone to buy my company at a (non-industry) party. (I mean, I did a bad job of it, I was drinking too much and complaining loudly about how much it sucks to run a company and how I had fucked up like three really good chances to sell the thing and generally being a downer, which is rude, I think, at a party, but also not how you maximize the value of the company you sell. Still, I got an impactful amount of money, and more importantly, I got someone else to run the damn thing so I could go get a job that paid without dumping my existing customers.) I've solved technical problems in similar sorts of ways; it's completely normal to go hang out with friends and actually solve problems over drinks or pizza or whatever. (which yes, is a culture some people hate, and I totally understand that, but some of us like it, and like it or not, it's certainly effective.)

I love your story, I thank you for sharing it and your candor because this sounds exactly like something I would do and feel sheepish about afterwards. They way you describe this happening I can feel in my soul reenacting the exact same scenario. Well done!