From an article I wrote recently on this topic [2]:
> Selling Stock vs Selling Search
One key realization we had is that when we bring on investors, we are essentially bringing on a new group of customers - customers for whom the product is our company stock.
The value this group of customers (investors) gets from the product they are buying (stocks) is appreciating stock prices. And the way we can keep this group of customers happy is by regularly raising the next round of funding which is when stock prices appreciate, or having a liquidity event to make a return on investment.
We are concerned that “launching” a new “product line” (selling stocks) and bringing on a whole new group of customers (investors), would cause us to lose our precious bandwidth that could have otherwise been spent on our core search product that our primary group of users and customers expect from us. After all, the “company stock” product line would not exist without the core search product.
[2] https://typesense.org/blog/why-we-are-not-raising-funds/
>Most other companies are financially supported by venture capital, in the form of large investments from a small number of people. If you use their services for free, or even if you pay the modest fees for their paid plans, they are not incentivized to serve your needs first. They are beholden to their investors, and at their behest, they may implement changes you don't like: invasive tracking, selling your data, and so on.
>SourceHut has not accepted, and will never accept, any outside investments. Our sole source of revenue is from sr.ht users making their account payments. This incentivizes us to only consider your needs, and not to use you as a resource to be exploited. The financial relationship is much more responsible for both parties.
A very commendable stance.