I would not mind facing the arduous challenges of having a lot of cash.

Ok fair enough I'd also definitely have to pass on dealing with that to an accountant but I more mean being able to work on it full time with no financial concern than chucking a milly after each idea

Also to clarify on the seeming heartless I sort of see things as being diluted when others work on them -- in a good way! -- for each person that adds to your thing it goes from mine to our. Long enough and big enough and it's more other people's creativity than yours. Your baby is all grown up and ready to do it's own thing

During the deal, self-rationalization starts to kick-in. The founders probably start believing some of the big-company synergy stories: complementary customer base, already scaled resources, complementary product in the portfolio. "Cross-sale alone will pay for the deal in X months/years." Sometimes they do work out! But all too often, the inertia of the larger business prevents realizing that dream. Yet if the founders weren't good at producing a reality distortion bubble, they quite likely wouldn't have made it to the M&A table in the first place. So such illusions shouldn't be surprising, especially if the price is high.

Regret is a thing