Ever wondered what new projects Jerry Yang of Yahoo! would be doing now had he sold off Yahoo! at a buy-over offer about 8 years ago when Yahoo! stocks costs a hefty $120 then? As a benchmark for reference, Yahoo! is worth around $26 today.

With due respect, Yahoo! led the Great Revolution in the history of human communications and you may say that there is no measure for the value of revolution, no measure for human innovation, and no measure for the effort put into the development of Revolution. So why did Jerry not sell? Could it be that he was not willing to part with his creation, his dream? Could it be Jerry had fallen in love with the business which he so painstakingly built?

I have immense respect for the great entrepreneurs and business owners who spent 36by7 (…how we wish!) trying to stay afloat, growing or expanding their businesses.

And I do understand that for each one of them, there is always a special story about why they started their own businesses. Some used a bread and butter reason, some developed their hobbies into a great business, and yet some brought their skills to a higher level for profit-making. But eventually, all businesses exist with one basic, cardinal rule - to generate a financial gain which hopefully sustains its creator.

So when a great buy-over offer for the business comes along, the rational mind says sell it because money is yours only when it’s in your pocket. Try visualizing 10 to 20 years down the road and you are still struggling with growing a matured business. Had Jerry sold his business at a high, he wouldn’t have to deal with all the issues of a maturing product with overwhelming competition to boot!

Don’t get me wrong. I am not insinuating that one should shy away from issues dealing with a matured product, but if opportunity strikes, we should seriously consider the pros and cons of the matter.

On a rather "Zen-like" note, I end by saying that most of us need to learn to let go. And in so doing, may be generate a good retirement fund and freedom to choose our next destination in life …