I do want to add that I was disappointed by the end of this article, where one of the founders said "We debated selling and looked at alternative options. After five years of growing this company, we feel like proud parents - last year we turned out 30,000 12-ounce bags of granola a day and watched sales hit $65 million. We've come a long way, but we decided that the largest cereal maker in the world could put Bear Naked in places we could never reach."
I think that was just a PR line given for them selling out. They already proved that they DID "put Bear Naked in places [they] could never reach" by ignoring the status quo of accepting VC money and having hired no talent with connections and experience in distribution. A bit contradictory.
They should have just be honest and said that they felt they wanted to be rewarded for their efforts of raising an amazing company and accomplishing seemingly impossible feats and found the offer honest and fair; and now they want to move on to something else.
(I know I am assuming this is the "real" reason they sold, but to contradict themselves by saying that the largest cereal maker in the world could get their products places they couldn't defies and almost cheapens their hard work to actually get the company to that level.)
Brilliant story and a lesson to all entrepreneurs. VC's are not always the endgame to your efforts going big.
An entrepreneur flourishes best under the most meek conditions.
This story is more of a real life example of the last HN article to make front page called "If you had 5 dollars and 2 hours, how would you make as much money as possible?" http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=912105
