Many feel that once an entrepreneur has gotten a business up and going, they are bored by operating the business and ready to move on to their next startup challenge. In fact, the proof of the entrepreneur's mettle is in demonstrating that the plan for the business was sound, and that the strategy was executable.

This often requires that they stay with a business for several years to prove the concept, before selling or going public, and possibly bringing in longer-term professional management. In any case, the quality of the records kept by a business can be a significant factor in taking the business to such a "liquidity event," that is valuing the business in a way to convert equity to cash. Some generally accepted principles for this record keeping include: