Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, implores busi­ness own­ers (and every­one else) not to fol­low the money, but to ‘work on stuff that mat­ters’ by fol­low­ing these three prin­ci­ples:

  1. Work on some­thing that mat­ters to you more than money
  2. Cre­ate more value than you capture
  3. Take the long view

I want to make clear that ‘work on stuff that mat­ters’ does not mean focus­ing on non-profit work, causes, or any other form of ‘do-goodism.’ Non-profit projects often do mat­ter a great deal, and peo­ple with tech skills can make impor­tant con­tri­bu­tions, but it’s essen­tial to get beyond that nar­row box. I’m a strong believer in the social value of busi­ness done right. We need to build an econ­omy in which the impor­tant things are paid for in self-sustaining ways rather than as char­i­ties to be funded out of the good­ness of our hearts.

via Kot­tke