First, this sidesteps the question. The writeup implies owners will be able to buy out indie.vc, rather than feed them a perpetual stream of dividends. Regardless of how they do this, what is the buy-out amount? It will have to be an integer multiple of the money invested to reach breakeven.

Second, many companies, especially tech companies, do not pay dividends.

In particular, a growing company would be foolish to distribute dividends; dividends are for companies that have reached a steady-state. Waiting for a company to hit steady-state from inception can take a very long time.

> Second, many companies, especially tech companies, do not pay dividends.

My interpretation is that indie.vc is trying to change that from being status quo. There is a largely forgotten type of business that is not covered in tech media, which is highly profitable and pays dividends.

The problem is that for small companies, it's too easy for management (aka founders) to funnel funds out without giving shareholders anything. That's why VC is not interested because even if the company is a success, there is no guarantee they will ever see a penny.

If you are talking about that kind of fraud then can't you do that regardless of if you are trying to make a profitable company or one which you intend to sell?

If you're doing a build-and-flip, the incentive would be to limit the payouts in order to decrease the cash flow and improve the margins.