[...] "Maybe we should just close up shop, take a six-month break, start over fresh. But the thing is that I do deeply believe in the idea."

It seemed he did deeply believe in a version of the idea: that initial company, the consumer-facing one, the one that served a broad and stately social purpose. But when it came to the company they had become, his investment was less clear.

This is the story of thousands upon thousands of Valley founders who began with a consumer-facing dream and found themselves running B2B businesses. [...]