As I handed over a check to a contractor upon the fulfillment of a recent work agreement (it was the first time that the flow of cash had circulated through our company), I experienced a shift in perspective.

I see people anxiously salivate over a paycheck or greedily calculate dividends or viscously hustle young innovators for profits. I am not interested in money, I am interested in creating value. The idea that money does not represent value was foreign to me until it clicked recently.

Money is the vehicle used to drive the creation of value in a business operation, but it itself does not carry value. Improving the way people communicate, treat themselves, educate each other, entertain, serve, and collaborate with one another all are avenues through which value can be exchanged. It is important to recognize that value creation necessitates cash flows just as a newborn requires breastfeeding, there are little to no replacements. It is true that breastfeeding (or its equivalent) a baby will only get it so far, but the person whom that baby will become has little to do with the milk from which it weaned. We can see bootstrapping as a temporary solution to growing a value-creating venture (breastfeeding) but we must also learn to see that there is a limit beyond which cash flow is indispensable (a balanced, diversified, and evolving diet).