A 49-year-old entrepreneur started his business with the goal of earning $5,000 a month to survive and pay his mortgage, and eventually sold it for $100 million.

In 2001, when Tomas Gorny launched his tech company, his primary goal was not to amass a fortune of billions but rather to secure a steady income.

Gorny, a 49-year-old CEO and co-founder of Nextiva, a customer experience management company in Scottsdale, Arizona, has a net worth of over $1 billion after the company was recently valued at $2.7 billion.

Gorny, a 23-year-old Polish immigrant who had been in the U.S. for just five years and had spent all of that time in the tech world, was a struggling entrepreneur who had lost nearly all his money in the dot-com bubble crash. Desperate for a small source of income, he turned to freelancing.

Gorny states that he needs to earn $5,000 monthly to meet his survival needs and pay his mortgage.

DON'T MISS: The ultimate guide to negotiating a higher salary

Despite the financial instability of the tech industry, individuals and businesses were still joining the internet for the first time. Gorny founded a company called Ipower, which offered software that enabled people to create their own websites.

He sold Ipower to Endurance International for $100 million six years later.

Building for the long term

Gorny started Ipower with limited funds but had expertise in building a tech company.

In 1996, he helped launch a website-hosting startup called Internet Communications, which was sold for $6 million in cash and stock to Interliant in 1998. As a minority owner, he received some of that stock, and when Interliant went public in 1999, his shares were worth several million dollars.

Gorny says that the dot-com crash left him with only $6,000 of his wealth, so when he launched Ipower, he prioritized consistent profitability over explosive revenue growth, hoping to build a business that could sustain itself over time rather than aiming for a splashy acquisition.

Gorny states that he never viewed the situation as a need to recover millions of dollars. It was not significant to him.

Gorny found that focusing on a more modest goal helped him grow his company's bottom line more effectively. Rather than aiming to maximize revenue immediately, he spent months creating products that he believed would provide long-term value to his customers.

Gorny's early customers provided him with a livable income, and once he released his more developed products, Ipower gained hundreds of new customers per day.

Gorny sold his business to Endurance International in 2007 after six years of building it, despite the emergence of Google and Microsoft as larger competitors. Merging Ipower with a rival gave both businesses a better chance at long-term success, and Gorny's personal payout was not the primary focus.

In 2013, the company went public with a market value of approximately $2 billion.

'Don't start a company unless it's an obsession'

Gorny started Nextiva the year before he sold Ipower. He advises entrepreneurs, especially those just starting out, not to focus on their exit strategy or think about how they'll one day cash out of their business for millions.

"Gorny advises that focusing on building your business rather than an exit can lead to a significantly better outcome."

Mark Cuban, like Gorny, believes that having an exit strategy in mind when starting a new business indicates a lack of passion for the business itself.

"According to Cuban, starting a company should be an obsession and something you love, as stated in his article for Entrepreneur magazine in 2012. He added that if you have an exit strategy, it means it's not an obsession."

If you're fortunate enough to sell your company or go public and receive a substantial profit, it can serve as proof that what you've built is valuable, according to Gorny.

"The financial validation of our business, such as when we sell it or go public, is important to me because it confirms that we have achieved something unique and successful."

Mark Cuban is a panelist on "Shark Tank," which CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to.

Earn more money at work by taking CNBC's online course on negotiating a higher salary. Expert instructors will teach you the necessary skills to increase your paycheck, including how to prepare, build confidence, communicate effectively, and craft a counteroffer. Start now and use the coupon code EARLYBIRD for a 50% discount through November 26, 2024.