Because, Sequoia partner Jim Goetz says, mobile advertising is potentially a large market, and the startup, he claims, already generates more cash from its operations than it spends. Never mind that Goetz, shown here, was spewing a grow-at-all-costs investment philosophy a year ago; mental flexibility is the hallmark of a venture capitalist.

Goetz's indecisiveness shouldn't matter to AdMob's founder, Omar Hamoui, who didn't need a flip-flopping VC to know he had to run his business like a business. For entrepreneurs more used to spending someone else's money freely, this must all seem a puzzle on the order of a Zen koan: How do you raise venture capital? By not needing it.