I hear you - at this point, 6 percent wouldn't be a whole lot though. We've been operating (mostly) profitably for a long time, but nothing to brag about. I'm just curious if anyone has done it before, and how it worked out.
Eight years seems like a bit much, but if they're shifting focus or going through a new phase, I think they could benefit more than just with "a bit of advice."
Yes - we're developing a new product in a related area (that we can target to our existing customers), but it's really an entirely new direction for us, and really could easily be the start of a "new" company.
Eight years without going anywhere worth speaking of is time to call it quits, if what you want is a startup. Don't let old mistakes hold you back. I shutdown a seven year old business after its most profitable year in existence in order to start Virtualmin, because I made a rational assessment of where things were going and could see very clearly that the previous business would never be the business I wanted it to be, and because it had such a long, slow-climb, history, raising money for it or bringing in new partners would have been a challenge that new startups don't face. Unproven is better than "proven to grow slowly" for investors and entrepreneurs.
