I have always known that business is one of the most primitive games in the world. Failure is always just around the corner, yet discipline and ambition drive us to overcome. The ladder to success isn’t as vertical as people imagine—it has the ability to reshape your life before you finally succeed.

Business changes you. It forces you to grow up. I started entrepreneurship when I was 16 years old and it forced me to forget about my age. It forced me to mature faster because of the greater responsibilities that came with the new territory I found myself in.

Even in 2012, the glamor and glitz around entrepreneurship confused many young people. They immediately focused on the amount of money made. But that was the last thing on my mind when I sold my first two companies by age 25.

My immediate priorities became the inner circle that supported me to achieve success. Family and upbringing became a big part of the way I looked at life. If you’re close to them, and they teach you what really matters in life, you’re more determined than ever to want to make them happy and succeed for them. So when success does come your way, you comfort them first and worry about yourself later.

That was my advice in May 2012 for people who were about to experience major financial success. Facebook was preparing to go public on May 18, and some employees who had worked there from the start were facing life-changing wealth through their equity.

If they’ve never managed that kind of money, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Protect and know how you invest your money. Don’t become a victim of someone trying to make money off your newfound wealth.

It’s only money, and it is finite. Don’t let it change you. Don’t become complacent. I’ve seen too many times—previous employees of mine who made millions completely forget about the hard work it took to get there and considered it their highlight of their career.

Don’t think of this as the highlight of your career. Surround yourself with people who see it only a benchmark in your career. Don’t feel that this is your ultimate prize, but rather a stepping-stone to something larger and greater you can do in life.

If you compare the business world to any other industry, there isn’t a single award that highlights your career. There’s no Oscar, no Grammy. It ends up in either an eventual merger or an IPO. The latter is only celebratory for a day because the next chapter of your life starts the day after. At the time, I did not have experience in the IPO process. What I did share with Zuckerberg and his employees was a love for what we believed in: building, innovating and executing a vision.

I don’t create companies with money as the reason. I’m out to create change and disrupt the marketplace with ideas I believe in. Money just becomes the byproduct of how we get measured. We do it because we have a dream. We do it because we believe in something. We sacrifice. We take risks and hustle. You do it because you feel you are contributing to something greater than yourself. That part rarely makes the headlines. But for an entrepreneur, nothing is more powerful than knowing the dream became real.