It is a trait that makes him a good entrepreneur but may frustrate employees or even investors who are looking for him to sell Mandiant to a strategic buyer or go public — two scenarios that might require Mandia to play up profits rather than his mission of taking down the bad guys. (He once laughed in the face of one prospective investor who asked him, "So, what's your exit strategy?") He recognizes that he needs to think a bit more like an executive, especially with deep-pocketed and well-connected competitors like Hewlett-Packard eyeing his business; that's why he signed up for the HBS executive program.