[mathattack]

I think it can make sense. When you are a startup, you can make a bet-the-company bet. In fact, that's what your investors want. When you're a mature company, it's much harder to take the risk. (And the risk could be as simple as pulling your 3 best developers off the core product) Buying both the product and the team that built it can make sense, especially if you already have the right customer base. If you do it often enough to get good at it, you know the price to pay, and how to integrate it afterwards.

For what it's worth, serial acquirers generally get good at it and outperform one-off acquirers. [0]

[0] https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/ttu-ir/handle/2346/58897