[cmelbye]

1. Unsatisfied with working at Google, Googler leaves to become a founder at a startup

2. Startup does stuff that Google wants

3. Google acquires startup, Googler is back at Google

4. ???

5. Profit!!

[icey]

It seems like a pretty meritocratic way to earn a bigger pay raise than you'd normally get.

[davidu]

It's also a common strategy for someone in an organization to make a big vertical leap or move across the organization in a way that would be nearly impossible internally. Basically, an infrastructure engineer leaves and comes back as a VP of Product for social wizardry.