[thomasmarriott]

"An acquisition is always a failure" — Pando, 2013

"An acquisition, or an aqui-hire, is always a failure. Either the founders failed to achieve their goal, or – far likelier – they failed to dream big enough. The proper ambition for a tech entrepreneur should be to join the ranks of the great tech companies, or, at least, to create a profitable, independent company beloved by employees, customers, and shareholders."

https://pando.com/2013/04/02/an-acquisition-is-always-a-fail...

[gorgoiler]

Well, the tone of the Pando CEO’s sale announcement was almost of mourning.

While Lacy didn’t go so far as to talk about failure she does recognize, with regret, that she is no longer able to do her job effectively. I found the frankness very emotionally touching.

[mooreds]

And what's wrong with failing? What's wrong with trying for years and years and then deciding not to pour your life into something? (It's not like she did it for three months and then decided to bail.)

I can't imagine selling was easy, but the wise course is not always easy.

(Note, you don't explicitly say that failing is bad in your comment, but that's the tone I took from it. If that wasn't what was intended, I proactively apologize.)

[9nGQluzmnq3M]

By a random columnist (Jake Lodwick) at Pando, not Sarah Lacy herself.

[jccalhoun]

I didn't know what Pando was so I went to the about us page and saw this:

https://pando.com/2012/01/16/why-i-started-pandodaily/

"As a founder, I have a personal goal that's just as important and just as core to our culture: I do not want to sell this company. [....] So let me put it this way: Selling is not success to me. If I wind up selling, I've failed in some way. We didn't get as big as we should, we didn't execute on the opportunity or I didn't hire the right team and got too burned out."

[Dangeranger]

Sarah Lacy made it quite clear in the post that her heart was not in the game anymore, and that she had become as cynical as other bygone journalists. She isn't selling for money, she's selling because she doesn't want to do the work anymore. You can call that failure, but I would call it resignation.

[daveFNbuck]

She listed not wanting to do it anymore as one of the three ways she could fail.

[thomasmarriott]

Jake Lodwick = Cofounder of Vimeo (acquired by IAC), first dev of CollegeHumor (acquired by IAC), and a serial investor.

https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jakob-lodwick

[teh_klev]

Sure, but their article was approved at the editorial level i.e. Lacey and/or Carr.