[andrewingram]

I worked for a startup that basically let 90% of its engineering team quit due to low morale over the course of a year without making any effort to (a) stop the exodus, or (b) replace them. When they exited about 6 months later, it became pretty clear that it was intentional.

[chundicus]

Sorry for my daftness, but what is the incentive behind intentionally losing a bunch of staff before 'exiting'? Just to reduce your cash burn?

[namenotrequired]

Mostly to get better profitability numbers to show to potential acquirers

[andrewingram]

Exactly. A small number of us were offered packages to incentivise us to stay (ironically we still left), but the vast majority weren't. Which led us to conclude that the plan was to just keep everything afloat long enough to sell.