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by sailingparrot 84 days ago
Warms my heart to learn their families will finally be able to afford nutritious meals, put clothes on their backs and maybe even afford a bike to go to school rather than walking 2h everyday. We need more uplifting stories like this one. Thank you salesforce.

Jokes aside though, many (most?) acquihires are for very little $. Often just founders not being able to continue and just wanting an honorable exit + guaranteed jobs for their teams.

2 comments

A valuable skill as entrepreneurs, is to know when to stop and move on. Recognizing what you built may not be viable financially long term or is no longer a fit for the market and then making adjustments is what good entrepreneurs do. Sometimes it means shutting shop, while other times it means getting acquired and refocusing on the path forward.
This is one of those things that sounds so good with a quick read, but for every example you give me of a smart entrepreneur who knew when to pull the plug I can gave you a gritty, determined one who stayed focus on the vision and built something successful. In this case did they ever have market fit or financial viablilty?
I've been inside a couple of these and the founders always do just fine. Rest and vest at the acquiring company for a couple years, earn millions in stock, found another company or go work for OpenAI as an exec.

Rank and file employees who got sub-standard pay for years at Startup get the same comp they would have got coming in the front door at BigCo. It's better than being fired I guess, but it's not some humble, charitable act by the founders. They can always wait a couple years and ride the ride again if they want.