[tgtweak]

I know about 4 friends that have left their parent company, built a killer product that same company didn't think to build or didn't believe in, only to get acquired by that same company after a few years... some have done it multiple times.

I think this falls in exactly that situation. You see how janky these national companies are doing things, plot out a disruptive course, then disrupt them in a particular region so that you can extrapolate how much that will hurt at national scale and force a buyout that's way beyond the multiple you bought those small operators for.

[charlie0]

How did they deal with non-competes? Are they in CA or somewhere those aren't enforceable?

[williamdclt]

Sounds like they didn't build competing products, they built products that'd have been very valuable to the parent company.

[tezclarke]

Ask for forgiveness, not permission!