Is this at the seed stage or later? Wouldn't VCs prefer to put their money in one who has tried a startup before and failed than a first-timer for whom there are a lot more unknowns?
Acq-hire is the socially acceptable way to fail. If you actually fail in the everyone-gets-fired sense, then you have the double stigma of (a) failing and (b) not having built something deserving even of the consolation prize.
Oh, and if your investors fire you "for performance" (if the thing in a tail spin, getting fired almost doesn't matter and might make your life better) you might as well kill self. No one is going to touch a fired founder with a 10-foot pole. Even regular jobs are out of the question, much less the EIR sinecures and executive injections that acqui-failed founders usually get.
Oh, and if your investors fire you "for performance" (if the thing in a tail spin, getting fired almost doesn't matter and might make your life better) you might as well kill self. No one is going to touch a fired founder with a 10-foot pole. Even regular jobs are out of the question, much less the EIR sinecures and executive injections that acqui-failed founders usually get.