I bet on average it's just a little bit past the end of the contract, for contracts that are > 6mos. If it's the kind of company that people don't leave, they

I bet on average it's just a little bit past the end of the contract, for contracts that are > 6mos. If it's the kind of company that people don't leave, they might not specify a long contract. I also suspect it has to do with what kind of leadership the founders have after they are acquired. It's very, very tough to go from a founder that runs a company to being eight down from the acquiring CEO and having every decision triple-guessed by middle managers. (I'm increasingly a believer in that ribbonfarm article about corporate structures. Using his jargon: someone who was once a Sociopath has to report to a Clueless.)