12 ms·

How to Survive an Acquisition

276 points by rbranson 11y ago

dquail 11y ago
"Surviving," "Trauma," "Shock","Dismay" ? I've founded a company through an acquisition and led mobile for another. Life was definitely much much better before the acquisitions. But the perception that it's anything but a first world first world problem ... is a bit misleading and entitled.
- depoll 11y ago
  That's a very dismissive attitude toward real emotional attachments. The loss of something you've poured your life into can genuinely be traumatic, shocking, and dismaying. I don't like the notion of applying the "first-world problem" dismissal to things that aren't trivialities. It's one thing to laugh about how you have to get up from the couch to get a remote. It's another thing entirely to talk about major changes to one's career, wiping away years of their work, or the loss of something they care deeply about as a "first-world problem". Sure, getting acquired might be a "good problem to have", but it doesn't make its toll any less real.
  - dquail 11y ago
    Fair enough. There are real and powerful emotions at play. But it's a bit of a stretch to suggest an employee at a company founded 5 years ago has "poured their life into." Personally, I'll reserve evocative language of loss for things beyond a strategic shift at the office - but I shouldn't judge others who view things differently.
    - depoll 11y ago
      Consider, briefly, that the relevant question is what it meant to the OP, and clearly for her it had that impact. Having been through many of the same experiences (I, too, was an early Parse engineer, though I left about a year after the acquisition), I can tell you those feelings are real, and that it's definitely possible to form that kind of attachment to your work in well under 5 years.
  - ArkyBeagle 11y ago
    I mean nothing ... violent or otherwise unpleasant by this, but it's really important to learn to let go. You pushed the rock up the hill for a while and now maybe it's somebody else's turn. IMO, it's important to retain the capacity for grace in these things. Not least for your own sake, much less you're career. I would read the parts of Shelby Foote's "Civil War" surrounding Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. It helped. Whatever else may be said of Lee, he was a master of grace under pressure.
- Drdrdrq 11y ago
  I guess as a founder you were rewarded when it came to being acquired. I am not sure what position OP had but I think it accurately conveys feelings of any ordinary (but loyal) employee.
  - spimmy 11y ago
    OP here. Engineer/tech lead.
- ebiester 11y ago
  There's a major difference between being in leadership and being on the line. You signed up for an acquisition -- the employee worked for you partially because you weren't <insert big company here>.
- thisone 11y ago
  yes, Surviving, Trauma, Shock, and Dismay. I'll add Anger, Confusion, Fear, and Depression. That's my experience at least. Not all acquisitions are rosy experiences for the employees. Sometimes employees get blindsided when they show up to work one day to be told the company has been sold.
  - chris_wot 11y ago
    Always be willing to move on. Never, ever take your job for granted!
- wpietri 11y ago
  What bunk. We cannot ask for employees that are engaged, purposeful, passionate, and committed without also expecting negative feelings to happen when things don't work out. If you ask people to care about their company and their colleagues, fucking own it when they actually do.
VeilEm 11y ago
> One of Facebook’s internal slogans is something like “always do what’s best for Facebook”. Is that real? Like they really have this slogan that like comes straight out of a modern interpretation of Marx's theory of alienation shoved right into their employees faces? http://i.imgur.com/oVb4J0b.png http://i.imgur.com/oVb4J0b.png
- silverpikezero 11y ago
  It really does explain a lot though. This is why, when down the road Facebook needs to make revenue or suffer the wrath of investors, your personal life will become their cash machine. This is already true; just wait, it can get much worse than it is now.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  That is also, if I recall correctly, remarkably similar to an internal slogan printed on a banner at Innitech, in Office Space. I'm not certain that I would be able to suppress a fit of the giggles any time I saw it in an actual, real-life office.
  - sammydavis 11y ago
    a lot of tech-forward companies do it, and not ironically. search for the testing on the toilet series at google.
- bobby_9x 11y ago
  Zuckerburg is in bed with the Chinese government, so it would make sense that he uses their tactics of controlling a large group of people.
  - bobby_9x 11y ago
    Forgot how many facebook employees read HN Update: confirmed. Don't disgrace the dear leader.
    - 11y ago
ldehaan 11y ago
Since they covered up all the pages stating what parse is and does, can someone tell me here. What is parse? And what is it used for?
- depoll 11y ago
  Parse is a backend as a service provider -- originally for mobile apps, but eventually for all kinds of applications. You could store data, manage users, target and send push notifications, gather analytics, etc., all without having to build your own backend.
  - ldehaan 11y ago
    Nice, that sounds useful. I guess it's good that they're releasing some of it as open source then. :) I've built a couple backend systems for mobile and other, I've used Kafka/zk for messaging primarily. I'll have to check this out more in depth, thanks :)
    - mtmail 11y ago
      Here is a feature list of current alternatives http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/overview.html#comparison-with-other-solutions http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/overview.html#compari...
CaptSpify 11y ago
> Assume good intent. Aggressively assume good intent. I can't account for anyone else, but my experience says the exact opposite. Most of the acquisitions I've seen, are because the acquiring company wants IP/contracts/some other good that they can't build themselves. Once they have that, the employees are on the short-list. Obviously every acquisition is different, and should be judged by it's own circumstances, but, having been on both sides of the equation, I'd recommend being skeptical of everything they do. It is hard to do that without becoming toxic, however.
- grrowl 11y ago
  I think she means it in a day-to-day sense. People will make comment and put forth actions that could come off as rude or malicious, but it's more likely they don't understand where you're coming from (a culture clash which could lead to discussion, or to fights, depending)
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  - spimmy 11y ago
    Yeah, or just completely oblivious. Most of the technical "advice" they insisted on giving us was just completely wrong. Also, gotta say, I was never as self-conscious about being a woman in tech until we got acquired by Facebook. I've never had so many experiences of walking in to a room (as a tech lead) and having a dude look me up and down and say, "ummm, how technical are you?"
    - HCIdivision17 11y ago
      Like, literally? I could see a question like that being asked, but I have no idea what a possible answer would be for anyone. Perhaps "7.2" might be pretty ok, but otherwise I can't fathom a single answer that isn't sarcastic, snarking, or arrogant. I'm plonking that alongside "when did you stop beating your wife"-style trap questions.
ldehaan 11y ago
Founder is so far from employee it's ridiculous you even comment. It's sad that most founders don't care or don't understand that sometimes they managed to hire people that actually care about the business, and could have helped make it better. When I see a founder sell his business, all I ever think is (as I'm sure most do), what a selfish asshole.
- dev360 11y ago
  A cash out to one of the big four must be exhilarating. Even if it wouldn't be your definition of success as founder, imagine the pressure from your own investors who invested in you exactly for this type of outcome.
- realkitkat 11y ago
  This. But then again, when you join a VC funded start-up, end game should be pretty obvious.
- dquail 11y ago
  Fair enough. I missed the part where this is an employees perspective. WRT being selfish. It's often the last thing a founder wants. Boards, family members, and even sometimes employees - often pressure a founder into an acquisition the founder themselves isn't as keen on.
- radley 11y ago
  > When I see a founder sell his business, all I ever think is (as I'm sure most do), what a selfish asshole. You must be new here. Some useful info: http://ycombinator.com http://ycombinator.com https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - chris_wot 11y ago
    I've been here a long time, and I frequently think the same thing.
    - 11y ago
mathgeek 11y ago
> 3-4 hour daily commute It saddens me that anyone thinks this is acceptable. I know some people don't mind it, but what a waste of your life to do this for any extended period of time.
- dev360 11y ago
  Do they seriously expect you to work 8hrs with a commute like that?
  - lucasmullens 11y ago
    If you take the Facebook bus and work on WiFi you can pretty easily.
  - vidoc 11y ago
    I suspect they don't. In those big companies, all they need to do in order to verify that "knowledge workers" are very hardworking is one of the biggest falsehoods ever are just 3 glimpses a day at any south bay campus parking lot: 9AM, 12AM, then 4PM. Not to mention those "Working from Home" tech workers, who are most of the time not even at home and rarely working :P
  - moron4hire 11y ago
    Never met a company that gave any sort of shit about how long it took employees to get there. I even once worked at a place that moved and added an hour to everyone's commute.
    - 100k 11y ago
      Except, probably, the CEO's. https://books.google.com/books?id=_h4eF9H9UtQC&pg=PA93&dq=%22average+distance+from+the+ceo's+home:+eight+miles%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DGfEUan6Ma-24AOumoDgDg#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=_h4eF9H9UtQC&pg=PA93&dq=%2...
- cm2012 11y ago
  I have a 3 hour commute (by express bus with comfy seats, etc.). Honestly, I just use the commute time as "me time", not too different from hanging out at home. The long commute lets me be close to my parents, in a neighborhood my wife likes, $1100 rent for a 2 bedroom in NYC, etc.
mattiemass 11y ago
Holy moly. I've been through an acquisition, and it was the complete opposite experience. But, I have a bad feeling this post is completely right and this is typical. Must really feel terrible. I'm glad this person shared, and I hope they don't get into any kind of trouble over it.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  I have been through five as an employee of the acquired company. My advice is to polish up your resume and dig your job search network out of the mothballs the instant you catch a whiff of one. If you're lucky, you will have approximately one year to find safe harbor before the storm hits. I always ask leading questions about ownership structure and acquisitions at interviews now.
  - tdeck 11y ago
    Would you mind sharing some examples of good questions to ask in an interview? It seems particularly hard to evaluate companies as an interviewee when they're trying to be secretive.
    - logfromblammo 11y ago
      I don't know about good questions, but here's one that I ask. "I have been through a few acquisitions, and all of them ended badly for me. Can you tell me a bit about the ownership structure of your company and their exit strategy?" You have to watch their facial expression as you ask it, as they will almost certainly tell you that the current owners have no plans to sell that they are aware of. (Your interviewers probably won't include any owner required for a majority bloc.) But they also might tell you some names, and you can check for yourself after the interview what generally happens to their peon-level employees.
ultratoast 11y ago
>In retrospect, I realize that a lot of tiny acquired startups don’t know what the fuck they’re doing and so the behemoth just gets used to assuming that everyone is like that. Just grit your teeth and take it. This, I'm not sure if this should even be considered a negative. Too often start-ups and smaller tech companies try to reinvent the wheel and call themselves 'agile' or whatever. As a contractor I'd almost always rather deal with a large company - if for nothing other than a dedicated payroll dept.
VLM 11y ago
The real advice, having been thru many non-coastal telecom mergers: Its just like a merger on that old TV show Survivor, there's 3000 of us, 100 of you, and after "synergy" there's only going to be 3000 positions, so nothing personal but you are all gone. The first meetings with the new bosses are a job interview, treat it as such. Highest priority should be a transfer into the buying company. You want to get on to the existing team as the newest hire, not sitting on the team that's being picked bare before downsizing. Existing teams in the big company have political power and thats all that matters. Start saving every penny, your job is gone but you have warning you'll be looking for work soon. You may have relo expenses, may not find a job immediately, who knows. Its easier to find work when you're the first rat to desert the sinking ship, not the last. You want to be the first guy to get a new job. Unless you're 64 and planning to retire, ignore a couple thousand bonus if you stick around. Six months of lost income is probably a lot more than $5K if you're the last downsized. Pretend that bonus doesn't exist unless you're planning on retiring or dropping out. Assume you've lost it all. The job title, the work environment, the benefits, the vacation time, the seniority, the freedom, the technology. If you get to keep any of it after the merger, you'll feel better. Sometimes the merger is the time to get away with things. Why, I've always been able to work from home. This is my last chance to upgrade the software without 500 pages of paperwork and procedures, hurry up!
- marktangotango 11y ago
  I experienced an unusual variation of the acquisition. The company wasn't acquired by another company, but sold out a majority interest to a private equity firm. I did as you suggest here, started looming immediately, jumped ship after the next major release. Turned out it was mistake, the company actually did quiet well, and didn't have the mass layoff I feared. I liked the job and regretted leaving out of fear.
HillRat 11y ago
In my experience, there's only one rule to surviving an acquisition: find political cover immediately. Upon acquisition, you and your team are an alien entity embedded in BigCo's immune system of political networks and operating rules. They don't know what to do with you, you are a threat to established patterns, and you will lose to the experienced players. So unless you have C-suite cover and a title to match it, you need to find existing, powerful entities with complementary capabilities and a need for what you do. If you make yourself useful as you are, then your patrons have an incentive to not meddle too much with your team. But if you don't have anyone protecting you out of self-interest, eventually you and your people are going to be absorbed, rebuilt and rebranded. I mean, that'll happen anyway, but at least you have the option of staving it off long enough to get your team safely out of there.
- spimmy 11y ago
  This completely describes our experience. Thank you.
  - HillRat 11y ago
    On the bright side, you're in a better place now! I'm looking forward to seeing what you're doing at Hound.
    - angelofm 11y ago
      This Hound? http://www.soundhound.com/hound http://www.soundhound.com/hound
- pasbesoin 11y ago
  And, remember, they will use you until they don't need you. Just because you're valuable this month, doesn't mean you will be, next month. If you seem to be performing a lot of knowledge transfer. If you find yourself, a couple of weeks or months in, cut by cut being eliminated from communications and events. The best way to, personally, survive an acquisition is to be cultivating your options before you ever hear of it, and to be honing them once you do. You might choose to stay. You might be given no choice.
bakztfuture 11y ago
Sad to hear the end of Parse :( so I put together a collection of its evolution over time: http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/Parse/ http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/Parse/ Wishing the team well in any future endeavours
chris_wot 11y ago
There is literally only one thing to do: get your resume together and get the hell out. If they offer you options that take 3 years to actually occur, ignore them. If you believe in your product, take a few weeks to get over the shock, then find something else to sink your teeth into!
- seattle_spring 11y ago
  I wish I would have followed this advice. I was part of a very large acquisition that netted me a measly $30k. The retention package was sizable (for me), but it took your quoted 3 years to even begin vesting. I left at the end of year 2 and was miserable for almost a full year prior to leaving. I didn't even have any financial gain to show from it.
  - chris_wot 11y ago
    Mate, you live and learn. Whilst the experience might have been horrible, I'd say you've probably had positives come from it. For me, the positives were that I learned that I must commit 100% effort into any place I work, but I've got to be able to move on when necessary. I'm afraid I'm still learning how to do this, but it has helped me get out of my last job before I completely burned out.
    - seattle_spring 11y ago
      I hear you, and definitely did learn a lot. Sadly I've got a severe case of burn out at the moment.
      - chris_wot 11y ago
        It happens. Be kind to yourself and take it easy.
haiwenchen 11y ago
I love the domain.
ArkyBeagle 11y ago
What an excellent article. Absolutely disengage. What's past is past. Trust (not quite) no one. I've only had people depending on me in one of the five acquisitions I've been through, and I simply told them exactly what I think will be the result. Quintuple check the evaluation criteria and totally, ruthlessly overfocus on that. This is a test. Identify any Catch-22 early and escalate these quickly. Then do what you can to reengage. But you will almost certainly be a redheaded stepchild. Look at it as an opportunity to reinvent yourself a bit. Chances are you have close to nothing to lose. IMO, relaxing is better than not relaxing.
aflyax 11y ago
I think a good thing to assume is that when you work for someone, the product is not your product, but theirs, and the customers are not your customers, but theirs.
reality_czech 11y ago
In my experience, the first thing to do is to build yourself a little fortress out of binders and printouts. If it looks like you're going to get fired, pretend to be mentally handicapped so that they are afraid of a discrimination lawsuit. Then switch to whatever team has the best donuts, and spend the rest of your time at BigCo playing bullshit bingo with the pointy-haired ones.
- Rexxar 11y ago
  ... and spend the rest of your time at BigCo playing bullshit bingo with the pointy-haired ones. So your solution is to become one of them ? (the pointy-haired ones) It would be nice to find a solution that doesn't increase the pointy-haired entropy of the world.
aphexcx 11y ago
Thank you for what you’ve built. Our app is backed by Parse, and you’ve made it possible to help real people in a critical time because of how well you executed on your vision. I’m sure you’ve heard the same from the myriad other companies you’ve enabled thanks to the mBaaS innovations that Parse pioneered. I’m dismayed as everyone else that Facebook’s bean counters missed this immense forest for the trees of immediate profitability. They won’t soon regain developers’ trust.
MrTonyD 11y ago
I was once asked to be in charge of an acquisition. We would let the new group (over 100 people in a building on the East Coast) keep doing the same work with the same management. What they didn't know was that that is code for keeping them isolated from the real company. And we would even assign a multi-talented team to integrate their product with our doc group and engineering groups - in a show of how important their work was to our company. What they didn't know was that that was really done so that I could prepare a list of technology worth saving for the CEO (Let's call him Larry). The plan was to spend perhaps six months understanding their code, another six months taking the parts we want, and then letting them go. There was really nothing they could do about it. We simply wanted to consolidate our position in the market. Since then I've spoken to other CEOs who were acquired by that company. They boast about how they were allowed to keep working on their projects and how they were important to the company and their great relationship to Larry as part of a Fortune 50 company. But then, over time, they found they weren't being given freedom anymore and they left. They just never really understood what was really happening.

276 points by rbranson 11y ago

"Surviving," "Trauma," "Shock","Dismay" ? I've founded a company through an acquisition and led mobile for another. Life was definitely much much better before the acquisitions. But the perception that it's anything but a first world first world problem ... is a bit misleading and entitled.

depoll 11y ago
That's a very dismissive attitude toward real emotional attachments. The loss of something you've poured your life into can genuinely be traumatic, shocking, and dismaying. I don't like the notion of applying the "first-world problem" dismissal to things that aren't trivialities. It's one thing to laugh about how you have to get up from the couch to get a remote. It's another thing entirely to talk about major changes to one's career, wiping away years of their work, or the loss of something they care deeply about as a "first-world problem". Sure, getting acquired might be a "good problem to have", but it doesn't make its toll any less real.
- dquail 11y ago
  Fair enough. There are real and powerful emotions at play. But it's a bit of a stretch to suggest an employee at a company founded 5 years ago has "poured their life into." Personally, I'll reserve evocative language of loss for things beyond a strategic shift at the office - but I shouldn't judge others who view things differently.
  - depoll 11y ago
    Consider, briefly, that the relevant question is what it meant to the OP, and clearly for her it had that impact. Having been through many of the same experiences (I, too, was an early Parse engineer, though I left about a year after the acquisition), I can tell you those feelings are real, and that it's definitely possible to form that kind of attachment to your work in well under 5 years.
- ArkyBeagle 11y ago
  I mean nothing ... violent or otherwise unpleasant by this, but it's really important to learn to let go. You pushed the rock up the hill for a while and now maybe it's somebody else's turn. IMO, it's important to retain the capacity for grace in these things. Not least for your own sake, much less you're career. I would read the parts of Shelby Foote's "Civil War" surrounding Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. It helped. Whatever else may be said of Lee, he was a master of grace under pressure.
Drdrdrq 11y ago
I guess as a founder you were rewarded when it came to being acquired. I am not sure what position OP had but I think it accurately conveys feelings of any ordinary (but loyal) employee.
- spimmy 11y ago
  OP here. Engineer/tech lead.
ebiester 11y ago
There's a major difference between being in leadership and being on the line. You signed up for an acquisition -- the employee worked for you partially because you weren't <insert big company here>.
thisone 11y ago
yes, Surviving, Trauma, Shock, and Dismay. I'll add Anger, Confusion, Fear, and Depression. That's my experience at least. Not all acquisitions are rosy experiences for the employees. Sometimes employees get blindsided when they show up to work one day to be told the company has been sold.
- chris_wot 11y ago
  Always be willing to move on. Never, ever take your job for granted!
wpietri 11y ago
What bunk. We cannot ask for employees that are engaged, purposeful, passionate, and committed without also expecting negative feelings to happen when things don't work out. If you ask people to care about their company and their colleagues, fucking own it when they actually do.

VeilEm 11y ago

> One of Facebook’s internal slogans is something like “always do what’s best for Facebook”. Is that real? Like they really have this slogan that like comes straight out of a modern interpretation of Marx's theory of alienation shoved right into their employees faces? http://i.imgur.com/oVb4J0b.png http://i.imgur.com/oVb4J0b.png

silverpikezero 11y ago
It really does explain a lot though. This is why, when down the road Facebook needs to make revenue or suffer the wrath of investors, your personal life will become their cash machine. This is already true; just wait, it can get much worse than it is now.
logfromblammo 11y ago
That is also, if I recall correctly, remarkably similar to an internal slogan printed on a banner at Innitech, in Office Space. I'm not certain that I would be able to suppress a fit of the giggles any time I saw it in an actual, real-life office.
- sammydavis 11y ago
  a lot of tech-forward companies do it, and not ironically. search for the testing on the toilet series at google.
bobby_9x 11y ago
Zuckerburg is in bed with the Chinese government, so it would make sense that he uses their tactics of controlling a large group of people.
- bobby_9x 11y ago
  Forgot how many facebook employees read HN Update: confirmed. Don't disgrace the dear leader.
  - 11y ago

ldehaan 11y ago

Since they covered up all the pages stating what parse is and does, can someone tell me here. What is parse? And what is it used for?

depoll 11y ago
Parse is a backend as a service provider -- originally for mobile apps, but eventually for all kinds of applications. You could store data, manage users, target and send push notifications, gather analytics, etc., all without having to build your own backend.
- ldehaan 11y ago
  Nice, that sounds useful. I guess it's good that they're releasing some of it as open source then. :) I've built a couple backend systems for mobile and other, I've used Kafka/zk for messaging primarily. I'll have to check this out more in depth, thanks :)
  - mtmail 11y ago
    Here is a feature list of current alternatives http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/overview.html#comparison-with-other-solutions http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/overview.html#compari...

CaptSpify 11y ago

> Assume good intent. Aggressively assume good intent. I can't account for anyone else, but my experience says the exact opposite. Most of the acquisitions I've seen, are because the acquiring company wants IP/contracts/some other good that they can't build themselves. Once they have that, the employees are on the short-list. Obviously every acquisition is different, and should be judged by it's own circumstances, but, having been on both sides of the equation, I'd recommend being skeptical of everything they do. It is hard to do that without becoming toxic, however.

grrowl 11y ago
I think she means it in a day-to-day sense. People will make comment and put forth actions that could come off as rude or malicious, but it's more likely they don't understand where you're coming from (a culture clash which could lead to discussion, or to fights, depending)
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- spimmy 11y ago
  Yeah, or just completely oblivious. Most of the technical "advice" they insisted on giving us was just completely wrong. Also, gotta say, I was never as self-conscious about being a woman in tech until we got acquired by Facebook. I've never had so many experiences of walking in to a room (as a tech lead) and having a dude look me up and down and say, "ummm, how technical are you?"
  - HCIdivision17 11y ago
    Like, literally? I could see a question like that being asked, but I have no idea what a possible answer would be for anyone. Perhaps "7.2" might be pretty ok, but otherwise I can't fathom a single answer that isn't sarcastic, snarking, or arrogant. I'm plonking that alongside "when did you stop beating your wife"-style trap questions.

ldehaan 11y ago

Founder is so far from employee it's ridiculous you even comment. It's sad that most founders don't care or don't understand that sometimes they managed to hire people that actually care about the business, and could have helped make it better. When I see a founder sell his business, all I ever think is (as I'm sure most do), what a selfish asshole.

dev360 11y ago
A cash out to one of the big four must be exhilarating. Even if it wouldn't be your definition of success as founder, imagine the pressure from your own investors who invested in you exactly for this type of outcome.
realkitkat 11y ago
This. But then again, when you join a VC funded start-up, end game should be pretty obvious.
dquail 11y ago
Fair enough. I missed the part where this is an employees perspective. WRT being selfish. It's often the last thing a founder wants. Boards, family members, and even sometimes employees - often pressure a founder into an acquisition the founder themselves isn't as keen on.
radley 11y ago
> When I see a founder sell his business, all I ever think is (as I'm sure most do), what a selfish asshole. You must be new here. Some useful info: http://ycombinator.com http://ycombinator.com https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- chris_wot 11y ago
  I've been here a long time, and I frequently think the same thing.
  - 11y ago

mathgeek 11y ago

> 3-4 hour daily commute It saddens me that anyone thinks this is acceptable. I know some people don't mind it, but what a waste of your life to do this for any extended period of time.

dev360 11y ago
Do they seriously expect you to work 8hrs with a commute like that?
- lucasmullens 11y ago
  If you take the Facebook bus and work on WiFi you can pretty easily.
- vidoc 11y ago
  I suspect they don't. In those big companies, all they need to do in order to verify that "knowledge workers" are very hardworking is one of the biggest falsehoods ever are just 3 glimpses a day at any south bay campus parking lot: 9AM, 12AM, then 4PM. Not to mention those "Working from Home" tech workers, who are most of the time not even at home and rarely working :P
- moron4hire 11y ago
  Never met a company that gave any sort of shit about how long it took employees to get there. I even once worked at a place that moved and added an hour to everyone's commute.
  - 100k 11y ago
    Except, probably, the CEO's. https://books.google.com/books?id=_h4eF9H9UtQC&pg=PA93&dq=%22average+distance+from+the+ceo's+home:+eight+miles%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DGfEUan6Ma-24AOumoDgDg#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=_h4eF9H9UtQC&pg=PA93&dq=%2...
cm2012 11y ago
I have a 3 hour commute (by express bus with comfy seats, etc.). Honestly, I just use the commute time as "me time", not too different from hanging out at home. The long commute lets me be close to my parents, in a neighborhood my wife likes, $1100 rent for a 2 bedroom in NYC, etc.

mattiemass 11y ago

Holy moly. I've been through an acquisition, and it was the complete opposite experience. But, I have a bad feeling this post is completely right and this is typical. Must really feel terrible. I'm glad this person shared, and I hope they don't get into any kind of trouble over it.

logfromblammo 11y ago
I have been through five as an employee of the acquired company. My advice is to polish up your resume and dig your job search network out of the mothballs the instant you catch a whiff of one. If you're lucky, you will have approximately one year to find safe harbor before the storm hits. I always ask leading questions about ownership structure and acquisitions at interviews now.
- tdeck 11y ago
  Would you mind sharing some examples of good questions to ask in an interview? It seems particularly hard to evaluate companies as an interviewee when they're trying to be secretive.
  - logfromblammo 11y ago
    I don't know about good questions, but here's one that I ask. "I have been through a few acquisitions, and all of them ended badly for me. Can you tell me a bit about the ownership structure of your company and their exit strategy?" You have to watch their facial expression as you ask it, as they will almost certainly tell you that the current owners have no plans to sell that they are aware of. (Your interviewers probably won't include any owner required for a majority bloc.) But they also might tell you some names, and you can check for yourself after the interview what generally happens to their peon-level employees.

ultratoast 11y ago

>In retrospect, I realize that a lot of tiny acquired startups don’t know what the fuck they’re doing and so the behemoth just gets used to assuming that everyone is like that. Just grit your teeth and take it. This, I'm not sure if this should even be considered a negative. Too often start-ups and smaller tech companies try to reinvent the wheel and call themselves 'agile' or whatever. As a contractor I'd almost always rather deal with a large company - if for nothing other than a dedicated payroll dept.

VLM 11y ago

The real advice, having been thru many non-coastal telecom mergers: Its just like a merger on that old TV show Survivor, there's 3000 of us, 100 of you, and after "synergy" there's only going to be 3000 positions, so nothing personal but you are all gone. The first meetings with the new bosses are a job interview, treat it as such. Highest priority should be a transfer into the buying company. You want to get on to the existing team as the newest hire, not sitting on the team that's being picked bare before downsizing. Existing teams in the big company have political power and thats all that matters. Start saving every penny, your job is gone but you have warning you'll be looking for work soon. You may have relo expenses, may not find a job immediately, who knows. Its easier to find work when you're the first rat to desert the sinking ship, not the last. You want to be the first guy to get a new job. Unless you're 64 and planning to retire, ignore a couple thousand bonus if you stick around. Six months of lost income is probably a lot more than $5K if you're the last downsized. Pretend that bonus doesn't exist unless you're planning on retiring or dropping out. Assume you've lost it all. The job title, the work environment, the benefits, the vacation time, the seniority, the freedom, the technology. If you get to keep any of it after the merger, you'll feel better. Sometimes the merger is the time to get away with things. Why, I've always been able to work from home. This is my last chance to upgrade the software without 500 pages of paperwork and procedures, hurry up!

marktangotango 11y ago
I experienced an unusual variation of the acquisition. The company wasn't acquired by another company, but sold out a majority interest to a private equity firm. I did as you suggest here, started looming immediately, jumped ship after the next major release. Turned out it was mistake, the company actually did quiet well, and didn't have the mass layoff I feared. I liked the job and regretted leaving out of fear.

HillRat 11y ago

In my experience, there's only one rule to surviving an acquisition: find political cover immediately. Upon acquisition, you and your team are an alien entity embedded in BigCo's immune system of political networks and operating rules. They don't know what to do with you, you are a threat to established patterns, and you will lose to the experienced players. So unless you have C-suite cover and a title to match it, you need to find existing, powerful entities with complementary capabilities and a need for what you do. If you make yourself useful as you are, then your patrons have an incentive to not meddle too much with your team. But if you don't have anyone protecting you out of self-interest, eventually you and your people are going to be absorbed, rebuilt and rebranded. I mean, that'll happen anyway, but at least you have the option of staving it off long enough to get your team safely out of there.

spimmy 11y ago
This completely describes our experience. Thank you.
- HillRat 11y ago
  On the bright side, you're in a better place now! I'm looking forward to seeing what you're doing at Hound.
  - angelofm 11y ago
    This Hound? http://www.soundhound.com/hound http://www.soundhound.com/hound
pasbesoin 11y ago
And, remember, they will use you until they don't need you. Just because you're valuable this month, doesn't mean you will be, next month. If you seem to be performing a lot of knowledge transfer. If you find yourself, a couple of weeks or months in, cut by cut being eliminated from communications and events. The best way to, personally, survive an acquisition is to be cultivating your options before you ever hear of it, and to be honing them once you do. You might choose to stay. You might be given no choice.

bakztfuture 11y ago

Sad to hear the end of Parse :( so I put together a collection of its evolution over time: http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/Parse/ http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/Parse/ Wishing the team well in any future endeavours

chris_wot 11y ago

There is literally only one thing to do: get your resume together and get the hell out. If they offer you options that take 3 years to actually occur, ignore them. If you believe in your product, take a few weeks to get over the shock, then find something else to sink your teeth into!

seattle_spring 11y ago
I wish I would have followed this advice. I was part of a very large acquisition that netted me a measly $30k. The retention package was sizable (for me), but it took your quoted 3 years to even begin vesting. I left at the end of year 2 and was miserable for almost a full year prior to leaving. I didn't even have any financial gain to show from it.
- chris_wot 11y ago
  Mate, you live and learn. Whilst the experience might have been horrible, I'd say you've probably had positives come from it. For me, the positives were that I learned that I must commit 100% effort into any place I work, but I've got to be able to move on when necessary. I'm afraid I'm still learning how to do this, but it has helped me get out of my last job before I completely burned out.
  - seattle_spring 11y ago
    I hear you, and definitely did learn a lot. Sadly I've got a severe case of burn out at the moment.
    - chris_wot 11y ago
      It happens. Be kind to yourself and take it easy.

haiwenchen 11y ago

I love the domain.

ArkyBeagle 11y ago

What an excellent article. Absolutely disengage. What's past is past. Trust (not quite) no one. I've only had people depending on me in one of the five acquisitions I've been through, and I simply told them exactly what I think will be the result. Quintuple check the evaluation criteria and totally, ruthlessly overfocus on that. This is a test. Identify any Catch-22 early and escalate these quickly. Then do what you can to reengage. But you will almost certainly be a redheaded stepchild. Look at it as an opportunity to reinvent yourself a bit. Chances are you have close to nothing to lose. IMO, relaxing is better than not relaxing.

aflyax 11y ago

I think a good thing to assume is that when you work for someone, the product is not your product, but theirs, and the customers are not your customers, but theirs.

reality_czech 11y ago

In my experience, the first thing to do is to build yourself a little fortress out of binders and printouts. If it looks like you're going to get fired, pretend to be mentally handicapped so that they are afraid of a discrimination lawsuit. Then switch to whatever team has the best donuts, and spend the rest of your time at BigCo playing bullshit bingo with the pointy-haired ones.

Rexxar 11y ago
... and spend the rest of your time at BigCo playing bullshit bingo with the pointy-haired ones. So your solution is to become one of them ? (the pointy-haired ones) It would be nice to find a solution that doesn't increase the pointy-haired entropy of the world.

aphexcx 11y ago

Thank you for what you’ve built. Our app is backed by Parse, and you’ve made it possible to help real people in a critical time because of how well you executed on your vision. I’m sure you’ve heard the same from the myriad other companies you’ve enabled thanks to the mBaaS innovations that Parse pioneered. I’m dismayed as everyone else that Facebook’s bean counters missed this immense forest for the trees of immediate profitability. They won’t soon regain developers’ trust.

MrTonyD 11y ago

I was once asked to be in charge of an acquisition. We would let the new group (over 100 people in a building on the East Coast) keep doing the same work with the same management. What they didn't know was that that is code for keeping them isolated from the real company. And we would even assign a multi-talented team to integrate their product with our doc group and engineering groups - in a show of how important their work was to our company. What they didn't know was that that was really done so that I could prepare a list of technology worth saving for the CEO (Let's call him Larry). The plan was to spend perhaps six months understanding their code, another six months taking the parts we want, and then letting them go. There was really nothing they could do about it. We simply wanted to consolidate our position in the market. Since then I've spoken to other CEOs who were acquired by that company. They boast about how they were allowed to keep working on their projects and how they were important to the company and their great relationship to Larry as part of a Fortune 50 company. But then, over time, they found they weren't being given freedom anymore and they left. They just never really understood what was really happening.