3 ms·
Seems like a cheaper alternative to acquihiring I was thinking exactly the same thing: This is like acquihiring except that it skips the "spend a year on a pro
by cperciva 11y ago
Seems like a cheaper alternative to acquihiring
I was thinking exactly the same thing: This is like acquihiring except that it skips the "spend a year on a proof-of-talent product which gets thrown away after the acquisition".
Of course, the downside is that the team interview process isn't likely to be anywhere near as effective a filtering tool as spending a year building a product.
- tedmiston 11y agoAnd two programmers that work well together isn't equivalent to two technical co-founders that work well together.
- joncooper 11y agoIt also skips the part where the team being hired gets a large signing bonus.
- cperciva 11y agoSure, but an (acqui)hiring bonus is balanced by the time spent creating the acquired company. I'd think of it as being part signing bonus and part back pay.
- mbesto 11y agoI'd imagine any smart working team would negotiate this heavily. This setup appeals heavily to someone like me (with 2 other people specifically), but I would also be personally be asking for $300k+ salaries for each person + signing bonus + RSUs. It would be a happy medium between a lengthy and pricey acquihire and getting 3 developers/PM people who you know already will work well together. I'd recommend that anyone doing this that they negotiate their salaries very heavily.
- lawnchair_larry 11y agoWhat experience are you drawing on for that recommendation? Big companies don't typically negotiate wildly on salary, as it's tied to a leveling system that breaks too many things if your numbers don't fit. They would have to negotiate on levels and make everyone VPs to meet your salary demands, which would cause other problems. So, this might not be the best advice. Acquihirees get a few knobs to turn, but salary is the least turnable.
- mbesto 11y ago> * What experience are you drawing on for that recommendation?* I work on tech M&A.
- lawnchair_larry 11y agoIs your experience different from mine then? You do see companies negotiating on salary?
- mathattack 11y agoIs there that much room for a company like Strike to negotiate on salary? I hope they're that entrepreneurial. For better or worse, I've seen large companies sometimes acquihire (amongst other reasons) as a way to pay up without killing their salary bands.
- ryandrake 11y agoAn acquired company's owners also get to pocket whatever the purchase price of the company was, less investors' take. Sweet deal! You get paid for your "company" and you also all get jobs! A team-hired group foregoes this, unless they negotiate an up-front "team acquisition fee".