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Most acquisitions fail. Most founders end up leaving the bigger company once their golden handcuffs are off. There's a reason for that. The company they loved w

by dhh 17y ago

Most acquisitions fail. Most founders end up leaving the bigger company once their golden handcuffs are off. There's a reason for that. The company they loved working at changed to be undesirable once consumed by the incumbent. A huge part of what I love about working at 37signals is freedom. Freedom to say what I want and swear when I will. Freedom to pick any course I see fit. Freedom to try crazy things. Invariably, those freedoms would be curbed if we were owned by some big company. If the whole goal is to just sell the thing I already have and love to start exactly the same thing again, then it doesn't make any sense to me. Why not just earn my way to prosperity rather than depending on a single golden benefactor to anoint me wealth? Jason and I are already at the point where we don't have to work, we choose to work. The joy I derive from working at 37signals much surpass the expected joy of being able to afford a private jet or any other 10-digit luxury.

gcheong 17y ago
"Most acquisitions fail. Most founders end up leaving the bigger company once their golden handcuffs are off." I don't know about that. It's not necessarily a sign of failure when the founders leave, and it may actually be a good thing in the long run. You want the founders around long enough to ensure that the business you bought gets integrated into your operations and company culture, and once that is done the founders should be free to leave if they choose. It may be a less desirable situation for the founders, but that may be due more to them being founder types (plus suddenly having a lot of cash ) rather than employee types. The other approach is to buy the company but have the founders run it as they did before with little interference from the acquiring company (e.g. Berkshire Hathaway).
- ahoyhere 17y ago
  If your goal as a founder with an acquired business was to keep working at your baby, and being as happy with it as you were before, and you end up leaving, one can only assume that your goals were no longer being fulfilled -- ergo, failure. That's why if I ever sell my business, I won't be part of the package. I never want to work for anyone else, ever again.

by dhh 17y ago

gcheong 17y ago

"Most acquisitions fail. Most founders end up leaving the bigger company once their golden handcuffs are off." I don't know about that. It's not necessarily a sign of failure when the founders leave, and it may actually be a good thing in the long run. You want the founders around long enough to ensure that the business you bought gets integrated into your operations and company culture, and once that is done the founders should be free to leave if they choose. It may be a less desirable situation for the founders, but that may be due more to them being founder types (plus suddenly having a lot of cash ) rather than employee types. The other approach is to buy the company but have the founders run it as they did before with little interference from the acquiring company (e.g. Berkshire Hathaway).

ahoyhere 17y ago
If your goal as a founder with an acquired business was to keep working at your baby, and being as happy with it as you were before, and you end up leaving, one can only assume that your goals were no longer being fulfilled -- ergo, failure. That's why if I ever sell my business, I won't be part of the package. I never want to work for anyone else, ever again.