5 ms·
The startups who turn down acquisition offer do better thing might have a bit of reporting bias. ie. the ones that fail, we never think about. Except of cours
by arn 19y ago
The startups who turn down acquisition offer do better thing might have a bit of reporting bias. ie. the ones that fail, we never think about.
Except of course, there was a big famous example -- Friendster. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/business/yourmoney/15friend.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/business/yourmoney/15frien...
- wheels 19y agoWell, or they fail spectacularly and we turn their business model into a running gag. But then, most "Googles" seem to have a business model that would have been a running gag had it failed.
- sdurkin 19y agoHolding off on early acquisition is a necessary but by no means sufficient condition of massive success. That is, refusing early offers doesn't guarantee you'll be the next Google, but accepting one guarantees you won't.
- sunilbhargava 19y agoTrue. Causality vs Correlation. I would imagine that many if not most big successes had an acquisition offer along the way but could it be that becoming a google, apple, microsoft or oracle is much more a function of good strategy, good execution, good markets, good timing and good luck than a function of an entrepreneur walking away from an acquisition offer?
- sdurkin 19y agoThis is true. However, I think the point being made here is that while you need strategy, execution, timing, all of the things you just listed above (and more), even if you have all of these things, you still can't become "a Google" if you don't resist early offers.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- nradov 19y agoThe other classic counterexample would be Be.