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Eventually, all startups will be acquired into the FAANG companies, no matter whatever their "mission statement" is, just like Matryoshka dolls. Pebble -> Fitb
by kgraves 7y ago
Eventually, all startups will be acquired into the FAANG companies, no matter whatever their "mission statement" is,
just like Matryoshka dolls.
Pebble -> Fitbit -> Google.
I am sure there are more examples.
- w0utert 7y agoI'm probably just drawing a mental blank here, but what's the 'N' in FAANG? :-S
- sanjayts 7y agoNetflix
- paultopher 7y agoNicrosoft
- brooksgarrett 7y agoNecrosoft.
- kgraves 7y agoNetflix [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Apple,_Amazon,_Netflix_and_Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Apple,_Amazon,_Netfl...
- fantalamera 7y agoNetflix! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Apple,_Amazon,_Netflix_and_Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Apple,_Amazon,_Netfl...
- airstrike 7y agoNetflix, added mostly so we don't call it FAAG /s
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- roddux 7y agoFacebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Although, it might be more appropriate to call Google 'Alphabet' now. But FNAAA doesn't have as much of a ring to it.
- laurentb 7y agofrankly, Microsoft deserves to be in there at this point, so that would end up being FANAMA for Facebook,Apple,Netflix,Amazon,Microsoft,Alphabet and it's easier to pronounce to boot
- selimthegrim 7y agoA man, a fan, a channel?
- vdfs 7y agoFN3A
- justadudeama 7y agoWhat are the examples of companies acquired by Netflix? They are big, but surely not bigger than Intel or Version or someone like that.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- scarface74 7y agoOnce you take VC money, your “mission statement” is meaningless. You no longer have the luxury of being a lifestyle business. You either have to get acquired or statistically unlikely go public.
- akudha 7y agoWait, what companies did Netflix acquire? I can't name one, but the comment is true for the other four I guess
- jasode 7y ago>Eventually, all startups will be acquired into the FAANG companies, That fatalistic sentiment is often repeated but it's not inevitable that all startups will be acquired by bigger companies. The missing gap in that thinking is that people forget that the startup's founders have free will and must willingly agree to being acquired. I made previous comments about this with examples: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15732278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15732278 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18723777 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18723777
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y agoBut do they have free will if their startup is majority owned by VC funds?
- jasode 7y ago>But do they have free will if their startup is majority owned by VC funds? Yes. Even if the VCs control the majority of board seats and voting rights of the startup, companies like Google/Facebook/Amazon/Microsoft are not in the business of doing hostile takeovers with uncooperative founders. Yes, hedge funds will do that but not FAANG companies. Typically, it's always a friendly deal and they want to lock in cooperative founders with "golden handcuffs" -- e.g. 4-year stock vesting, etc. So yes, even if the startup founders have less voting power, they're still in the driver's seat in multiple ways. Can anyone think of an example where a FAANG acquired a startup with uncooperative startup founders? I guess it's possible that there's a startup out there and the only thing valuable about the company is its patent portfolio and FAANG doesn't care about the founders skill sets at all. In such a scenario, I guess they could collude with the VCs and override the founders to buy the startup. I just can't think of such an example. The point still remains: if you're a startup founder, you can listen to the offers from Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, when they come calling -- but that doesn't mean you have to accept it and sell. Even though billions of dollars being waved in your face is persuasive, many founders have egos and like them, maybe you don't want to report to LP/MZ/JB as your new boss. Part of the joy of running your own company is that you're not someone's subordinate and you don't have to follow the agenda of a manager above you.
- outuiorew 7y agoDoes anyone remember a video about 10(?) years back predictioning something like Google merging with Amazon merging with some other tech companies? I remember it was somewhat of a parody of how Skynet would come into existence.