Hear hear. The positive comments, as of this comment, appear mostly to be of the form "I got more money" with an implication that, technically, there was still

Hear hear. The positive comments, as of this comment, appear mostly to be of the form "I got more money" with an implication that, technically, there was still interesting work. However, I'm not seeing much in the way of remarks regarding culture clash or lack thereof. Having now been acquired "successfully" twice (once quite recently), and having seen numerous other acquisitions from the acquirer's side or second-hand through friends and family, I have yet to see one go well. More specifically, for the startup-minded folks, who joined a small company in large part because of the size, being integrated into a larger company is, at best, temporarily tolerable. For all of the reasons you outlined, the outlook tends to be much more bleak. Effectively double an already good salary would help assuage the pain, without totally eliminating it, and, usually, the retention packages are on a time scale of years, rather than months or even quarters. I could imagine that a totally hands-off acquisition would work out much better, but I have yet to see such a one.