Yes. And on top of that, another dirty little secret -- when a startup is the fly buzzing around the ear of the big, established company, and it keeps buzzing a

Yes. And on top of that, another dirty little secret -- when a startup is the fly buzzing around the ear of the big, established company, and it keeps buzzing and buzzing, the big, established company finds it easier to swat than compete with its own buzzing little irritants. And it's a lot easier to swat a fly after you bought it and locked it down with a vesting agreement. A fly that's running around free might require a chase. Lots of acquisitions are to destroy or at least undermine a competitor, potential competitor, or other disruption. Which is why the chest-thumping "change the world!!" "disrupt!!" "free yourself, you caged lion you!!" rhetoric around startups is so sad. The "logical" result is usually the destruction of the startup itself, and the yoking of the founders to an agreement which forces them to stay at a big company -- the company that destroyed or undermined their baby -- in a JOB (cage) for years to get their payoff. Miserable. Having met quite a lot of startup founders post-sale (on the conf circuit, in speakers' dinners and green rooms), I can say… I have never met one who was thrilled about the money, and mostly they have struck me as tired, sad, and defeated.