4 ms·

I've seen a few of these recently where Facebook "acquires the team." What does that mean, exactly? What happens to GazeHawk the product? Who owns it? Does it c

by qq66 15y ago

I've seen a few of these recently where Facebook "acquires the team." What does that mean, exactly? What happens to GazeHawk the product? Who owns it? Does it continue to operate? Who does Facebook pay? What happens to GazeHawk investors?

dimarco 15y ago
In one of Facebook's more recent big acquisitions - Gowalla - the product was shut down within a few weeks.
thehodge 15y ago
"The team welcomes suggestions and thoughts on potential options at team@gazehawk.com." Guessing that means they are open to offers and if nothing comes along.. it will be shuttered..
- prawn 15y ago
  Is the term "shuttered" to describe closing a business unique to the US? Or UK too, thehodge? I hadn't encountered it used in this way prior to the last year or so, and then only through tech writing. Origin is the closing of window shutters, I presume?
  - chime 15y ago
    It's retail door shutters: http://www.kone.com/countries/en_GB/Products/PedestrianDoors/retail/rollershutters/Pages/default.aspx http://www.kone.com/countries/en_GB/Products/PedestrianDoors...
    - prawn 15y ago
      Ahh, a "roller door" in Australia. Thanks.
  - thehodge 15y ago
    Well I'm British and I use it.. I thought it was a lot nicer than deadpooled or sunk... whats the term yahoo used? Sunset
mirsadm 15y ago
I'm also pretty curious to know what happens now. Are the investors going to lose their money?
- nl 15y ago
  "Acquiring the team" usually means the investors make their money back, maybe with a small return. In some cases they received Facebook shares. Eg, FriendFeed sold to Facebook in return for Facebook shares. Obviously they are quite happy now with the deal that they made!
  - Drbble 15y ago
    With something like friendfeed there may be IP issues that may force a buyout, but what about cases (like TeachStreet/Amazon) where the acquirer may prefer to just hire and pay the engineering / management talent, and not pay a chunk to the investors? Do investors have any recourse? Will they change the way they write term sheets to protect themselves in the future
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
wenxun 15y ago
Facebook "acquires the team" means the startup has failed and all the founders and engineers are going to work for Facebook?
brk 15y ago
What does that mean, exactly? It doesn't mean anything, "exactly", and that is part of the point of the semi-vague wording. Generally speaking when something is described as a "team acquisition" it means that the product they were working on was deemed unlikely to be successful. Technically what is happening here is some or all of the current team is being offered jobs at Facebook, quite possibly to work on something totally unrelated to whatever they were doing before. Payments could range from nothing, to a token sum, to paying back the investors, depending on many factors. The founders may or may not get some kind of small bonus/signing bonus in the process. These are usually regarded as "nobody gets rich, but maybe a couple of folks don't lose their asses" deals.
Drbble 15y ago
It is the startup-as-job interview. Technical success (at least as an "artist portfolio" for engineers), but business failure (relative to the rather high standard of a Facebook engineer income, and which wouldn't necessarily be failure in any other context! The only losers are paying customers and investors.) I wonder how investors feel about aquihires like this. Do they structure term sheets to guarantee a payout if the founders abandon ship for a payday at a new job?

by qq66 15y ago

dimarco 15y ago

In one of Facebook's more recent big acquisitions - Gowalla - the product was shut down within a few weeks.

thehodge 15y ago

"The team welcomes suggestions and thoughts on potential options at team@gazehawk.com." Guessing that means they are open to offers and if nothing comes along.. it will be shuttered..

prawn 15y ago
Is the term "shuttered" to describe closing a business unique to the US? Or UK too, thehodge? I hadn't encountered it used in this way prior to the last year or so, and then only through tech writing. Origin is the closing of window shutters, I presume?
- chime 15y ago
  It's retail door shutters: http://www.kone.com/countries/en_GB/Products/PedestrianDoors/retail/rollershutters/Pages/default.aspx http://www.kone.com/countries/en_GB/Products/PedestrianDoors...
  - prawn 15y ago
    Ahh, a "roller door" in Australia. Thanks.
- thehodge 15y ago
  Well I'm British and I use it.. I thought it was a lot nicer than deadpooled or sunk... whats the term yahoo used? Sunset

mirsadm 15y ago

I'm also pretty curious to know what happens now. Are the investors going to lose their money?

nl 15y ago
"Acquiring the team" usually means the investors make their money back, maybe with a small return. In some cases they received Facebook shares. Eg, FriendFeed sold to Facebook in return for Facebook shares. Obviously they are quite happy now with the deal that they made!
- Drbble 15y ago
  With something like friendfeed there may be IP issues that may force a buyout, but what about cases (like TeachStreet/Amazon) where the acquirer may prefer to just hire and pay the engineering / management talent, and not pay a chunk to the investors? Do investors have any recourse? Will they change the way they write term sheets to protect themselves in the future
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

wenxun 15y ago

Facebook "acquires the team" means the startup has failed and all the founders and engineers are going to work for Facebook?

brk 15y ago

What does that mean, exactly? It doesn't mean anything, "exactly", and that is part of the point of the semi-vague wording. Generally speaking when something is described as a "team acquisition" it means that the product they were working on was deemed unlikely to be successful. Technically what is happening here is some or all of the current team is being offered jobs at Facebook, quite possibly to work on something totally unrelated to whatever they were doing before. Payments could range from nothing, to a token sum, to paying back the investors, depending on many factors. The founders may or may not get some kind of small bonus/signing bonus in the process. These are usually regarded as "nobody gets rich, but maybe a couple of folks don't lose their asses" deals.

Drbble 15y ago

It is the startup-as-job interview. Technical success (at least as an "artist portfolio" for engineers), but business failure (relative to the rather high standard of a Facebook engineer income, and which wouldn't necessarily be failure in any other context! The only losers are paying customers and investors.) I wonder how investors feel about aquihires like this. Do they structure term sheets to guarantee a payout if the founders abandon ship for a payday at a new job?