This matches my view on the acqui-hire. A view that I didn't feel was reflected elsewhere, let alone by a top HN poster. This lack of validation of the view sur

This matches my view on the acqui-hire. A view that I didn't feel was reflected elsewhere, let alone by a top HN poster. This lack of validation of the view surprisingly mattered to me, it made me uncertain of the strength of my own opinion. My current position is that last year I was just shy of a 6-figure salary, but also had a "lifestyle business" (read: number of websites) that are successful as projects (but exist as a stable and growing business). Late year I made the decision to quit the comfort of the salaried position, to use the projects as the bread and butter and to build a technology based product and company. I've now been approached with a serious offer from a large company in my sector, and a somewhat serious approach from a medium sized company in this area (sports related online communities). During discussions it's become obvious that they're willing to somewhat inflate the offer for the community to acquire me fully too. That is they're not interested in an offer that doesn't include me and the offer is inflated to make that attractive. Discussing this with non-startup friends, not one of them can fully comprehend why I wouldn't accept a swollen bank account and an envious salary. For me, the thing that I deeply believe is that the technology startup hasn't even shown its' potential, and nor has it yet failed... in fact, I've barely started. I quickly came to the conclusion that an acqui-hire is (right now) the worst possible thing that could happen. The end result would be the same as failure, and were I to have failed then not taking the money would be foolish. But right now it's so premature that I feel that to allow myself to be purchased is tantamount to seppuku. It's really good to see that opinion shared. Most seem to celebrate the big earnings for founders and the cash-out for investors... but all I see is the wasted potential.