> Without intellectual property, why would anyone ever acquire a startup? Just copy it or poach a few key developers. Reddit has no unique "intellectual proper

> Without intellectual property, why would anyone ever acquire a startup? Just copy it or poach a few key developers. Reddit has no unique "intellectual property" of a make-or-break nature, as far as I know. Yet they were bought. There are lots of reasons to buy startups that have nothing to do with patents or copyright: to get the founders, to get the name, domain, and code, to get the userbase (same as last, in some cases), to get contracts or other associated deals, and probably lots more.