4 ms·

The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD

The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD. (On a side note, I'm genuinely happy for you all. Getting paid isn't a negative. It's a huge opportunity, but don't patronise your users). "Yey us. :D We're super excited to announce we got acquired. High-five... too slow... Now go f* yourselves." It's incredibly condescending to assume that any of your users share your happiness and are apart of this experience... "We’re really excited..." You use "we" so many times as if your users are apart of your acqui-hire, yet only mention "you" (your users who made this possible) in the closing statement. Be honest and graceful, but asking your users for a high five on the way out isn't the way to do it. PS. I hate posting negative comments. I'm a Brit, and like to be polite all the time.... EDIT: Call me out on this if you think I'm wrong. Other people who have read it think I'm just reading into it way too much. I tend to agree that I'm particular, and it could easily be chalked down to me being overly zealous to criticize another successful acqui-hire. :)

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
paultannenbaum 13y ago
I received an email from them with the same content before I opened hacker news, and had the same thoughts as you. So no, I dont think your reading into it too much.
dolphenstein 13y ago
I had the same feeling when reading this post. It's one thing to spin a positive when acquired for the product and not the people. When you're about to shutdown a service, this kind of self-congratulation is more like a middle finger to the users. A humbly apologetic post would've been a better goodwill gesture. High five each other in private.
jcampbell1 13y ago
They don't have "users" in the same way a free blog site has users. I see no reason to be negative in this case. If your favorite taco stand owner sells out to taco bell, the owner should be free to celebrate. You won't be able to get his tacos in the future, but it is not like he broke some implicit promise to always sell you tacos, nor are the tacos he sold you in the past somehow tainted now. Shutdowns are only a problem when users make an investment in the platform.
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  I'm making an investment in the platform by using the platform. You don't think people have a right to complain? See: World coming to an end when Google discontinued Reader, a FREE PLATFORM.
- ersii 13y ago
  The parent post is not saying the Sold people aren't free to celebrate. It's about how you do it in front of your former customers and users.
_sentient 13y ago
Companies don't get acquired thoughtlessly, and I'm fairly sure the founders understand the implications for their users. I'm sure a lot of thought went into this, and one way or another they are going to have to announce their decision. It makes sense that they would approach this from as positive an angle as possible. I mean, what's the alternative? Are you going to announce to your users that your promises will go unfulfilled, and that they can consider themselves shafted henceforth? Yes, this news is being spun in a positive light, but I think that's both reasonable and expected in these situations.
- TeMPOraL 13y ago
  > Are you going to announce to your users that your promises will go unfulfilled, and that they can consider themselves shafted henceforth? What do you think sounds better to users - the above, or the above + "and we're so so happy about this; high five, suckers."? Also, companies indeed don't get acquired thoughtlessly, but I doubt any single thought went toward users. I'd be surprised if anyone thought, even for a second, that there's a Joe and a Jane out there who rely on their service. Startups have no sense of responsibility for the userbase they built nowdays.
jinushaun 13y ago
The big difference, of course, is that Sold doesn't have regular users. It's not like Reader shutting down and all your saved articles disappearing into the void. Users who completed a transaction got paid.
xianshou 13y ago
Thank you for a refreshing dose of the truth! When you shut down the product, an acquisition is no good for the users, plain and simple. It may or may not be a personal success, but no matter what, it is the end of the vision that you and your customers shared. They were your supporters, your believers, and the lifeblood of your product, and disguising your celebration as everyone's is an indignity to them. I sold my company and shut down my product because the right opportunity arrived at the right time. But I didn't frame it as a triumph for them. My words, from the acquisition email: "We’re excited...but it’s always bittersweet when something good comes to an end."
ryan-allen 13y ago
I have the same sentiments. As a user who relies on a service, it always feels very much a "we just got a huge wad of cash, we care more about this than if you used our serviced and paid for it, we're rich and fuck you if you used our service!". This pattern of acquire and shut down makes me careful of which services I invest in using. If there is no paid plan I get very nervous. If it is VC backed and free I get nervous. I'd rather support a business and help them stick around and work on their product. One product I was very upset about was an online collaborative editor that I was gearing up to get our team to use, which was suddenly acquired by Google and shut down as they didn't want any competition to their soon to be realised collaborative editing in Google Docs.
- lstamour 13y ago
  For that last point, if it was Writely, my understanding, from a distance, was that it was a build-or-buy and they bought, then later rewrote. And rewrote again.
nl 13y ago
I think you are wrong here. As I understand it, Sold was a service to help you sell stuff. Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. So now people who are selling things no longer have the opportunity to use the Sold service anymore. I think it is unfair to criticize people for choosing not to offer a service to new customers anymore. More generally I think it is even more unfair to criticize people for closing a business that wasn't very successful (because success = profit, and if it was so profitable it wouldn't be sold to be shutdown). Finally, aquihires are much, MUCH better than most of the alternatives for a failing business. We've all heard stories of users panicking when a service shuts down after someone fails to pay the hosting bills. Aquihires avoid that scenario.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  Why would you think this? You seem to imagine that people only sell one thing ever. I buy and sell a fair bit of specialist equipement each year (pro audio stuff) and there's a lot more stuff that I'd like to sell but don't seriously try to because it's a bit of a hassle to research prices etc.
- PhasmaFelis 13y ago
  > Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. There's people who make their entire living selling things online, and have been for at least 10-15 years (how long has eBay been around, again?)
  - nl 13y ago
    Yes, this is true - but we are looking at a very specific case here: Sold, and my understanding is that there marketplace never really took off. That means it is doubtful there are people depending on Sold as a means of support.
  - makomk 13y ago
jahewson 13y ago
Nitpick: apart -> a part
vvvVVVvvv 13y ago
I was about to say you'd fit well in Europe, then I saw you are a Brit. My comment still holds, if you see what I mean ;) It's really something cultural I guess but I can only feel the same way as you do.
buro9 13y ago
Boiler plates: "You're all very talented and deserve success" - To staff when you are making staff redundant and/or shutting the company. "We're super excited we got acquired" - When you're shutting down your service and choosing to exit via acqui-hire to save face. A catalogue of such boilerplates might be quite insightful to the people who are consuming them and at the same time could help startups out who are in dire need of copy for the right occasion.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

paultannenbaum 13y ago

I received an email from them with the same content before I opened hacker news, and had the same thoughts as you. So no, I dont think your reading into it too much.

dolphenstein 13y ago

I had the same feeling when reading this post. It's one thing to spin a positive when acquired for the product and not the people. When you're about to shutdown a service, this kind of self-congratulation is more like a middle finger to the users. A humbly apologetic post would've been a better goodwill gesture. High five each other in private.

jcampbell1 13y ago

They don't have "users" in the same way a free blog site has users. I see no reason to be negative in this case. If your favorite taco stand owner sells out to taco bell, the owner should be free to celebrate. You won't be able to get his tacos in the future, but it is not like he broke some implicit promise to always sell you tacos, nor are the tacos he sold you in the past somehow tainted now. Shutdowns are only a problem when users make an investment in the platform.

toomuchtodo 13y ago
I'm making an investment in the platform by using the platform. You don't think people have a right to complain? See: World coming to an end when Google discontinued Reader, a FREE PLATFORM.
ersii 13y ago
The parent post is not saying the Sold people aren't free to celebrate. It's about how you do it in front of your former customers and users.

_sentient 13y ago

Companies don't get acquired thoughtlessly, and I'm fairly sure the founders understand the implications for their users. I'm sure a lot of thought went into this, and one way or another they are going to have to announce their decision. It makes sense that they would approach this from as positive an angle as possible. I mean, what's the alternative? Are you going to announce to your users that your promises will go unfulfilled, and that they can consider themselves shafted henceforth? Yes, this news is being spun in a positive light, but I think that's both reasonable and expected in these situations.

TeMPOraL 13y ago
> Are you going to announce to your users that your promises will go unfulfilled, and that they can consider themselves shafted henceforth? What do you think sounds better to users - the above, or the above + "and we're so so happy about this; high five, suckers."? Also, companies indeed don't get acquired thoughtlessly, but I doubt any single thought went toward users. I'd be surprised if anyone thought, even for a second, that there's a Joe and a Jane out there who rely on their service. Startups have no sense of responsibility for the userbase they built nowdays.

jinushaun 13y ago

The big difference, of course, is that Sold doesn't have regular users. It's not like Reader shutting down and all your saved articles disappearing into the void. Users who completed a transaction got paid.

xianshou 13y ago

Thank you for a refreshing dose of the truth! When you shut down the product, an acquisition is no good for the users, plain and simple. It may or may not be a personal success, but no matter what, it is the end of the vision that you and your customers shared. They were your supporters, your believers, and the lifeblood of your product, and disguising your celebration as everyone's is an indignity to them. I sold my company and shut down my product because the right opportunity arrived at the right time. But I didn't frame it as a triumph for them. My words, from the acquisition email: "We’re excited...but it’s always bittersweet when something good comes to an end."

ryan-allen 13y ago

I have the same sentiments. As a user who relies on a service, it always feels very much a "we just got a huge wad of cash, we care more about this than if you used our serviced and paid for it, we're rich and fuck you if you used our service!". This pattern of acquire and shut down makes me careful of which services I invest in using. If there is no paid plan I get very nervous. If it is VC backed and free I get nervous. I'd rather support a business and help them stick around and work on their product. One product I was very upset about was an online collaborative editor that I was gearing up to get our team to use, which was suddenly acquired by Google and shut down as they didn't want any competition to their soon to be realised collaborative editing in Google Docs.

lstamour 13y ago
For that last point, if it was Writely, my understanding, from a distance, was that it was a build-or-buy and they bought, then later rewrote. And rewrote again.

nl 13y ago

I think you are wrong here. As I understand it, Sold was a service to help you sell stuff. Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. So now people who are selling things no longer have the opportunity to use the Sold service anymore. I think it is unfair to criticize people for choosing not to offer a service to new customers anymore. More generally I think it is even more unfair to criticize people for closing a business that wasn't very successful (because success = profit, and if it was so profitable it wouldn't be sold to be shutdown). Finally, aquihires are much, MUCH better than most of the alternatives for a failing business. We've all heard stories of users panicking when a service shuts down after someone fails to pay the hosting bills. Aquihires avoid that scenario.

anigbrowl 13y ago
Why would you think this? You seem to imagine that people only sell one thing ever. I buy and sell a fair bit of specialist equipement each year (pro audio stuff) and there's a lot more stuff that I'd like to sell but don't seriously try to because it's a bit of a hassle to research prices etc.
PhasmaFelis 13y ago
> Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. There's people who make their entire living selling things online, and have been for at least 10-15 years (how long has eBay been around, again?)
- nl 13y ago
  Yes, this is true - but we are looking at a very specific case here: Sold, and my understanding is that there marketplace never really took off. That means it is doubtful there are people depending on Sold as a means of support.
- makomk 13y ago

jahewson 13y ago

Nitpick: apart -> a part

vvvVVVvvv 13y ago

I was about to say you'd fit well in Europe, then I saw you are a Brit. My comment still holds, if you see what I mean ;) It's really something cultural I guess but I can only feel the same way as you do.

buro9 13y ago

Boiler plates: "You're all very talented and deserve success" - To staff when you are making staff redundant and/or shutting the company. "We're super excited we got acquired" - When you're shutting down your service and choosing to exit via acqui-hire to save face. A catalogue of such boilerplates might be quite insightful to the people who are consuming them and at the same time could help startups out who are in dire need of copy for the right occasion.