5 ms·

Man, that ending is brutal. So the point of building a business and selling it is so you can post about it on Facebook? Congratulations on all the effort and

by mattm 12y ago

Man, that ending is brutal. So the point of building a business and selling it is so you can post about it on Facebook? Congratulations on all the effort and succes, nonetheless.

Fuzzwah 12y ago
That struck me as strange too. I guess it shows that different things drive different people.
brandnewlow 12y ago
I kept asking the editor if it was a funny enough ending. Sorry it fell flat! I was hoping to end with something a bit silly but that people could relate to. Who hasn't announced big news on Facebook before?
- steven2012 12y ago
  I had the same reaction. The entire article was pretty interesting but ending sort of took the wind out of it and made you seem really superficial, as if your goal was to now brag to all your friends. Oh well, who cares what we think, you're a millionaire!
- bsaul 12y ago
  I found it more honest than funny, but definitely not weird. A question i have now : now that you've made a company "for the cash and glory", are you going to make a company that truely interests you ? I'm not saying you can't find interesting things in online advertising company, as i've been in one myself. But every day i spent in that company, i kept asking myself "is this really what i want to do with my skills ? Help selling credit purchase to poor people searching for "debt" on google ?"
- amirmc 12y ago
  It runs the risk of sounding conceited rather than funny. It almost came across to me that way, but not quite (I could see the attempt at humour). You're not coming across that way here, just so you know.
- beat 12y ago
  I recently announced on FB that I was finally quitting my dayjob double life to go full-time on my startup, and my friends were amazingly supportive. They've probably gotten tired of listening to me whine for a year about how hard my double life is. :)
- Finbarr 12y ago
  I found it amusing! Congrats on the sale. Sounds like a painful process and it's interesting to read about what's involved.
- graeme 12y ago
  I thought it was fine. Facebook is how we announce stuff these days. Your story made clear that people really responded to it, and congratulated you off Facebook.
- Theodores 12y ago
  So people that really know you 'get' the joke, as do the people on HN with a little bit of prompting. The wider audience aren't to know. That is positively Shakespearean - a joke that goes over the head of some but not all. A lot has been written on this thread about DD - something I did not know about before. So you have written a great inspirational story, shared something new and sparked debate. Well done and good luck with your next venture!
- kartman 12y ago
  felt genuine and authentic. congrats and enjoy the success!
- lzecon 12y ago
  I want to know what you actually posted on Facebook now!
- boxcardavin 12y ago
  If we exit I plan on telling as few people as possible, why did you want to directly announce to a bunch of people that you now have more money than them?
blazespin 12y ago
Lol, it's about the most honest thing anyone has ever posted. Instinctively this is what drives us all to be great - the envy of our peers. Anyone who denies this, is just denying that they are living breathing human beings. The trick is to use these instincts to inspire ourselves to do higher level, more interesting forebrain things.
- fortawesome 12y ago
  My old college roommate just took his startup public. It now has a market cap of 2.81B. My childhood friend teaches a medical device class at Stanford and has been a part of several successful startups. They're both doing quite well for themselves, according to some metrics. But in the end, I don't think you can't let this stuff drive you. Gotta live your own life the way you think is right according to how you measure success. And success metrics bound to external factors tend to sap happiness in the end rather than drive it.
- bqe 12y ago
  I agree. Who hasn't wanted to win big to show someone that you were as great as you thought you were? To finally have a big success to brag about. To finally be someone.
- Dewie 12y ago
  To some degree, perhaps. But some people might be more motivated by the money, or "changing the world" (apparently apps can change the world), or something entirely different.
  - blazespin 12y ago
    Why do you want to change the world? Because you want to be great in the eyes of others! People who don't care about what their peers think of them are sociopaths. I do agree though, let your forebrain help pick your friends carefully. That way you can be the envy of interesting people who make interesting choices.
    - Dewie 12y ago
eldilibra 12y ago
Yep. It came across as cringe-worthy arrogance. The comment here stating that we all do things for the envy of our peers seems to be coming from a worldview not centered on compassion, which is sad. EDIT: I re-read the comment I mentioned, and I've changed my mind. The commenter said that our instinctual response is as such, which is probably true for most of us.
- brandnewlow 12y ago
  Well, maybe that was the point. It IS absurd that after all this work, one of the fun parts was sharing the news on Facebook.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- eldilibra 12y ago
  Your honestly is appreciated, nonetheless.
ForHackernews 12y ago
> So the point of building a business and selling it is so you can post about it on Facebook? I think the point is getting millions of dollars.
dba7dba 12y ago
Facebook just HAPPENS to be the medium. It's about sharing your success and telling people that you are NOT a failure. I see no problem someone telling others he's not a failure as long as the process to get there was ethical and legal, and in this case he seems to have done more than just that (like giving actual shares to employees). Congrats.
tptacek 12y ago
That was the truest part of the story! If anything, he should have played up the "thud" at the end. We ran Matasano for ~7 years before talking to acquirers. At the low points, when the stress was making me continually nauseous, I remember staring out my back window into the yard daydreaming about what it would be like to tell Erin we were selling and the stress was over. When it actually happened, it was the most anticlimactic thing ever. I flew to NYC to sign a zillion documents in a law office. We announced to the team. I went to the airport around 2PM to fly back to Chicago, but a storm took out my flight, so I ended up alone and exhausted at the airport Marriott, eating the worst chicken caesar ever and watching reruns. The most euphoric part of the whole experience happened ~4 weeks before closing, when the deal was still pretty uncertain, sitting across the table at a sushi place in Rogers Park with Erin talking about what we might do with our kitchen if we actually had some free cash to spend. All the dopamine release happened when the sale was still hypothetical! Our story hit Facebook too, and I got a flood of comments, but I felt stupid responding to them; so many of my Fb connections aren't technical, it just seemed like, "who cares?".
- homakov 12y ago
  Do you still work for the company you sold because you have to or mostly because you like it?
  - tptacek 12y ago
    We're a professional services company, so the only asset we really have is our team. I love our team. Eventually I'll move on, but it'll be hard. We hit on some really good ideas for recruiting good people, they worked better than I could have imagined, and so it's sort of a privilege to be able to share offices with our consultant team. Another distinction between us and a normal acquisition is that we're run as a subsidiary (this is especially ironic because "acquihire" is an epithet in the valley, and all consulting acquisitions are fundamentally acquihires --- but our acquihire left us with an enormous amount of autonomy). Our acquirer was able to do that in part because they'd already acquired two of the best teams in software security before they snapped us up. Since we didn't get stripped of our identity or processes when we got acquired, there really wasn't much of a difference in work life before/after, and so no jarring shock after the deal closed. We've had much lower turnover after the deal than we had before it.
Kiro 12y ago
Best part of the article and exactly the thing I'm thinking about when it comes to big life-changing events that could happen in the future. Why not?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Zelphyr 12y ago
My understanding is the most common response to a successful exit isn't elation but rather a massive sigh of relief. Which just highlights that if you're going to start a company then do so because you WANT build that company. Not because you want to flip it.

by mattm 12y ago

Man, that ending is brutal. So the point of building a business and selling it is so you can post about it on Facebook? Congratulations on all the effort and succes, nonetheless.

Fuzzwah 12y ago

That struck me as strange too. I guess it shows that different things drive different people.

brandnewlow 12y ago

I kept asking the editor if it was a funny enough ending. Sorry it fell flat! I was hoping to end with something a bit silly but that people could relate to. Who hasn't announced big news on Facebook before?

steven2012 12y ago
I had the same reaction. The entire article was pretty interesting but ending sort of took the wind out of it and made you seem really superficial, as if your goal was to now brag to all your friends. Oh well, who cares what we think, you're a millionaire!
bsaul 12y ago
I found it more honest than funny, but definitely not weird. A question i have now : now that you've made a company "for the cash and glory", are you going to make a company that truely interests you ? I'm not saying you can't find interesting things in online advertising company, as i've been in one myself. But every day i spent in that company, i kept asking myself "is this really what i want to do with my skills ? Help selling credit purchase to poor people searching for "debt" on google ?"
amirmc 12y ago
It runs the risk of sounding conceited rather than funny. It almost came across to me that way, but not quite (I could see the attempt at humour). You're not coming across that way here, just so you know.
beat 12y ago
I recently announced on FB that I was finally quitting my dayjob double life to go full-time on my startup, and my friends were amazingly supportive. They've probably gotten tired of listening to me whine for a year about how hard my double life is. :)
Finbarr 12y ago
I found it amusing! Congrats on the sale. Sounds like a painful process and it's interesting to read about what's involved.
graeme 12y ago
I thought it was fine. Facebook is how we announce stuff these days. Your story made clear that people really responded to it, and congratulated you off Facebook.
Theodores 12y ago
So people that really know you 'get' the joke, as do the people on HN with a little bit of prompting. The wider audience aren't to know. That is positively Shakespearean - a joke that goes over the head of some but not all. A lot has been written on this thread about DD - something I did not know about before. So you have written a great inspirational story, shared something new and sparked debate. Well done and good luck with your next venture!
kartman 12y ago
felt genuine and authentic. congrats and enjoy the success!
lzecon 12y ago
I want to know what you actually posted on Facebook now!
boxcardavin 12y ago
If we exit I plan on telling as few people as possible, why did you want to directly announce to a bunch of people that you now have more money than them?

blazespin 12y ago

Lol, it's about the most honest thing anyone has ever posted. Instinctively this is what drives us all to be great - the envy of our peers. Anyone who denies this, is just denying that they are living breathing human beings. The trick is to use these instincts to inspire ourselves to do higher level, more interesting forebrain things.

fortawesome 12y ago
My old college roommate just took his startup public. It now has a market cap of 2.81B. My childhood friend teaches a medical device class at Stanford and has been a part of several successful startups. They're both doing quite well for themselves, according to some metrics. But in the end, I don't think you can't let this stuff drive you. Gotta live your own life the way you think is right according to how you measure success. And success metrics bound to external factors tend to sap happiness in the end rather than drive it.
bqe 12y ago
I agree. Who hasn't wanted to win big to show someone that you were as great as you thought you were? To finally have a big success to brag about. To finally be someone.
Dewie 12y ago
To some degree, perhaps. But some people might be more motivated by the money, or "changing the world" (apparently apps can change the world), or something entirely different.
- blazespin 12y ago
  Why do you want to change the world? Because you want to be great in the eyes of others! People who don't care about what their peers think of them are sociopaths. I do agree though, let your forebrain help pick your friends carefully. That way you can be the envy of interesting people who make interesting choices.
  - Dewie 12y ago

eldilibra 12y ago

Yep. It came across as cringe-worthy arrogance. The comment here stating that we all do things for the envy of our peers seems to be coming from a worldview not centered on compassion, which is sad. EDIT: I re-read the comment I mentioned, and I've changed my mind. The commenter said that our instinctual response is as such, which is probably true for most of us.

brandnewlow 12y ago
Well, maybe that was the point. It IS absurd that after all this work, one of the fun parts was sharing the news on Facebook.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
eldilibra 12y ago
Your honestly is appreciated, nonetheless.

ForHackernews 12y ago

> So the point of building a business and selling it is so you can post about it on Facebook? I think the point is getting millions of dollars.

dba7dba 12y ago

Facebook just HAPPENS to be the medium. It's about sharing your success and telling people that you are NOT a failure. I see no problem someone telling others he's not a failure as long as the process to get there was ethical and legal, and in this case he seems to have done more than just that (like giving actual shares to employees). Congrats.

tptacek 12y ago

That was the truest part of the story! If anything, he should have played up the "thud" at the end. We ran Matasano for ~7 years before talking to acquirers. At the low points, when the stress was making me continually nauseous, I remember staring out my back window into the yard daydreaming about what it would be like to tell Erin we were selling and the stress was over. When it actually happened, it was the most anticlimactic thing ever. I flew to NYC to sign a zillion documents in a law office. We announced to the team. I went to the airport around 2PM to fly back to Chicago, but a storm took out my flight, so I ended up alone and exhausted at the airport Marriott, eating the worst chicken caesar ever and watching reruns. The most euphoric part of the whole experience happened ~4 weeks before closing, when the deal was still pretty uncertain, sitting across the table at a sushi place in Rogers Park with Erin talking about what we might do with our kitchen if we actually had some free cash to spend. All the dopamine release happened when the sale was still hypothetical! Our story hit Facebook too, and I got a flood of comments, but I felt stupid responding to them; so many of my Fb connections aren't technical, it just seemed like, "who cares?".

homakov 12y ago
Do you still work for the company you sold because you have to or mostly because you like it?
- tptacek 12y ago
  We're a professional services company, so the only asset we really have is our team. I love our team. Eventually I'll move on, but it'll be hard. We hit on some really good ideas for recruiting good people, they worked better than I could have imagined, and so it's sort of a privilege to be able to share offices with our consultant team. Another distinction between us and a normal acquisition is that we're run as a subsidiary (this is especially ironic because "acquihire" is an epithet in the valley, and all consulting acquisitions are fundamentally acquihires --- but our acquihire left us with an enormous amount of autonomy). Our acquirer was able to do that in part because they'd already acquired two of the best teams in software security before they snapped us up. Since we didn't get stripped of our identity or processes when we got acquired, there really wasn't much of a difference in work life before/after, and so no jarring shock after the deal closed. We've had much lower turnover after the deal than we had before it.

Kiro 12y ago

Best part of the article and exactly the thing I'm thinking about when it comes to big life-changing events that could happen in the future. Why not?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Zelphyr 12y ago

My understanding is the most common response to a successful exit isn't elation but rather a massive sigh of relief. Which just highlights that if you're going to start a company then do so because you WANT build that company. Not because you want to flip it.