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Do you still work for the company you sold because you have to or mostly because you like it?

by homakov 12y ago

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.
- homakov 12y ago
  > so the only asset we really have is our team Theoretically yes, but I assume at least 40% is getting the brand and your long term contracts (=guaranteed revenue for few years). In startup's acquihire the acquirer often gets rid of brand and existing contracts are not so important.
  - tptacek 12y ago
    Not so much in professional services, no. The contacts have some value, but if you understand services, you know that the pillars are "sales" and "delivery", and in our field, most companies are constrained by "delivery".
    - homakov 12y ago
      It is a bit of surprise to hear that. Of course delivering good reports is highly important but ability to sell it to a huge company at decent price plus explain why they need it, that is as hard as delivery, imo. Like with WAFs and anit virus, not the best software wins, best marketing does.
      - tptacek 12y ago
        That's true but irrelevant. Giant 150+ person body shops do win most of the work, but they don't win the best work; the best work is bought for people who can't afford to blow a release cycle because a scanner jockey screwed up. If the State of Utah Public Pension Department's Gigantic Software Consulting Vendor wants to farm out those 900-page mainframe-style J2EE shitshows to [GIANT SECURITY VENDOR], I'm just fine with that. Nobody in this field is big enough to deliver all the work. Software security is delivery-constrained. You can be selective about your clients. Be happy about that, and don't worry about the shitty projects body shops are selling.

Do you still work for the company you sold because you have to or mostly because you like it?

by homakov 12y ago

Do you still work for the company you sold because you have to or mostly because you like it?

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.

homakov 12y ago
> so the only asset we really have is our team Theoretically yes, but I assume at least 40% is getting the brand and your long term contracts (=guaranteed revenue for few years). In startup's acquihire the acquirer often gets rid of brand and existing contracts are not so important.
- tptacek 12y ago
  Not so much in professional services, no. The contacts have some value, but if you understand services, you know that the pillars are "sales" and "delivery", and in our field, most companies are constrained by "delivery".
  - homakov 12y ago
    It is a bit of surprise to hear that. Of course delivering good reports is highly important but ability to sell it to a huge company at decent price plus explain why they need it, that is as hard as delivery, imo. Like with WAFs and anit virus, not the best software wins, best marketing does.
    - tptacek 12y ago
      That's true but irrelevant. Giant 150+ person body shops do win most of the work, but they don't win the best work; the best work is bought for people who can't afford to blow a release cycle because a scanner jockey screwed up. If the State of Utah Public Pension Department's Gigantic Software Consulting Vendor wants to farm out those 900-page mainframe-style J2EE shitshows to [GIANT SECURITY VENDOR], I'm just fine with that. Nobody in this field is big enough to deliver all the work. Software security is delivery-constrained. You can be selective about your clients. Be happy about that, and don't worry about the shitty projects body shops are selling.