

Ask HN: Would you sell your baby for just stock? - Someguy123

Myself and two friends launched a site about 6 months ago and we have been seeing consistent traffic growth up to its current level of about 2,500 visits/day.  Our current revenue is $0, mostly because we underestimated the time commitment it would take to sell our services, especially while maintaining our day jobs.  Last week we were approached by a company looking for an acquisition, we compliment their current offerings nicely and let them expand into new demographics.  They would like to purchase our company assets and also higher us to continue to grow the site full time.  For the assets (essentially just the site) they are offering a lump sum of stock that we would have to hold for 12 months, at the current value we would each get roughly 50% of our annual salaries.  Employment going forward would mean a moderate raise and also a good chunk of options vested over a 4 year period.
The company is traded on the pink sheets so it feels a little risky to me and we were of course always hoping for a nice cash out.  Our view is in the very worst case we get to break out of our cube-farm jobs and work on something we are passionate about.  Trying to get viewpoints from as many people as possible, what does HN think?
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veb
And I thought you were going to talk about selling human babies for company
stock...

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nowarninglabel
This is obviously completely dependent on how much you like the acquiring
company and if you think you will enjoy working for them. If it was me and I
loved the acquirer then I would do it in a heartbeat.

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Mz
No real opinion, but I will note that your question (in the title) isn't
really an accurate representation of the situation: They are offering you
stock and also jobs, with a pay raise.

I am noting that because the way you worded your question implies that you may
be mentally framing the question that way. A more accurate assessment of what
is really going on may help you think more clearly about this decision.

Good luck with this.

