

Google App Engine: Viable for startup that intends (hopes!) to be bought? - jochip

I'm considering using Google App Engine for a new startup but am concerned that using the Google Datastore (BigTable), Google Authentication, etc will limit the interest of future suitors. 
My principal concern is that it will harder for them to migrate our startup (embedded in Google's operations) into their existing infrastructure. Any advice?
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SwellJoe
Yes, it will make it harder for acquirers to integrate your technology. But
it'll be hard, regardless. It might even take a near-total rewrite.

Then again, you probably don't want to make it easier for an acquirer to
negotiate your price down based on more and more aspects of the software that
are harder to integrate--there will be some due diligence after the letter of
intent is signed, and you'll want them to find that the technology is far
better than they'd expected rather than far worse. I'd suggest pretty strongly
making sure everything you do is abstract enough to roll on other platforms
without too much pain. For BigTable, just make sure you don't do anything that
won't move to Hadoop+Hbase reasonably easily, for example.
Authentication...abstract it out. If you support OpenID, too, you'll be able
to roll out anywhere.

Sure, Google is not evil, but no reason to trust your entire business to a
potential competitor or a potential acquirer that might like having that kind
of advantage over you in the negotiations.

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SwellJoe
Then again, as I read this, I realize that the vast majority of potential
acquirers (everyone except Google and maybe Yahoo), are going to want you to
run on their existing infrastructure (meaning some kind of SQL database). So,
being tied to a BigTable like structure might be a negative, even if you can
run on Hbase, too. I dunno.

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okeumeni
I shared the same concern, that’s why I opted for the more expensive way of
building a staging infrastructure for our next project. Data management
structure and procedure can become an issue for any migration.

