
How I Screwed Up My Google Acquisition - jayro
http://www.codusoperandi.com/posts/how-i-screwed-up-my-google-acquisition
======
grellas
Prospective acquirers will often pursue potential targets simultaneously and,
if they go silent on you, this may have little or nothing to do with whether
you followed up diligently or not. In my experience, when an acquiring company
wants to move, they know how to do so quickly, at least to engage in
sufficient due diligence to see whether they might want to do the deal. Thus,
when you do get in a situation where you are getting slow or evasive responses
after an initial expression of interest, or where things go silent after an
initial set of exchanges, I am not sure there is much you can practically do
about it _unless_ you have options to sell to others and use this as a lever
to speed the process. You can be as aggressive as you like in such cases but,
if the acquirer is simply trying to keep options open, you won't be able to
force things absent a credible threat of going elsewhere.

That said, this one may have simply fallen through the cracks owing to the
early failures to follow up more aggressively. Only the Google people can know
for sure.

~~~
encoderer
Of course, all of this is learned between ages 15 and 30 with the wonderful
(and not so wonderful) women we meet :)

Sometimes you're the acquirer, sometimes you're the acquired, and sometimes
you're the one sitting there wondering why it went dark :)

~~~
jtheory
There's probably a way to phrase that without implying that HN is a
"gentleman's-only" club. (With every romantic interest we entertain?) Or that
the learning is limited to the 15-30 age range -- I know people my father's
age who are learning some very painful lessons in this department...

Regardless, the point has merit, and in either context you can't win (or even
gain the experience you need to win) unless you're in the game. :)

------
jlees
One thing I have learnt since joining Google: everyone inside Google is always
infernally busy.

I'm British, so my concepts of bothering people, being a nuisance, and being
impolite are already vastly out of skew with the American work culture -- I've
had to relearn a lot of that behaviour since coming to the USA and Google.

IMO it's not really specifically a Google thing. I think the lesson to be
learned from this post (and as a founder, I'm wincing along with you jayro) is
simple: when dealing with a big company, keep yourself in the radar or you'll
vanish altogether.

But please don't be too crazy or in your face. I administered Summer of Code
for our open source project this year, and one very keen applicant kept IMing
me for status updates. Unfortunately, he was based in India, and so this meant
my phone buzzing at 3am. Suffice it to say (and for mostly unrelated reasons),
he didn't get accepted.

Be sensitive, be fresh, be relevant, be interesting.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
_Suffice it to say (and for mostly unrelated reasons), he didn't get
accepted._

Maybe it's more of an American idiom, but usually when we say "suffice it to
say", we mean it _was_ for related reasons :)

~~~
epo
Just like the American "could care less" is the same as the British "couldn't
care less". Two nations divided by a common language as someone is supposed to
have said.

~~~
theturtle32
"could care less" is actually _wrong_ \-- it literally means that you _do_
actually care about the thing in question.

~~~
danwolff
You are correct, of course. It is so frustrating that I've justified it for
the incorrect as a shortening of:

I could (exhibit that I) care less (because I do care less than I currently
exhibit).

Or, as a matter of giving the benefit of the doubt:

I could (exhibit that I) care less (because I am, through effort, caring more
right now than I would naturally).

~~~
rapind
How about, "I care so little that I can't even be bothered to properly
pronounce that I couldn't care less."

 _or_

"I could care less" is actually sarcasm which implicates that caring is
obviously unlikely.

Both statements display a stronger degree of uncaring than "I couldn't care
less" which is actually a pretty boring and to the point statement. Therefore
I find "I could care less" to be the clear winner to indicate how little I
actually care.

In summary, "I could care less".

~~~
Hixie
Seems to me you care quite a lot!

~~~
rapind
More than you know!

------
joshu
Another one I learned that pops up in this tale: get on the plane if the
meeting is important.

~~~
tptacek
_Telling_ your counterparty that you're about to get on a plane to meet them
is one way to qualify a deal: they may tell you not to.

A bizdev friend of mine taught me another: reschedule a call to a Saturday
(make up a reason). If it's a serious deal... like, "you're going to be
Powerpoint in our office suite"... they'll bitch, but do it.

Sometimes these things are about followup, but a lot of times they're really
about qualification; they may just not be into you. It can be important to
know that if you're otherwise going to spin your wheels.

~~~
jlees
_Telling your counterparty that you're about to get on a plane to meet them is
one way to qualify a deal: they may tell you not to._

Ah, again we see the parallels with dating?

(I did very nearly do this once.)

~~~
rdl
The trick is often to not make it a choice.

"I'll be in town after visiting a customer on Friday, can we get together?" is
much more likely to have a positive response than "should I fly out to meet
with you on Friday?". If the meeting is very important to you (high EV, even
if maybe low odds?), it's sometimes worth not making it clear how important.

In other cases, being willing to make what seem like big sacrifices (getting a
plane the next hour, changing your flight plans, driving cross-country, etc.)
will help your case, if known.

The parallels with dating are very apparent.

------
trickjarrett
A great read about politeness (though it had some negotiating impacts) causing
a missed opportunity. I too err on the side of politeness when it comes to
business interactions and I've learned that more often than not, when I'm
dealing with someone remotely whether it be a colleague or a point of contact,
that the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

I think it was a mistake to let it ride for so long. A few weeks, maybe two
months, and I would have called them up and followed up. Even a short email
positioning myself as asking more out of curiosity than need for an
acquisition, etc.

Anyone else agree? Would you have followed up?

~~~
jayro
Yes, in retrospect I was stupid not to at least have sent a short email or
two. Honestly, I look back and wonder what the hell I was thinking.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
If it's any measure of consolation, your openness in being willing to admit
and discuss this is inspiring.

~~~
jayro
I just wish I could be inspiring in some other way. ;) But thank you for that.

------
patio11
There was a no-holds-barred discussion of the realities of being acquired by s
soulless megacorp at Business of Software 2010, by Eric Sink, who sold a
product to MS. He had a similar hot cold hot cold reception, and the deal was
totally dead twice, prior to it working out. It appears to be the nature of
the beast.

If BOS publishes the video of that, I'll post it -- it was one of the most
eyeopening talks at the conference for me (and that is saying something, since
they were virtually without exception outstanding).

P.S. Google is a soulless megacorp with above average PR.

------
jordanmessina
Preezo sounds like it was built to be acquired from day one. I think that
mindset makes it a lot more difficult to deal with missed opportunities and
can really make the entire experience of building a product unenjoyable. This
is probably why so many people suggest building something you want instead of
what you think others will want; at least you can enjoy the fruits of your
labor in the process.

~~~
jules
And because building something people want instead of what you think some
company wants makes you less dependent on a lottery and more dependent on your
own skills.

~~~
jayro
That's why I'm building Appignite now. It's something I want for myself and I
know it's something other people need. I'll definitely talk in-depth about
that in my "Lessons Learned from Preezo" post. Stay tuned. ;)

------
johnrob
Definitely a frustrating story to read. That said, two things stand out:

1) Deals fall through. PG et all write about this all the time. It's probably
easy to figure why they fail in hindsight, but that doesn't make them any
easier to manage in the future.

2) It seems like the main premise of the idea was to get bought by
google/yahoo/microsoft. That is a dangerous strategy to employ out of the
gates (although back in 2005 there was no hacker news and a whole let less
general knowledge about the black art of startups).

------
robk
The "get on a plane" advice is crucial. Product managers lead acquisitions at
Google and are the hardest to reach. If you get any interest expressed from
them, try to get in person w/ them within a couple weeks max, even if just for
coffee. From there, it's helpful to send them a monthly or bi-monthly ping
just to keep them abreast of any developments. They might not be ready to
acquire now, but it's very helpful to remind them of you when they're ready or
thinking of an acquisition

*disclaimer - ex-Google PM

------
bherms
I think the moral here applies to more than just dealing with big companies,
but anything in general. Persistence can pay off big time.

Quick example: I interviewed with a company back in August and was told I'd
hear from them in a week. I didn't so I began emailing the CEO (who I'd
interviewed with) at least once a week for almost three months (never got a
yes/no, so I kept "checking in"). Because I kept myself on the radar and kept
pursuing it, when something finally opened up, I got the job and was told that
they admired my persistence. Don't be afraid of annoying people -- if the
answer isn't final yet, keep trying.

------
harshaw
A somewhat similar story: around the same time I was working on Numbler, a
collaborative spreadsheet that I launched (unluckily) a couple of months
before google spreadsheet went live. Numbler had some cool features that would
enable you to see real time changes from other collaborators, see dynamic
updates when someone else changed cell formulas, integration with internet
data sources, etc.

I got the attention of Google and was flown into NYC for an interview / talk
with the spreadsheet team. Similarly, I was also a one man shop since my
founder had bailed on me and left for Google 3 months prior! Things went pear
shaped when I failed to get through the algorithm gristmill. I had one poor
interview with a beaver/rat ringed kid who was eager to demonstrate his
intellectual superiority (or so it felt at the time).

The frustrating part is that as an entrepreneur your thoughts are ranging from
how to make money/business model to UI design to backend engineering. I was
expecting that the googlers would at least show some interest in Numbler - but
that wasn't how the meetings were structured. The google PM (Fuzzy was his
name) was interested, but seemed hamstrung by the google process. Google never
asked me about any of the tricks I used work to build the UI, COMET style
networking for responsiveness, etc.

In retrospect, Numbler was an acquisition play and needed a much better
strategy and larger vision to succeed. I did end up with a google NYC
t-shirt...

~~~
jayro
Yeah, I remember Numbler! It sounds like a very similar story except that you
just got a little further down the road. If you'd be willing to tell it in
more detail it would be fun to interview you on the podcast I co-host -
TechZing (www.techzinglive.com). If you think you might be interested then
please send me an email.

------
Maro
I don't have any relevant experience, but this sounds odd. If the product was
good (better than Zenter), than why didn't they acquire Preezo at that later
point in time?

~~~
jayro
I think (and this is just speculation) that they may have already developed a
lot of similar technology in-house in addition to the Zenter acquisition. By
the time I got around to contacting them again they probably just didn't need
it anymore.

------
zandorg
I (a UK developer) just dealt with a company who were interested in my Pretext
software, which finds text in images. I rang at 2PM their time when I rang,
and when his development committee finally rejected me after a month of
waiting, he said "You have written very capable and useful software - however,
we want to develop in-house", I was polite and said goodbye, etc.

Everything to gain. Nothing lost but a couple transatlantic phone calls.

~~~
megrimlock
You should ping them again once some time has passed, just to inquire as to
how things are going. It will only take you a moment, and there's a non-zero
chance they may have grappled with the problem enough to have changed their
mind and be eager to speak with you.

------
noonespecial
It also says something about the randomness of the startup scene. You can have
just the right product at just the right time and _still_ lose.

------
waterside81
I gotta say hearing about things not going one's way is more informative and
educational than hearing about when things all go peachy and a founder walks
out with $X million. If you only read TC you'd think every startup in the
world is cashing in.

------
splatcollision
This has inspired me to send some follow up emails on some leads I've been
chasing, thanks!

~~~
jayro
Yes, do that! I now send status check emails to all of my consulting clients
and prospects with great regularity.

~~~
paraschopra
Be careful. I can't find the link but one survey found out that the #1 reason
why a deal didn't go through was because salesperson was too aggressive.

------
kenjackson
_Jonathan Rochelle repeated wryly and with a smile, "Yes, time to go. Google
is here,"_

WTF? Is Google the mob or something? Almost seems like the next line should
have been, "And I was never seen or heard from again."

~~~
jayro
No, Jonathan Rochelle was a really nice guy. I think he just knew that that
demo was going to be a big deal for me and that it was probably something I
had been hoping and waiting for. He was right.

~~~
kenjackson
No, I didn't mean to imply that he wasn't. Just the phrasing seemed
particularly sinister, although certainly unintentional, but still funny... at
least to me.

~~~
zephjc
I read it in a condescending tone like "Yes, the big boys are here, time to do
your dog and pony show"

------
deyan
Seems to me that your analysis suffers from a fundamental attribution error
(blaming you rather than circumstances). While it is possible that you could
have done a few things better (with the help of the ever so omni-potent
captain hindsight), my experience is that such deals are complicated and
involve a lot of people. So I think it is much more likely that the final
outcome was more out of your control than your essay implies.

~~~
StavrosK
He can't influence the part that was out of his control, though, while he
could indeed have influenced the part that _was_ in his control: Give them a
call when you haven't heard from them in a month. Even though that obviously
doesn't make the acquisition a certainty (obviously), it's doing the best you
could do at the time, so you don't have to kick yourself over it later.

In short, if he _had_ called them, the post would be "Google moved to acquire
me, but it fell through. The end."

------
sportsTAKES
I know I've had experiences in life where I look back and say 'what was I
thinking?!?'

As difficult as it is, nicely done on recognizing the situation, holding
yourself accountable and chalking it up as a lesson learned. No doubt about
it, this experience will help you somewhere down the line...

I'm really impressed with your articulate re-cap of the story.

~~~
jayro
Thanks, I really do appreciate that. It was more difficult than I thought to
actually write the story down once and for all. I'm still sitting here
wondering what my mental block was at the time because it's not like I'm at
all introverted or uncomfortable contacting people. Hell, listen to my podcast
(TechZing) all I do is run my mouth. ;) Maybe the insight will come to me
after some deep thinking or maybe even some regression hypnosis and I'll write
a follow up. The post will have to be entitled something like - The Real
Reason I Completely Choked. Ugh. ;)

------
seltzered
I would say the problem is that you divulged technical details before getting
a written "intent to acquire" from google.

While keeping the line of communication is important, it's also important to
ensure it's worth your time.

~~~
seltzered
not sure why there's downvotes, maybe I worded the above too strongly.

He clearly mentions how he discusses how he routed around browser editing/DOM
manipulation to Google, and then a similar approach was taken by Google later
in their product.

~~~
epoxyhockey
This thought often goes through my mind when people ask me "how did you do
that?" If they were Google, and interested in acquiring me, I would be less
guarded in answering the question though. Companies would get a pretty bad
reputation very quickly if they were in the business of stealing peoples'
ideas.

~~~
ezy
Android phones, App Store, and, oh yeah, check out the industrial design of
that Netbook they came out with. And those are the flat out rip-offs...

Google is not all about stealing ideas, but they certainly will if it benefits
them. They are probably going to end up taking the crown from Microsoft for
mediocre implementations of others good ideas, just by virtue of their size
(and still growing) and their reach.

------
melvinram
Man, that royally sucks. I can't add too much to the conversation except to
say that I hope your AppIgnite system works out to be a nice hit. I heard you
on some podcast recently and it sounds pretty neat.

~~~
jayro
Thanks for that. I'm trying to apply a lot of the lessons I learned from
Preezo and I think it's going to make the difference. Also, I think have a
good blog post brewing on the subject, so stay tuned. ;)

------
psnj
I used to work at OT when Glazer was there, and I attended a workshop once
where he gave a talk. Very impressive guy -- I remember thinking "I want to
work for the company _that_ guy's working for!"

~~~
jayro
I agree. He seemed like a very friendly and intelligent guy when we spoke on
the phone. The same goes for Jonathan Rochelle.

------
rickdangerous1
It would be rather interesting if the google folks involved in this could
provide their side of the story. Just wishful thinking of course...but maybe
someone from HN could try asking the question...

------
oogali
Comment from my friend, Jason Snell (@syn3):

"Ouch. That really sucks. Lesson learned. Sometimes you have to take off your
engineer hat and stop pretending human communication works like TCP."

------
newobj
"ALWAYS BE CLOSING"

I know one of the Zenter guys. He is definitely a closer.

------
elvirs
considering that Google's acquisitions are about about technology as much as
about talent, and the fact that you hired another guy to help you with coding
it is possible that they expected a team behind the technology to join them,
but were disappointed when learned that you hired outsiders to help with
building that technology.

------
cavilling_elite
This should also be a lesson about using engineering notebooks and other such
legal documents in programming a new product, especially with new ideas such
as the DOM manipulation indicated in this blog.

~~~
jwcacces
Jeeze - DOM manipulation is not the newest idea in the world, and not
everything created has to be patented, what's wrong with you people?

------
TotlolRon
I don't think you "screwed" anything. You can't force a relationship, and it
is a waste of time to think about the email you didn't send. Had you sent it
and got no reply, would you feel better? How about the email they didn't send?
Maybe they are the ones who "screwed"?

 _"Still what could've been. Is better than what could never be at all"_ \--
Tiffany <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LzGss9QGAk>

