
Exit Interview: Founders look back at acquisitions by Google, AOL, Microsoft - joshuacc
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2942-exit-interview-founders-look-back-at-acquisitions-by-google-aol-microsoft-and-more
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jdp23
It was a tough decision whether or not to sell Intrinsa to Microsoft back in
1999. I was the only one of the founders still at the company at the time, and
the board was split. In retrospect, it couldn't have worked out any better.
Combining our PREfix team with some really good people from Microsoft Research
moved the technology forward a lot faster than we would have otherwise -- and
tech transferring the stripped-down version of PREfast into Visual Studio put
it in the hands of a lot of users across the world. At the same time, we found
a good way to support our existing UNIX customers; and as expected, once we
had validated the market segment, other competitors emerged, and Coverity has
now taken things way farther than we ever did. From a career perspective, it
worked out well for me and the others involved.

One of the key things we did before deciding to sell was look a lot at the
political environment we were getting into. An acquisition's success depends a
lot on its champions' political fortunes and how the "not invented here"
antibodies get dealt with. Also, we were working with some great people who we
clicked well with. And the problem we were addressing was very strategic to
the company, so we got a lot of attention. So these are all things I'd
consider in any future acquisition situations.

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soofaloofa
Anyone else feel that these quotes have been cherry-picked to support 37
signals business philosophy?

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solutionyogi
Completely agree. Other than the quote about Grand Central ("At the end of the
day, more users were definitely better off due to the acquisition."), all of
them paint the acquisition in negative manner. But I guess it's not
surprising. There are far more stories about acquisition gone wrong instead of
acquisition gone right.

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jshen
mediabistro

"I consider myself lucky. That was not the case with our new owner. Alan
Meckler is very much an entrepreneur and he told me early on he learned the
hard way to listen to the instincts of the founding entrepreneur after an
acquisition. "

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cmer
This is getting old. Why is 37signals so bitter?

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spitfire
Not enough magazine covers.

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PedroCandeias
Normally I'd rant about 37s' rhetoric getting old. But with the Groupon IPO on
the horizon and the overbearing feeling that there's some kind of startup
bubble about to burst, I think I'll cut them a little slack this time.

