> Is this how it's like at all large companies? What should I do?
The answer is easy: make bank. You are making a lot more money at a large company for much less work, right? Enjoy it!
Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
81–90 of 464 posts
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#82> So I reach out to the manager and ask what is going on. This is a simple task, I said. Why does it take an entire quarter for your team to deliver? He doesn't have an answer. Your simple task, which you think would only take a few days to implement, is probably one request in a long queue of requests that team is dealing with. That means they won't be able to start on it for a long time. That team probably set up t…
>Learn how the system works, and learn how to be effective within that system. And what if the system is corrupt? Do you advocate complacency? > but I also know for sure that new employees who try to bypass process and question the priorities of other teams, before they learn the ropes and build credibility and trust with other people, do not succeed. And what if the people who do not succeed with such bureaucracy ar…
Literally the point of a job at a for-profit company is to make money, yes, primarily for yourself and secondarily for the business. This is by no means moral or virtuous. But it is true, and because it is true, the people who admit the truth of it will be more successful in the sense that they will be working with the system, and the people who act as if it is somehow untrue and there is some greater virtue behind it will be frustrated in the sense that they will never be able to work against the system enough to unseat it.
Why did the startup get acquired by the large company in the first place? To make money for the shareholders (mostly the founders), partly through an exit event, partly through the ongoing value of their shares. Sure, they wrote an internal email and a blog post about the "next stage of their journey" and how the big company "shares their vision" or whatever, but that's not the real reason - the reason is money. Why do employees get equity? To incentivize them to care about the money the company makes, because otherwise they wouldn't care sufficiently about the secondary goal of making money for the company (i.e., making more money for management, who sets the equity policies). Why do employers compete on salary in the first place? Because that's what being employed is about - making money.
If you want to do good work, to change the world for the better, to have fun, or whatever, you have two options. One is to secure your place within the system of being successful by making money - i.e., to show management that you will make them money if they keep you around and keep you happy - and then find some room to maneuver within it. There are a lot of people who are happy and fulfilled with their jobs because they can do this. The other is to leave the system (retire, work part-time, join a convent, etc.).
But refusing to admit the rules of the game will work about as well as trying to play a game of chess by bowling a ball at the pieces and knocking them down. You might say you don't care to win, which is fine, but that's hardly the problem - everyone involved, including you, will end up upset.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#83> So I reach out to the manager and ask what is going on. This is a simple task, I said. Why does it take an entire quarter for your team to deliver? He doesn't have an answer. Your simple task, which you think would only take a few days to implement, is probably one request in a long queue of requests that team is dealing with. That means they won't be able to start on it for a long time. That team probably set up t…
It's pretty interesting to contrast OP's experience with this recent /r/bestof that describes in detail why things might be the way you're describing: https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/rkru22/uloosesignif...
I immediately thought of this as well. Great minds etc.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#84I understand your frustration because I work in a large company and stuff can take forever. And this is the case for 99.9% of large companies. However one thing you should consider is this: there are probably 50 other people like you demanding to just have feature xy implemented. They are all totally simple etc.. until you have seen a large enterprise code base with lots of legacy cruft. Test suites that take hours t…
Quoted post unavailable.
The explanation given above is that you aren't the priority you used to be.. it doesn't take a month to get something done, it takes a month to do all the things in the queue in front of you.
If there is a lesson here it might be that companies quickly lose focus and try to do too many things. Then there are giant queues of things to do and important things are held up by unimportant things. Your thing might be important, but it also might be a problem holding back more important things.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#85>Is this how it's like at all large companies? Not all, but a lot. >What should I do? Short term: Mentally check out. Embrace the Zen of just doing what's asked of you. It's not your job to be a go-getter anymore. Half because of institutional complexity/inertia, and half because in a tall organization hierarchy the middle managers don't want anyone below them swimming outside their lane (even if it would be to their…
This. I call this achieving Enterprise Zen. You have to let go of your attachment to productivity and ponder on kohns such as "If a task is accomplished but no one sees it on a report, was that task accomplished?"
And this is only beauty of JIRA and sprint reports being a KPI in an org. I wouldn't so much as even lift a finger unless it had a ticket assigned to it.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#86>Is this how it's like at all large companies? Not all, but a lot. >What should I do? Short term: Mentally check out. Embrace the Zen of just doing what's asked of you. It's not your job to be a go-getter anymore. Half because of institutional complexity/inertia, and half because in a tall organization hierarchy the middle managers don't want anyone below them swimming outside their lane (even if it would be to their…
To add to this, something that helped me accept this change: your acquisition marked the achievement of your startup goal. You're done now, you can now stop living for your work, and start working to live.
I think OP was an employee at a startup got acquired. Which may or may not mean they got a huge financial windfall from it
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#87Echoing others who have gone through the startup -> $LARGE_CORPORATION acquisition, and having been there myself: just leave. It won't get better. On the contrary, it'll get worse as those worth their salt see the writing on the wall and head for greener pastures. Before you know it, all the people you love working with will have moved on, you'll be the only one fighting for progress, and worst of all, the burden of…
This is probably the correct answer in most circumstances, unfortunately. It's just the circle of life. Acquisitions are rough and if you aren't being significantly incentivized to deal with all the extra BS that comes along with it, then it's time to move on.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#88The market is saying you should go solo and work on Web3 because it wont take you a quarter to launch something useful and you can make way more money
I know, tough idea to swallow, especially when thinking that it sounds like “just launch a web 2.0 startup with a mobile app” after knowing how few people make any money. But I think you’ll be able to look back at this and see it was an accurate suggestion.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
To add to this, something that helped me accept this change: your acquisition marked the achievement of your startup goal. You're done now, you can now stop living for your work, and start working to live.
I think OP was an employee at a startup got acquired. Which may or may not mean they got a huge financial windfall from it
I get where you are coming from, but even if you don't get huge financial windfall, there is just no point in sacrificing yourself anymore. It's not going to make as big of a difference anymore.
Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?
#90>Is this how it's like at all large companies? Not all, but a lot. >What should I do? Short term: Mentally check out. Embrace the Zen of just doing what's asked of you. It's not your job to be a go-getter anymore. Half because of institutional complexity/inertia, and half because in a tall organization hierarchy the middle managers don't want anyone below them swimming outside their lane (even if it would be to their…
This. I call this achieving Enterprise Zen. You have to let go of your attachment to productivity and ponder on kohns such as "If a task is accomplished but no one sees it on a report, was that task accomplished?"
If this work doesn't show up on a report, should I do it. Not unless you want your hand smacked.