Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise

I'm having a really difficult time making a decision and appreciate any advice the HN community can offer.

Here is a quick summary of my situation:

A bit over a year ago, I left a high paying corporate job to start a company. For ~6 months, my co-founder and I did not pay ourselves and ran through a lot of our savings. We soon got accepted into a top tech incubator and were able to use their small investment to keep running. After graduating from the incubator and without even really trying, an investment of more than $1 million fell into our laps. Shortly after, a very successful company contacted us about a potential acquisition and after two months of talking extended a "low-ish ball" acquihire offer to myself and my co-founder.

I wish we had the momentum and growth to comfortably pass on the offer but the reality is that we have not had much confidence in the business for a while. Even before the investment fell into our lap we considered "pivoting" to an entirely new idea because we were so frustrated with the highly competitive market in which we were operating. The acquiring company now also has plans to enter our market and it would be very difficult to compete.

The terms of the deal allow us to mostly pay back our investors in full and would line us up with great jobs. It is not the exit we dreamed of but it gives us a nice story for the future and allows us to "wipe our hands clean".

We have been working 80+ hours weeks without weekends and extremely low pay. My health has been declining (I was recently injured and need surgery but cannot without better insurance) and I had to move away from friends and family. I'm still young but my savings have essentially run out and I have become somewhat disillusioned by startup life.

Is it time to call it quits?

Thoughts?

It's possible to be a true believer but still have doubts about logistical matters, such as ability to execute or the product's sales potential.

If you and your founder are completely demoralized on all fronts, have been for some time, and there's no way to rectify that (e.g. perhaps fixing your burnout), then by all means throw in the towel.

If there's still a spark somewhere, then do what you think is best.

>...and hundreds of thousands of dollars of opportunity cost income, I am tired.

I know the feeling, and it burns. Perhaps you can negotiate the acquisition offer to make up for that?

Given the amount of stress you are dealing with, this sounds like a good thing to me. You get to undo the damage this has done to your finances, I assume it also would let you get the surgery you need and you can stop running yourself into the ground.

What are you hoping to get if you don't take this? What makes you hesitate to take it? Are the things that give you pause genuinely realistic scenarios or issues?

Use the r&r to recharge, and the acquisition to bolster your track record. Start something new once you vest.