If you raised $1 mil+ why not pay yourself and get a good insurance? It's not like you're bootstrapped, what are you doing with the money?
Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
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Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#22Take the offer. You're one of the 90% of startups that don't make it. There's no shame in that whatsoever. You tried something that 99.99% of us will never attempt and you were good enough to get bought by another company. That is an outstanding achievement. Maybe you can take the resources of the acquiring company and make that company better, all while working 40 hr weeks and health benefits.
Also, you can give it another go in a few years. There's nothing stopping you from doing that.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#23Your health is more important than your company. You will have many jobs and opportunities to found companies, but only one body. Do what's right for you, don't look backwards, and do it without any regrets.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#24As someone who's been on the opposite side of this (having stayed in a zombie startup while recovering from a bad health situation) I say go for it. Health - both physical and mental - come before money. If you get to pay investors, get a good gig out of it and a great entry (an exit is an exit!) on your CV, you'll be doing much better than 95% of startups out there.
If you feel like you need someone to do a mental dump on and you are in the Bay Area, please feel free to contact me. My email is on my profile.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#25The startup game is all about confidence. If you've lost confidence, it's time to move on. Get a good lawyer, ask for upfront bonus, two or more weeks break before starting (ask for it to be paid or allow you to start with a negative accrual), make sure health benefits are vested immediately so you can start your procedure. The intensive rehabilitation may get your blood flowing and your confidence back. Then you'll be able to make a clearer decision about staying or calling a recruiter.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#26I worked 80 hours per week for 7 years straight.
At one point I was juggling full time university with a full time job and an open source project on the side. My grades suffered, the startup I worked for failed, my open source project failed. I did manage to graduate though.
Then I started another open source project, worked on it for 2 years, it also failed because of tough competition.
So then I started yet another open source project and finally it did well and people seem to like it (almost 4k stars on Github) - It's been 3 years.
I was working full time the entire time and I was exhausted all the time.
There is no point complaining about your situation because there is always someone who has it worse than you.
You have to learn that nobody cares and nobody will try to help you - I think this is the right way. I personally don't mind the struggle but I hate to see people getting easy exits because someone wants to protect someone else's feelings. Nobody deserves anything.
I wish more people would understand how it really works and you can only get that from continuous failure over many years. It gives you a more accurate feeling for what the odds really are.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#27An acquihire can be a great way to build marketable skills outside of actually writing the code. I'd try negotiating a mutually agreeable path that allows you to move into management after some period of time.
From what I understand (no disrespect meant, just anecdotal accounts), it's more difficult to remain hired as a coder after 40 (especially with kids). Getting some management experience on your resume will help later in life.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#28Negotiate a small up front bonus, 2-4 weeks of paid vacation in the immediate future, at a minimum, and then take the deal. Use the r&r to recharge, and the acquisition to bolster your track record. Start something new once you vest.
Thanks for the comment. That seems like a good deal to me. Do you have any tips for the negotiation?
It's in the company's interest that you're motivated, happy and well. I don't think you can realistically continue without the above. If they didn't want you on board, it'd just be an acquisition and not an acqui-hire. The 2-4 weeks vacation is not a big ask at all.
If you go in with those facts at your fingertips, you'll be in a pretty good starting point.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#29I was there except the big followup investment and acquihire part. So if you don't see a viable option to turn the company around and make it rock on the short run, take the deal and enjoy the money. And get some rest.
Re: Ask HN: Tired founders facing acquihire – please advise
#30I worked 80 hours per week for 7 years straight. At one point I was juggling full time university with a full time job and an open source project on the side. My grades suffered, the startup I worked for failed, my open source project failed. I did manage to graduate though. Then I started another open source project, worked on it for 2 years, it also failed because of tough competition. So then I started yet another…
I admire your working discipline and stuff but in which way do you think does your answer help the thread owner?