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Facebook Acquires Drop.io

blog.drop.io

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Re: Facebook Acquires Drop.io

#12
post #3

seems like just a talent acquisition to me

It's sad that founders do this kind of thing to their users. Why not sell the company to Facebook (with attendant personnel agreements), but sell the assets (users, technical infrastructure) to a competitor at a steep discount, maybe in exchange for shares? That way their users have a fighting chance at a smooth transition, and the technical contribution you made can continue.

I upvoted you and agree. However, there is also that the shutdown may be driven by facebook for a variety of reasons. As a founder, it is probably really hard to walk away from an offer that is very attractive personally but bad for the service.

On the other hand, starting with that mentality is probably bad. c.f. pg's "do something you think is good for the world"

Re: Facebook Acquires Drop.io

#13
post #8

Facebook's recent talent acquisitions sort of make sense to me from Facebook's standpoint (good, entrepreneurial talent is hard to find), but I wonder how the founders, employees, users, and investors feel about these relatively odd buyouts. This drop.io deal sounds a lot like the Hot Potato acquisition from a few months ago: in both cases the startups were well-funded, but didn't have much traction, and then Faceboo…

I doubt the investors are unhappy with an exit, employees and users on the other hand are probably disappointed (though I hope the employees saw something of the exit which probably alleviates disappointment).
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