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Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

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Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#11

Post by totetsu »

itsdrewmiller wrote: post #5

These all seem accurate and I'd add even moreso than security (which can be prioritized for other reasons) a focus on buttoning up open source licensing / IP ownership is a dead giveaway that a sale is close. Also the hiring and retention thing is probably less about distraction and more about not taking on additional expenses in the middle of due diligence - generally the acquirer will want to have more of a say in…

On a tangent , can anyone point me to resources on solving the problem of distributing docker images with oss licensed software inside them?

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#12

Post by koolba »

totetsu wrote: post #11
itsdrewmiller wrote: post #5

These all seem accurate and I'd add even moreso than security (which can be prioritized for other reasons) a focus on buttoning up open source licensing / IP ownership is a dead giveaway that a sale is close. Also the hiring and retention thing is probably less about distraction and more about not taking on additional expenses in the middle of due diligence - generally the acquirer will want to have more of a say in…

On a tangent , can anyone point me to resources on solving the problem of distributing docker images with oss licensed software inside them?

What’s the problem that’s specific to container images? It’s no different than distributing software binaries that include FOSS.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#13

Post by bruce511 »

There are always signs, and they are easy to rationalise in hind-sight.

The danger is that there are signs for lots of things, so jumping to conclusions regarding the reason can be dangerous.

For example, we recently got a contract with a company fanatical about security. They wanted additional special insurances, which in turn wanted additional company-wide security policies.

This affected everyone, even though the potential contract only affected 3 employees. (And there was an NDA regarding the possibility of a deal.) The policy changes (despite being good policy anyway) likely caused some anguish.

So by all means speculate away, staff love a good rumor, and in the absence of information will speculate anything and everything. But I caution against making big life choices based on that speculation.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#14

Post by itsdrewmiller »

chilling wrote: post #8
itsdrewmiller wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are those people leaving before the acquisition? Shouldn't they expect to have some kind of upside in a change of control event?

Depending on the acquisition, I think. When my former US company was acquired by a huge Chinese company, it was not clear if my service would be part of the deal too. A lot of higher managers escaped the ship just weeks before they announced that it would be sold to another huge Indian company.

Ah yeah that makes sense! I haven't been on the receiving end of a partial acquisition but I can imagine they are much messier.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#16

Post by toast0 »

Some of this could be from a funding round too. I had to actually sign my NDA when people were crossing Is and dotting Ts before closing a round. I had had some printer issues around hiring and hadn't signed it, and nobody followed up until someone wanted to be sure everyone was under NDA.

Also, the morning of a big announcement, my boss asked me "can the blog handle heavy load?" and I was like "yeah sure, but nobody reads the blog", "they will, can we make it like a static page or something?" ... So, like ok, whatever, stupid thing to ask for, but it's easy. Got that going, and also we had a meeting added, no agenda. And one of my coworkers was convinced something was going on, he said people had been in the office all weekend.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#17

Post by totetsu »

koolba wrote: post #12
totetsu wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a tangent , can anyone point me to resources on solving the problem of distributing docker images with oss licensed software inside them?

What’s the problem that’s specific to container images? It’s no different than distributing software binaries that include FOSS.

Sometimes the lower layers of the image fs can have binaries in there that are not used or even accessible to the running container.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#18

Post by cornel_io »

itsdrewmiller wrote: post #7
chilling wrote: post #6

One sign that wasn't mentioned is the sudden exodus of higher team/product managers. I've seen this happen twice in my career. Suddenly, the individuals who were once fully committed to the company are leaving to "look for greener pastures." Sometimes, they hold meetings with everyone and their behavior is odd – often, these meetings are pointless and a huge waste of everyone's time, much like meeting with an ex.

Why are those people leaving before the acquisition? Shouldn't they expect to have some kind of upside in a change of control event?

There are a few types of acquisition:

- everyone gets rich (including employees with equity)

- founders and investors get rich, nobody else gets shit

- investors get good return, founders get a bit, nobody else gets shit

- investors make mediocre return based on liquidation pref, nobody else gets shit

- nobody gets shit (but people keep their jobs in the acquirer)

In all but the first situation, you as an employee (even a high-up one) are basically being sold to another company without any upside, and whether or not you want to stay will depend 100% what you think about the acquirer.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#19

Post by kohbo »

derf_ wrote: post #4

The article mentions needing to sign some paperwork about equity in passing, but I think being asked to sign new paperwork (a new IP agreement, etc.) is a sign all on its own. Like the focus on security, it is suspicious if it happens without any other motivating reason.

One should be careful not to confuse an unknown reason with the non-existence of a reason. One of my prior companies suddenly became a target for digital espionage and I only knew about it happening at all because I worked closely with our security team. Others in the company had no idea except that security policies were suddenly changing.

Re: Signs you're about to be acquired (2020)

#20

Post by xxr »

toast0 wrote: post #16

Some of this could be from a funding round too. I had to actually sign my NDA when people were crossing Is and dotting Ts before closing a round. I had had some printer issues around hiring and hadn't signed it, and nobody followed up until someone wanted to be sure everyone was under NDA. Also, the morning of a big announcement, my boss asked me "can the blog handle heavy load?" and I was like "yeah sure, but nobody…

That’s what I felt, and the points about extremely preoccupied execs and sudden interest in buttoning down security were big components of our lead-up to series A.
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