How not to get acquired • Hacker News Board

Re: How not to get acquired

#11

Post by whit537 » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:07 PM UTC

mhp wrote: post #9

I just discovered that FeeFighters got acquired due to this post. I'm so disappointed. This product does not belong at Groupon. We've been emailing Sean recently to ask him about Samurai and I guess this explains the no response. I really loved what he was doing and sung the FeeFighters praises from the mountaintops whenever I could. I really wish that product had stuck around. All the info that they were producing o…

I had a great experience with Sean and FeeFighters before they were acquired. I can understand being in a crowded market and eyeing the exit. It could certainly be handled more gracefully. GroupOn should either support the product, or at the very least support people trying to migrate their data away. That's the really frustrating part of this. I lucked out to have this come to a head early on, with only 25 cards vaulted. If you have 250 or 2,500 ... :-(

Re: How not to get acquired

#12

Post by mhp » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:16 PM UTC

whit537 wrote: post #11

mhp wrote: post #9

I just discovered that FeeFighters got acquired due to this post. I'm so disappointed. This product does not belong at Groupon. We've been emailing Sean recently to ask him about Samurai and I guess this explains the no response. I really loved what he was doing and sung the FeeFighters praises from the mountaintops whenever I could. I really wish that product had stuck around. All the info that they were producing o…

I had a great experience with Sean and FeeFighters before they were acquired. I can understand being in a crowded market and eyeing the exit. It could certainly be handled more gracefully. GroupOn should either support the product, or at the very least support people trying to migrate their data away. That's the really frustrating part of this. I lucked out to have this come to a head early on, with only 25 cards vau…

I can understand it too, and I'm not sure the VC they had behind them were the enlightened kind (like USV, Spark, Andreesen, etc.) so there may have been some pressure from that end as well. But Groupon? That just says acqui-hire to me, and that sucks because they had really built an awesome product that I've used multiple times for multiple companies.

So, I'm with you on the GroupOn Fucker that ruined this. I hope Sean and the gang got handsomely rewarded for their years of work.

Re: How not to get acquired

#13

Post by 1123581321 » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:19 PM UTC

I heard a FeeFighters employee speak last year and she recommended objectivism (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged) as a good philosophy for entrepreneurs, saying it worked for FeeFighters. When I heard they sold, I assumed that the deal was bad for FeeFighters customers because FeeFighters staff were so compassionless due to their philosophy. Unfortunately, it seems that I was right.

Re: How not to get acquired

#14

Post by whit537 » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:22 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #13

I heard a FeeFighters employee speak last year and she recommended objectivism (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged) as a good philosophy for entrepreneurs, saying it worked for FeeFighters. When I heard they sold, I assumed that the deal was bad for FeeFighters customers because FeeFighters staff were so compassionless due to their philosophy. Unfortunately, it seems that I was right.

:-(

"I had a hard time with Ayn Rand because I found myself enthusiastically agreeing with the first 90% of every sentence, but getting lost at 'therefore, be a huge asshole to everyone.'"

http://xkcd.com/1049/

Re: How not to get acquired

#15

Post by whit537 » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:26 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #13

I heard a FeeFighters employee speak last year and she recommended objectivism (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged) as a good philosophy for entrepreneurs, saying it worked for FeeFighters. When I heard they sold, I assumed that the deal was bad for FeeFighters customers because FeeFighters staff were so compassionless due to their philosophy. Unfortunately, it seems that I was right.

Stella Fayman?

https://twitter.com/#!/startupstella

http://startupstella.com/

http://entrepreneursunpluggd.com/

She's the only woman on their About page:

https://samurai.feefighters.com/about

But maybe that's getting too personal.

Re: How not to get acquired

#16

Post by ryanmolden » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:28 PM UTC

whit537 wrote: post #10

mvkel wrote: post #6

The lesson learned here isn't that FeeFighters fucked up their acquisition. It's that you should be especially wary building businesses that depend almost entirely on another startup. Put another way, you should only use services that are pretty obviously going to stay around and aren't just a few years old with no solid track record. A service may be perfect for your business to hook into, but is it really realistic…

I experienced great customer service from FeeFighters prior to the acquisition, so in my experience it's not true that "FeeFighters didn't go to bat for their current customers." The "enemy" to my mind is the chaos that results from not being transparent and kind.

I believe he meant go to bat during the acquisition deal making. Regardless of how awesome their CS was pre-acquisition if there were no terms regarding current customers/continuity during the acquisition talks then they didn't "go to bat for their customers".

Re: How not to get acquired

#17

Post by niketdesai » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:29 PM UTC

I appreciate the Author's attempt to empathize with the founders/team on the acquisition results. It's not an obligation for customers to consider anything beyond what they were promised and pay for - so kudos there.

That said, the difference between the startup and big co. is so vast that there will never be a single person to be blamed for botched acquisitions. In fact, both parties are at fault - not for initiating the buy - but rather for the failure to commit so fully that an alternative outcome could have been had.

In some circumstances it does make sense to shutter a project, but that doesn't mean a good plan to make that happen appropriately can't be had (I understate the complexity of making that happen). Additionally I'd like to note that within larger companies, both the appetite and passion for making acquisitions work is highly variable. And frankly, it requires a lot of broad effort to make it work which is why acquisitions are so hard to do well.

Anyways I'm glad that gittip was able to find a replacement solution; these setbacks are only part of the process in building your own entrepreneurial endeavor.

Re: How not to get acquired

#18

Post by startupstella » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:30 PM UTC

1123581321 wrote: post #13

I heard a FeeFighters employee speak last year and she recommended objectivism (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged) as a good philosophy for entrepreneurs, saying it worked for FeeFighters. When I heard they sold, I assumed that the deal was bad for FeeFighters customers because FeeFighters staff were so compassionless due to their philosophy. Unfortunately, it seems that I was right.

yep I'm the only woman who was at FeeFighters and I respect Ayn Rand but I've never said anything about objectivism publicly...in fact, I would never recommend any philosophy for entrepreneurs as it is in fact, against my philosophy. So maybe you're getting me confused with someone else?

Re: How not to get acquired

#19

Post by whit537 » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:31 PM UTC

startupstella wrote: post #18

1123581321 wrote: post #13

I heard a FeeFighters employee speak last year and she recommended objectivism (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged) as a good philosophy for entrepreneurs, saying it worked for FeeFighters. When I heard they sold, I assumed that the deal was bad for FeeFighters customers because FeeFighters staff were so compassionless due to their philosophy. Unfortunately, it seems that I was right.

yep I'm the only woman who was at FeeFighters and I respect Ayn Rand but I've never said anything about objectivism publicly...in fact, I would never recommend any philosophy for entrepreneurs as it is in fact, against my philosophy. So maybe you're getting me confused with someone else?

Can you shed any light on the future of FeeFighters and Samurai? How can users get their data out?

Re: How not to get acquired

#20

Post by whit537 » Thu, Jun 21, 2012, 6:32 PM UTC

ryanmolden wrote: post #16

whit537 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced great customer service from FeeFighters prior to the acquisition, so in my experience it's not true that "FeeFighters didn't go to bat for their current customers." The "enemy" to my mind is the chaos that results from not being transparent and kind.

I believe he meant go to bat during the acquisition deal making. Regardless of how awesome their CS was pre-acquisition if there were no terms regarding current customers/continuity during the acquisition talks then they didn't "go to bat for their customers".

Roger that. Thank you.