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Talent Acquisitions

marco.org

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Re: Talent Acquisitions

#51

Post by DannoHung »

tptacek wrote: post #46
joshstrange wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a similar vibe. Also I DID support sparrow. I told absolutely every person I know with a mac that they should use sparrow. Every computer I setup at work and for friends I installed sparrow by default. I have tweeted about loving sparrow. I'm really not sure what more I could have done other than wear a sandwich board around with their logo on it. That STILL didn't stop them from being bought out...

The market price for their desktop app was $9.99. How much support do you think you were really offering them?

I bought Sparrow a long time ago. They never asked me to give them more money...

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#52

Post by shazow »

gwillen wrote: post #39

If I think you are inclined to accept a talent acquisition if offered, I _will not use your product_. Why would I? It's insane for me to trust my data to someone who's going to throw it away to make a buck. If you accept a talent acquisition, you will -- and should -- have a devil of a time getting customers at your next venture, having thrown away the customers from your previous one. Tread lightly.

Do you not get any value out of using a product while it hasn't been shut down?

Will you singlehandidly cover the developers' living expenses once the savings/investor runway is gone so that they can keep your data from being thrown away?

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#53

Post by CognitiveLens »

crazygringo wrote: post #18

So... how about open-sourcing Sparrow? Seems like that would solve a big part of the problem, no? Wonder if Google would let that happen.

As much as the talent behind software drove the acquisition, Sparrow also had some very solid, semi-innovative features and a sophisticated IMAP engine that are now valuable technical/IP properties for Google. I would be very surprised if they open-sourced anything from this acquisition.

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#54

Post by ajross »

tptacek wrote: post #46
joshstrange wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a similar vibe. Also I DID support sparrow. I told absolutely every person I know with a mac that they should use sparrow. Every computer I setup at work and for friends I installed sparrow by default. I have tweeted about loving sparrow. I'm really not sure what more I could have done other than wear a sandwich board around with their logo on it. That STILL didn't stop them from being bought out...

The market price for their desktop app was $9.99. How much support do you think you were really offering them?

Which brings up a great digression: the app store gold rush has left us in a situation where it's no longer feasible to sell high-maintenance, low-market software directly to consumers. Consumers will buy games and media in high volume, so you can sell those at a discount. But email clients? Photo apps? Nope. The only way to make that stuff is to sell it as some kind of "cloud" service where you make your money on eyeballs elsewhere. And even then you generally can only make it big that way as part of a larger product suite (c.f. Instagram).

I'd look to the open source world for good geek tools, honestly. I think expecting people to sell them to us in the app stores just won't work. No one will buy this stuff at the $50/seat the developers would have to charge to avoid the Google and Facebook buyouts.

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#55

Post by rayiner »

I don't understand the point of talent acquisitions. Couldn't you spend half the amount of money you would have buying the company just giving the developers enormous signing bonuses to come work for you? Why buy out the original investors in the target company when it's the developers you want?

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#56

Post by sant0sk1 »

tptacek wrote: post #46
joshstrange wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a similar vibe. Also I DID support sparrow. I told absolutely every person I know with a mac that they should use sparrow. Every computer I setup at work and for friends I installed sparrow by default. I have tweeted about loving sparrow. I'm really not sure what more I could have done other than wear a sandwich board around with their logo on it. That STILL didn't stop them from being bought out...

The market price for their desktop app was $9.99. How much support do you think you were really offering them?

As much as they solicited.

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#57

Post by dasil003 »

gwillen wrote: post #39

If I think you are inclined to accept a talent acquisition if offered, I _will not use your product_. Why would I? It's insane for me to trust my data to someone who's going to throw it away to make a buck. If you accept a talent acquisition, you will -- and should -- have a devil of a time getting customers at your next venture, having thrown away the customers from your previous one. Tread lightly.

Sorry, but this is wishful thinking. Being acquihired is not going to affect any individual's future ventures in any meaningful way. You might scrutinize every new service's ownership before you click sign up, but you are not even a blip on the radar.

It might be true that overtime this will erode customer's confidence in startups in general, but so will being shut down because the founders are starving. And it's not like major corporations are guaranteeing products for the long-haul either.

Basically, the whole computer industry is one big case of buyer beware. If you really care about your data use open formats, open protocols and free software whenever you can.

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#58

Post by mikeash »

justauser wrote: post #31
mikeash wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't that banner just be implied? Yes, company X is open to investments or being acquired if the right offer comes along. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Should we require employees to wear a sign to work everyday saying that they will leave their job for a better one if the right offer comes along?

Is the size of a diamond on a wedding ring a similar comparison?

Can you explain what you mean? I think I have an idea, but I don't know if I'm thinking what you're thinking.

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#59

Post by dasil003 »

petercooper wrote: post #41

100% agreed. I've been in the same situation a few times lately. However, I do support people who make the decision because I sure would if the right deal were on the table. Long term though, I'd prefer "talent collaborations" to acquisitions. Did Nike "acquire" Michael Jordan? Sponsoring and supporting, not acquisition.

No, but if there were a more profitable basketball league than the NBA they would have got him for sure.

Re: Talent Acquisitions

#60

Post by bconway »

leftnode wrote: post #24
jmduke wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I obviously can't speak for Marco, but I think what I take umbrage with is when developers plan this out from the beginning -- create a product/company that drives just enough attention to ensure an acquihire. The result ends up being pretty detrimental to the community. Given the choice between: keep working on your low-to-modest traction product which isn't producing a lot of revenue and wonder how you might pay re…

Is this something you can really plan out from the beginning? How many millions of developers would love to be able to create a product that drives enough attention to ensure an acquihire? Who knows, you might be right and some developers might be able to think of an idea, build it, and market it successfully enough to get the acquihire they want (along with a big paycheck), but I suspect most just want to build a pr…

Is this something you can really plan out from the beginning?

Yes, people build companies to flip all the time. Many/most of them don't make the front page of Hacker News.

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