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Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

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Re: Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

#62

Post by robryan »

samiv wrote: post #38
duxup wrote: post #7

Congratulations. I'm curious... what do people do after something like this? Vacation?

Just because the company was sold for a bunch of money doesn't mean the people (yes even the founders) got a huge payout. Liquidation preference and other schemes can make sure that when the investors get their money there's nothing to left to share between other share holders including the founders. (Not saying that this is the case here, just pointing that out) EDIT: As some are already pointing out, yes the title…

To note as well the Techcrunch article specifically says 71% ownership.

Re: Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

#64

Post by mewmew »

hipadev23 wrote: post #41
duxup wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is interesting how many stories in a way involve running or moving away from the lifestyle that ... bought them a new lifestyle.

Well, you don't need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he's broke, don't do shit.

Haha, I almost never reply on HN. But the Office Space ref made my day <3

Re: Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

#65

Post by XCSme »

Congrats!

I am curious where do you think VWO is heading now? If people buy it, they expect growth, I assume. I guess the plan is to expand? Either through marketing or extending the product scope?

I was surprised by this:

> Delhi-based Wingify has grown from a two-person startup into a profitable global software provider with over 6,000 clients

So 6000 clients is enough for a $50mn/year revenue? Enterprise is where the money at!

Re: Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

#68

Post by mrsilencedogood »

criddell wrote: post #45
klik99 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met someone who was an early employee at King about a year after they were acquired for 5.9b - it’s a little different since he wasn’t involved with the sale, but he was still processing the insane amount of money he had. A year on he hadn’t moved out of his small apartment, still contracted, still used the same cheap phone, and hadn’t started investing beyond just the normal mutual funds/bonds/etc. it struck me as…

> I find it’s really interesting how people act when the financial pressure gets suddenly removed. It seems so strange to me to hear stories about people suddenly coming into a bunch of money and not finding contentment or even ending up depressed. If I could afford to retire today, I would do it in a heartbeat and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't run out of things I want to do. When the lotto gets to be above $1 billion,…

Imo, it's mostly because our brains are still hunter-gatherer brains. While things like language acquisition and culture-instilling do fundamentally change us, our base hardware is still pre-currency pre-agriculture (pre-pretty-much-everything) hunter-gatherer. In Sapiens, it's noted that if a homo sapiens from 100k years ago ended up on an autopsy table in the modern day, you would never know anything was amiss anatomically. You might notice the teeth are unusually straight and free of decay (pre-grain diet, with huge amounts of chewing strengthening the jaw and allowing teeth to properly align), well-trained body with low body fat, and similarly free of many of the scourges of our modern diet and lifestyles). But that's it.

So, people suddenly get taken out of "the grind" which was their only approximation of the drive-reward cycle that their brain depends on. So what now? Unfortunately, they've been freed to confront man's ultimate foe: philosophy. And lots of people aren't cut out or ready for that. (One could even say most philosophers aren't, given how much many of them suffered).

Re: Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

#69

Post by conductr »

criddell wrote: post #45
klik99 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met someone who was an early employee at King about a year after they were acquired for 5.9b - it’s a little different since he wasn’t involved with the sale, but he was still processing the insane amount of money he had. A year on he hadn’t moved out of his small apartment, still contracted, still used the same cheap phone, and hadn’t started investing beyond just the normal mutual funds/bonds/etc. it struck me as…

> I find it’s really interesting how people act when the financial pressure gets suddenly removed. It seems so strange to me to hear stories about people suddenly coming into a bunch of money and not finding contentment or even ending up depressed. If I could afford to retire today, I would do it in a heartbeat and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't run out of things I want to do. When the lotto gets to be above $1 billion,…

As somewhat of a counterpoint, my experience was we often romanticize these things that we’d like to do if only we had the time/money/etc. But sometimes you’ll find once you do have the opportunity to explore those things, it’s not as interesting as we had hoped. It might keep you busy for a year or so, but then boredom and lack of fulfillment rear their head again. I think this is why serial entrepreneurship is a pretty common thing.
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