Isn't that almost always the case with startups?

Very few care deeply for the original product -- just as much as needed for the eventual payoff. If they did they wouldn't let it dissolve into the hands of some humongous company like Google/Facebook et al (especially since 9 out of 10 of such acquisitions end with the product being halted).

Sometimes the original thing isn't even a product. It's a bunch of free stuff offered to get as many users as possible that could never stand of it's own (no monetization options) and only a acquire could save it (the buying company can then use it as a acqui-hire, to get some press and street cred, to build something else, as part of a larger, different offering, etc).

I've never seen it put more bluntly and truthfully than "the original product was the business." I always find it creepy to see all these founders and investors and Y-Combinator folks patting themselves on their backs for a hefty exit. It's like saying "well done gentlemen, we fooled them all the way through." Since I have been aware of this, I have decided I don't want investors meddling around in my decisions, or if I even want a business at all. Open source projects seem like a more honest and longterm way to champion a product that I truly care about (which is not the case with most of these "startup guys".) Having a successful business seems to always devolve into just making more and more profit, and those interests permeate back into every decision. Which is why people are so worried about Parse's future with Facebook, and what's also happening to Google in ever increasing levels now with G+. I look up to Mozilla these days, hope they don't fall off the deep end with Mozilla Corp's Firefox OS.