Man, that ending is brutal. So the point of building a business and selling it is so you can post about it on Facebook? Congratulations on all the effort and succes, nonetheless.
We ran Matasano for ~7 years before talking to acquirers. At the low points, when the stress was making me continually nauseous, I remember staring out my back window into the yard daydreaming about what it would be like to tell Erin we were selling and the stress was over. When it actually happened, it was the most anticlimactic thing ever. I flew to NYC to sign a zillion documents in a law office. We announced to the team. I went to the airport around 2PM to fly back to Chicago, but a storm took out my flight, so I ended up alone and exhausted at the airport Marriott, eating the worst chicken caesar ever and watching reruns.
The most euphoric part of the whole experience happened ~4 weeks before closing, when the deal was still pretty uncertain, sitting across the table at a sushi place in Rogers Park with Erin talking about what we might do with our kitchen if we actually had some free cash to spend. All the dopamine release happened when the sale was still hypothetical!
Our story hit Facebook too, and I got a flood of comments, but I felt stupid responding to them; so many of my Fb connections aren't technical, it just seemed like, "who cares?".
Another distinction between us and a normal acquisition is that we're run as a subsidiary (this is especially ironic because "acquihire" is an epithet in the valley, and all consulting acquisitions are fundamentally acquihires --- but our acquihire left us with an enormous amount of autonomy). Our acquirer was able to do that in part because they'd already acquired two of the best teams in software security before they snapped us up.
Since we didn't get stripped of our identity or processes when we got acquired, there really wasn't much of a difference in work life before/after, and so no jarring shock after the deal closed. We've had much lower turnover after the deal than we had before it.
Theoretically yes, but I assume at least 40% is getting the brand and your long term contracts (=guaranteed revenue for few years). In startup's acquihire the acquirer often gets rid of brand and existing contracts are not so important.
If the State of Utah Public Pension Department's Gigantic Software Consulting Vendor wants to farm out those 900-page mainframe-style J2EE shitshows to [GIANT SECURITY VENDOR], I'm just fine with that.
Nobody in this field is big enough to deliver all the work. Software security is delivery-constrained. You can be selective about your clients. Be happy about that, and don't worry about the shitty projects body shops are selling.
I was hoping to end with something a bit silly but that people could relate to. Who hasn't announced big news on Facebook before?
A question i have now : now that you've made a company "for the cash and glory", are you going to make a company that truely interests you ?
I'm not saying you can't find interesting things in online advertising company, as i've been in one myself. But every day i spent in that company, i kept asking myself "is this really what i want to do with my skills ? Help selling credit purchase to poor people searching for "debt" on google ?"
A lot has been written on this thread about DD - something I did not know about before. So you have written a great inspirational story, shared something new and sparked debate. Well done and good luck with your next venture!
But in the end, I don't think you can't let this stuff drive you. Gotta live your own life the way you think is right according to how you measure success. And success metrics bound to external factors tend to sap happiness in the end rather than drive it.
I do agree though, let your forebrain help pick your friends carefully. That way you can be the envy of interesting people who make interesting choices.
Or because they want to make a positive impact on the world. Changing the world is just an extreme version of that. Is that an actual reason, or just a rationalization? I don't know, I'm not in the change-the-world camp. (And don't try to continue this like a Socratic Questioning - why, why, why - that is soo passé.)
I know. Absolutes is a very tempting and convincing framework to work withing. Everything-is-X is a popular perspective, from human behaviourist bloggers to language designers.
> People who don't care about what their peers think of them are sociopaths.
And people who are never motivated to eat will soon die. The contention was with the "this is the only motivation, ever", not with the weak version of "sometimes/partly". Don't try to weaken your stance.
I see no problem someone telling others he's not a failure as long as the process to get there was ethical and legal, and in this case he seems to have done more than just that (like giving actual shares to employees).
Congrats.
I think the point is getting millions of dollars.
EDIT: I re-read the comment I mentioned, and I've changed my mind. The commenter said that our instinctual response is as such, which is probably true for most of us.