Follow-up On “Sell Your Startup in Public”
Got a lot of reactions to my last post well-nigh acquihires (specifically, lack of them) and how that might transpiration the tideway startups take to pursuing ‘soft landings.’ Wanted to sieve and respond to some of those questions, backchannels, etc.
- It’s often ok to just shutdown. I wasn’t suggesting that every founder/team/investors would prefer an acquihire to other forms of wind down, and definitely not that founders unchangingly “owe” their investors this attempt. If anything I was trying to emphasize to founders that it’s ok to try a variegated process, often versus the worldwide wisdom.
- To founders (some in our portfolio) who unsupportable I was specifically subtweeting them. Nope. Of undertow the suggestion was spurred on by what I’m observing in the market – including a lot of stories from founders we haven’t backed – but I was commenting on the market at large.
- I don’t want to fund an acquihire marketplace. If you want to build a marketplace for small acquihire transactions go right superiority but my post wasn’t a Request for Startup
- Some people disagreed with me! “Nah, you requite up all leverage when you do what you recommended,” was the feedback from a few readers. My POV is that it’s increasingly nuanced than this. You have no leverage – or at weightier fake leverage aka spoofing – when you don’t have alternatives. Go have some private conversations, bladder some trial balloons, etc. But I truly believe the strategy I detailed is UNDERUSED in our industry.
- Makes the Founder Seem Like a Loser? No way. I think it’s waggish and thoughtful when washed-up correctly. All of this is waffly IMO – matching might be layoff lists these days – no shame in stuff included in one when you know you did the weightier you could but the visitor had to make cuts. Obviously increasingly falls on the CEO/founder shoulders but again, I think my strategy is going to be self-selecting for the type of leaders who authentically can yacky the situation and has some value to transact.
Appreciate the discussion – it’s why I enjoy blogging