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Ask HN: If acquihired/acquired, what questions were you glad you asked?

1 points by yourapostasy ↗ HN
Really, what questions were you glad/not-glad/wished/not-wished you had asked? Sometimes it is the questions you think of in hindsight that are the ones you most wanted to ask if you could turn back time.

It would be helpful, but not necessary, if your reply included if you were a founder/key member of the deal team or not part of the deal team, rough size of deal (round numbers, like "below $20M USD", or "$1-10M USD"), how long the deal took, and how long you stayed at the acquirer.

4 comments

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goodroot
I've been part of a few acquisitions. Given the amount of nuance in each sale, it would be tough to give useful advice without having more information.

However, I will speak towards questions you should ask of yourself. Ultimately, when you sell your company it is no longer yours. Are you ready to say goodbye? Have you taken it as far as it can go? Are you doing right by each human being in your working group? Could you handle seeing your unique culture assimilate into something bigger over time?

It's a deeply personal experience; don't forget about your own heart and your own feelings.

yourapostasy
Thanks for the feedback. I'm interested in the perspective from the general population of those who were on the selling end. The Net is chock full of advice in the form of "do this, do that", but curiously little can be found in the form of "these are the most important questions to ask the buyer", especially with 20/20 hindsight.

Strangely, in my personal situation, the founding team asked the questions you posed when the buyer interest was first noted. We asked the employees and fortunately, all were on board with a potential sale.