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Ask HN: Employee experiences after acquisition

6 points by Toenex ↗ HN
I'm lead engineer in a 12 person start-up with a novel product in niche area. It's a great company and strong team but with, in my opinion, poor equity distribution. Being investor backed means an exit will have to occur at some point and frankly I'd see that as a bad thing. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has been through an exit and didn't cash out. Did the team stay together or did it end there? Did you follow the product to it's new owner or were you cast aside?

2 comments

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throw1away
What exactly do you mean by going through an exit and not cashing out? In the exit I went through, everyone stayed for a couple of years and helped integrate the product into the larger company's offerings and infrastructure. No one was cast aside, but some people got bored and left, and some stuck around and are just regular engineers who are part of a larger company now. After going through an exit and getting some money, some people feel they have scratched their startup itch and are happy to be out of startup mode now, and some want to start something new and prove they can "do it again".
Toenex
> What exactly do you mean by going through an exit and not cashing out?

Essentially I'm interested in hearing about the consequences and outcomes of an exit for technical staff who don't get rich and therefore can't take time out.