From personal experience, I have not seen a case in cybersecurity when an acquisition of startup made product better for customers. IMHO the reason is simply different incentives: for startup to succeed, it needs to differentiate, needs to be better (at least in certain areas) than competition, it needs to listen to customers; when it is bought, it is often that a buyer simply needs a “check box” that their (most likely much bigger) product has capabilities similar to startup product. It is ok if these capabilities are average and mediocre if it is not a main feature set of the product. That results in slow death of original startup product and at best average feature in a buyer product.
I think the best CEOs always preserve their optionality. It pays off to think about building a big company while keeping in mind that acquisitions are an option, and since every CEO has a fiduciary duty, they have to be considered and evaluate. The good news is that focusing on customer problems will allow them to build a great company, and with that, to get solid financial returns.
From personal experience, I have not seen a case in cybersecurity when an acquisition of startup made product better for customers. IMHO the reason is simply different incentives: for startup to succeed, it needs to differentiate, needs to be better (at least in certain areas) than competition, it needs to listen to customers; when it is bought, it is often that a buyer simply needs a “check box” that their (most likely much bigger) product has capabilities similar to startup product. It is ok if these capabilities are average and mediocre if it is not a main feature set of the product. That results in slow death of original startup product and at best average feature in a buyer product.
The lesson here: if you like what you do, don’t try to be bought, try to be sustainable and customer focused.
I think the best CEOs always preserve their optionality. It pays off to think about building a big company while keeping in mind that acquisitions are an option, and since every CEO has a fiduciary duty, they have to be considered and evaluate. The good news is that focusing on customer problems will allow them to build a great company, and with that, to get solid financial returns.