Microsoft
by gadgetgirl
if they'd take HOB as part of the deal!
Sorry, Ed, that was too good a post to miss!
;) :D :p
GG
by fregeus
What is HOB?
TCB
by gadgetgirl
is Him On Board.
We have an ex Dunkirk vessel which undergoes restoration on a perpetual basis but doesn't get used....
nothing in the house gets done. Why? Because Him On Board.....!
S'easy when you know, innit?
no probs,TCB!
GG
]:)
Edit: I can't do SH!T right today.....
by jaqui
MS or not, I wouldn't sell.
It is doing well because of you, and your reputation is affected by it giving it over to anyone else will leave you open to bad press.
[ Bill Gates association in most people's minds as being Microsoft being the perfect example ]
But then I'm not the entrepreneurial type so I probably wouldn't have had my own company to begin with.
I'd still sell. Based on their past, if they can't buy you they'll develop an inferior competing product and use their size to run you out of business.
by dumphrey
by joer
Small software companies face an uphill battle going against the giants in the industry, e.g. Microsoft, Oracle, Autodesk, Symantec, et al.
Unless my software product was extremely unique - and had the potential to attract a wide market - chances are, it would either remain small or struggle to gain market-share against those giants.
Most small software companies aren't necessarily bought-out to eliminate an up and coming competitor, but rather because of the new technology it might offer to an existing market. Sometimes it's cheaper for the giant to buy such a small company rather than develop something internally.
In fact, I'd guess that often times smaller start-up companies are actually posturing themselves for such a buy-out. Take the millions and move on to the next challenge!
by joer
If I were to develop a nifty program that would make searching the Internet somehow different, or better, or something along those lines, and I actually grew it into a small company, and maybe even with a positive cash flow, what would the future hold for me?
Compete with Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft - the giants in the search engine market - remain a small niche company, or possibly even run the risk of competing with those giants (running the risk of going out of business!) if they were to somehow integrate some version of my nifty process into their own product. They can't do that, you might say, because I could sue them. Sure I could, but against those deep pockets, I would then be facing TWO uphill battles: competing against them in the marketplace and in court.
Option number two: You're offering me how many millions of dollars?
In a case like that, you bet I'd take the money and run!
by jamesrl
I was in a similar position about 20 years ago.
I worked at a small software company of 40 people. They had a hot product in beta. They were approached by the leading desktop publishing company regarding a buyout.
You have to balance their offer with what you can do on your own. They commented to us that they had more salespeople who could sell this product than we had employees.
In the end they didn't sell out, and their product made them a fortune. They spent their fortune acquiring other companies which didn't always work out, and now they are a shadow of their former selves.
My current employer has acquired quite a few smaller companies and I work daily with people who had been bought out. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, depends on the individual. My current employer tripled the number of customers in three years for the last product they bought so it must mean something.
James
by jdclyde
What is the potential that I could achieve with the software vs what I will have as a part of the sale.
If it gave me enough to follow my dreams, it would be a quick sale and to find my you would have to come to my private island where topless native girls are bringing me umbrella drinks all day...... B-)
A professor that I knew. He was one of those folks that worked-out exactly what he would do if he won the lottery.
1. Take the cash option.
2. Have a helicopter take him to work everyday.
3. Have a sedan carried by amazons take him to his office.
4. Be fanned and fed peeled grapes.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 until he was fired so that he could collect unemployment.
6. Have a limo take him to the unemployment office weekly.
7. Have a sedan carried by amazons take him to the line.
8. Be fanned and fed peeled grapes.
:D
by dumphrey
by cactus pete
As in pay me cash AND give me options in MS?
Really, though, I'd take a nice lump sum, plus a percentage of the future business, plus take a role in the new business unit, either as the local chief or as a "consultant".
But if the offer isn't big enough, I'd turn them down and let the world know (great advertising).
by delbertpgh
Mike Doonesbury builds a software company out of his garage, hiring his hot girlfriend's ex-boyfriends. He eats beans and finances the shop on his personal credit cards, making a product (a "re-compiler") that he doesn't even understand. He goes public, and on the day of issue he suddenly becomes worth $60 mn. A couple months later, the smell of sulfur enters the room with a business rep from Microsoft, who offers to buy him out for even more money. He searches his soul, and refuses the deal. Within weeks, the dark empire has created a competing product, which they give away for free, driving him out of business. Back to beans and credit cards again.
Sure, I'd sell. You bet your buns. I have no false sentimentalism about business efforts. It's about making money, not personal expression, and anybody who thinks they can serve two such opposed objectives equally had better put down the crack pipe and go back to business school.
by absolutely
Patents for software that just performs
obvious, non-novel processes, merely
because they automate, are a drain on the
economy and inhibit "the Progress of
Science and the useful Arts." I will not
sign any original work over to that crook.
by seanferd
As in: court offers from other companies using the MS offer as an indication of interest in and value of your product.
Or use the offer to advertise or gain investors for your own company?
Do you find that you would not want to sell to anyone?
by absolutely
[i]As in: court offers from other companies
using the MS offer as an indication of
interest in and value of your product.
Or use the offer to advertise or gain
investors for your own company?[/i]
Sure.
[i]Do you find that you would not want to
sell to anyone?[/i]
No, once I've developed a company to a
certain point, I could see selling it to a
bigger fish that would make my company one
product or product line. But it isn't easy
for me to imagine putting all the necessary
effort into something of this scale and
being in a hurry to sell, unless there's
some even more fun opportunity requiring
the money earned in this hypothetical
company Microsoft is offering to buy.
by seanferd
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