A question from an entrepreneur about post-acquisition letdown and how to stay motivated working for a large company.
Q: Overcoming Post-Acquisition Letdown
Entrepreneur: We sold our company a few months ago for roughly twelve million, and I netted almost two million. I am in my early 30s and not planning my retirement, but my wife and I have been planning to have children, and the money provides a lot of security. I am happy with the outcome, as better-funded competitors were slowly grinding us down. I look back on my journey with my cofounders and employees and consider it an absolute success.
But now I feel a strong sense of post-acquisition letdown.
We were a team of five and are now integrated into a team of 50 that is part of a big company in the same space. This is my first time working in a big-company environment, and it seems like all the jokes about it being incredibly slow are true.
AI has accelerated development across the board, and it feels like our slower pace means we are losing even faster to the competition. I continue to manage many of our older customer relationships, and every week another one cancels their subscription. We don’t have an earn-out as part of the acquisition, so it’s not affecting me financially, but it’s still incredibly frustrating. All the more because I cannot seem to do anything about it, I cannot get our development and product teams to take effective action. Is it normal to have such elevated churn after an acquisition?
I am under contract to stay another two and a half years, and the people I’m working with are great, but my motivation is starting to vanish. We used to work 60-hour weeks; now we work 40. The old way wasn’t exactly fun, but we had a sense of purpose that seems to be missing now. Now I find it hard to get up in the morning. I don’t plan to stay after the contract ends, but I have no clue what to do next.
I was elated when the deal closed, but now I am adrift. Any suggestions for how founders have navigated post-acquisition letdown?
Sean Murphy: You have 2.5 years to figure out what you want to to next. Take advantage of your current situation to learn how larger firms actually function as you may either sell to and/or compete with larger firms in you next startup. If you want children start now, it can take longer than you anticipate.
It’s completely OK to work only 40 hours a week, cultivate other interests and talents, and decompress. Write down your lessons learned, at some point you will need them. If you would like to share lessons learned at a Lean Culture event you are welcome to contact me directly.
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