Here’s another example of Google absorbing the company primarily for its talent and to heck with the rest of the company assets. I wonder what the terms of the deal were. Is it more like a pay off (e.g. a bribe so you stop what you’re doing, do as you are told and join the team) rather than an acquisition? Somehow I doubt much of the iRows existing software will be recycled into Google Docs though maybe bits and pieces will.
This is what TechCrunch reported:
The founders of Israeli Ajax spreadsheet iRows have confirmed what we wrote yesterday, they have been hired by Google and iRows will be shut down. The service is no longer accepting new accounts and will shut down completely at the end of this year. The company is providing instructions for its users to move their data to Google Documents. Financial details haven’t been disclosed.
iRows was founded by Yoah Bar-David and Itai Raz. Though Google acquired an advanced text search algorithm invented by Israeli student Ori Allon earlier this year, iRows is believed to be the first company in Israel to have been acquired by Google. There is no shortage of innovation coming from that country so iRows will probably not be the last.
Well the operative word “acquired” was still used in the TechCrunch report… I guess it’s all great if there are only founders to worry about; it’s more problematic if there are a whole bunch of employees involved.
Let’s take for instance what happened to me in the startup I joined in late 1999. There was an acquisition which liquidated my erstwhile company, and which paid off the upper management, board members and founders who got away with some modest consolation prizes for their hard work, which was to fritter away an enormous sum in venture capital. The software was inventoried, turned over then shelved and that was the end of that. Nobody was ever hired by the acquiring company even though “mock” interviews were performed for employment consideration at the new place. Ultimately, the regular employees were sent home with nice 3 month severance packages along with concerns over where they were going to go in the midst of the dot com implosion, while the top dogs took their dough, vanished into some extended vacations and serious weight training (I swear this was true), then finally resurrected themselves in newly funded startups.
Of course that’s not what happened to iRows, but funny how this story sent me to a trip down memory lane.
Great news for all new start-ups! As the rivalry between Microsoft and Google intensifies, plenty of small new innovative companies will get snapped up in the process, provided that they have something of value to offer on the frontlines. And now you don’t even need a solid business idea to draw the attention of the big fish - just a demonstration that you have the skills that they can put to a good use.