I learned a new phrase today: "being acqhired."
The New York Times front page has a story about the latest entrepreneurial trend in Silicon Valley -- big tech companies buying out small ones to acquire their talent, then dumping the companies the founders created. Facebook's director of corporate development is quoted as saying that engineers are worth "half a million to one million" dollars. Aside from rueing the day I decided to major in English, I am wondering how entrepreneurs out there feel about this trend. One the one hand, from the point of view of the "acqhired," how fantastic to be rewarded early for innovation and brain power. On the other hand, it does feel a little bit like selling out. But who cares, this is the marketplace at work, right? On yet another hand, what about the "acqhirers" taking on creative geniuses who probably don't play all that well with others and putting them in a gigantic sandbox like Facebook. How long can that last? And does it even matter? Get one good idea out of a million-dollar engineer, and you might make a billion. What's your take?