Selling a startup in an 'acqui-hire' is more lucrative than it seems, founders and VCs say | TechCrunch

"Generally, when companies are acquired, it's considered a down move," said Nivas Ravichandran, one of the first employees at Frilp, a startup acqui-hired by Freshworks in 2015. "But acquisitions are a great opportunity from a financial standpoint. If you come in via an acquisition, the pay and equity are better than if you join as a lateral hire."

"The senior principal engineers usually take a decade or more to get to a level six or seven," said Sri Chandrasekar, a partner at P72 Ventures, referring to standard 'leveling' at large tech companies like Google or Meta. Founders 'I have seen founders who are acqui-hired go in at level seven or eight. Many of them have four years of professional experience. That is a big jump.'

Read at TechCrunch