I've thought for a while that one thing that could change the dynamic is price. It doesn't make too much sense to me that a 5 month old company with $50K in it should go for more than $1M. That is the other side to the assholedom - the exuberant prices paid for young companies.
The price can and should change as the product and team grow, so this is mainly a comment about very young companies.
Assuming the buyer has the programming talent and vision to create it, and the managers to allow something "crazy" to be built. That's rare in large corporations.
And assuming the startup in question has not acquired a few key patents. And assuming the startup made no unique-but-necessary technical decisions that can't be replicated without relying on information obtained under NDA.
It should make sense if you keep the word Bubble in the back of your head. Most acquisitions are ridiculous, $20m to hire a team of 10 people and throw the technology away has become commonplace. The math doesn't work out except for panic buying "Let's make sure they don't aid our competition".
I've thought for a while that one thing that could change the dynamic is price. It doesn't make too much sense to me that a 5 month old company with $50K in it should go for more than $1M. That is the other side to the assholedom - the exuberant prices paid for young companies.
The price can and should change as the product and team grow, so this is mainly a comment about very young companies.