I was browsing TechCrunch today and was surprised to see an article about DropSend (one of our web apps) called “Anatomy of a Failed Merger“. It’s about my writeup of the failed DropSend-YouSendIt acquisition.
As I said in the comments, the reason why I wrote the post was to help other small companies like us, to understand how these negotiations work. It’s pretty scary and confusing if you’ve never been through it!
If you’re hoping to sell your web app or company some day, I hope that you find it useful.
Scott Brooks
January 3rd, 2007 at 6:30 pm
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Hey Ryan,
I appreciate the disclosure ….as i had mentioned in the TC post …You are in interesting times and the feedback on how things don’t go according to plan is very interesting. It seems that everyone who scoffs at a potential merger are those who have never been in the position to be acquired. I wish you the best of luck and hope things pan out favorably for you and the team over at Carson Systems.
cheers
scott
syi916
January 3rd, 2007 at 6:34 pm
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You are truly a web-pioneer and I admire your work and support in this arena!
James Deer
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:42 pm
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Unless companies explicitly say they don’t want you to disclose their details, why shouldn’t you? Also mentioning YouSendIt happened once the deal had fallen through and you were no longer in negotiations with them, i see no problems in that. Thanks for the great articles Ryan, keep them coming!
Michael
January 4th, 2007 at 3:53 am
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I really liked your post. I was curious, however — how did YSI feel about you blogging about the failed merger? You mentioned in your post that initially they weren’t comfortable with it…did you just take it upon yourself to do so after it failed?
Tim Benjamin
January 4th, 2007 at 10:22 am
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Hi Ryan,
Your posts describing the process of selling an asset are superbly written and enormously educational.
Provided anyone writing about specific commercial negotiations avoids inaccuracies or the breaking of non-disclosure agreements, I see no legal problem - although such posts may sour actual and potential commercial relationships.
Keep ‘em coming.
Tim