Built to be bought vs. built to license IP

David Hornik wrote a good piece, “Built to be Bought (Bubble 2.0)” which warns that the large volume of companies being started w/ the express purpose of getting acquired is a strikingly similar trait to what was going on right before Bubble 1.0.

As you may know, I advocate the IP licensing model for Hawaii startups which means that you build up a good product, generate revenue, and then partner with a company that has sufficient resources to really take your idea/product to the next level. You might also get lucky and get acquired which is what happened to my company TitanKey Software.

David’s post is a good read. I disagree with him in that the goal should be to go IPO because while that may be true in SV, it’s quite the rarity here in Hawaii. However he does help define a fine line between creating a really cool product that can succeed vs. creating a feature that another company might want to acquire.