What I mean is, once they reach a decent amount of profit, they continue to produce value to their existing (and new) customers and not reach for some ridiculous valuation and sell to some *big company*?

I know that's capitalism and all, do CEOs not have the dream of having a sustainable business in which they have control for a long time, instead of just working towards a massive buyout?

Maybe I'm just too naive to think money doesn't change everyone, but I'd rather have a business bringing in enough cash for me to pay my team and myself a good amount of money and produce stuff my customers really enjoy using...

I feel this.. I was working on the best team, but we were acquired and then laid off. And I feel we could’ve continued growing without the acquisition and built a much better product

Damn that sucks! Was the product your team was working on profitable? If so, how were the layoffs communicated to you? Honestly curious.

It was profitable. The layoffs were communicated as a move to consolidate the product team to one locale. We had a lot of transition support and notice but still sad to think about what could’ve been