How to Create the Next Facebook: Seeing Your Startup Through, from Idea to IPO

M&A

Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.

—Richard Branson

In July 2007, Mark Zuckerberg made his first acquisition. It was a deal for Parakey, which was a startup based in Mountain View, CA. The company was developing technology to make applications work while online or offline, but this didn’t matter to Zuckerberg. He wanted the company because of its talented co-founders, Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt. This type of deal became known as an acqui-hire.

Since then, Zuckerberg has gone on to strike over 25 transactions; the deal-making has accelerated over the past couple of years. All were acquire-hires but one: ...