It’s a great experience going through a a positive transfer of ownership in a company, whether it’s an IPO or a strategic acquisition by a larger company. From an Engineering perspective, the day-to-day tasks are mostly unchanged, but there’s clearly something different in the air. Maybe it’s the fog hanging in the air, from all the attorney’s forms…sign this and sign that… Maybe it’s just the anticipation of change, which is almost always good, but there’s no denying that there’s a ton of uncertainty in the air.
Will I have to change how I write code?
Is there going to be a lot of bureaucracy in the our new big company?
Are they going to take away our Monday morning bagel run? Our soda? Mixed nuts???
Will any of our product roadmap be pruned? targeted for acceleration?
Will we be the the hot new division at Dell or just another group of smart-guys added to the team?
Will they still let us play Cricket matches in the lobby?
Will Ocarina’s CEO get to fly on a private jet now? Can we ride along???
We are already deep into discussions of integration plans, but only time and reassuring communications will help settle the uncertainty. Fortunately the “unknown” is balanced by the thrill of developing something of true value; that Dell took us off the table because we are a keystone for their vision of the future datacenter.
As far as rating our acquirer, Dell gets an A+. Everyone is really happy with the way we’ve been treated so far. Dell has been incredibly generous with their executives’ time, spending quality time with the Ocarina team helping us understand everything from culture, to cubicles, to Coke’s, to product tactics. Even Michael — we’re told using the last name is optional — made a point of sending us a personal welcome message, and even showed up in our office. Even though the acquisition is just closed, many of us have started developing personal relationships with our Dell counterparts, and it all looks good from San Jose.
Michael and Murli
For now, business goes on, customers will get supported, and dev work on our existing embedded projects continues at breakneck pace. Attorney activity is on the downswing, and now it’s time to get to the rewarding work of integrating the teams, the product strategies, and making sure our customers are happier than ever.
