If you can’t find ten Lisp hackers, then your company is probably based in the wrong city for developing software - Paul Graham

The right way to collaborate, I think, is to divide projects into sharply defined modules, each with a definite owner,

It's exhausting to be lied to. I think some of the most accomplished liars even take advantage of this fact. Their lies then serve a double purpose: (a) whatever purpose each specific lie serves and (b) to exhaust their audience and thereby batter them into submission.

A company big enough to acquire startups will be big enough to be fairly conservative, and within the company the people in charge of acquisitions will be among the more conservative, because they are likely to be business school types who joined the company late. They would rather overpay for a safe choice.