I feel like banks are one of the last places you should try to peddle B2B/SAAS/consulting packages unless you already have a gigantic reputation to work with and/or deep domain expertise + a professional network.
Many bank execs want to sign contracts with a minimum of 5 year duration. No one wants to spend all that due diligence time & energy on a 12 month contract. So, the stakes are really high. They're going to want you to prove you will be around in a decade.
If their executive team is worried about your business continuity, but still really like the technology idea, that is where you run into the undercutting angle. They'll move it under a different cost center like "tech research and transformation initiatives" as opposed to "principal, line of business systems". They'll still talk to you, but it will be on entirely different terms than you would desire.
I have no experience in the financial industry, but I work in a field which is also highly regulated (medical devices). Failure to pass audits or be otherwise compliant to regulation can very much make the difference between having or not having any business at all.
Paying of decades worth of debt in a few month where clients see no shiny new features was likely more and better service than that founder-CEO type deserved.
> They are not in the business of selling software.
But they are probably in the business of selling themselves as a software/ tech company. People value tech companies, so you'd better be one, even if you do taxi services, produce and distribute tv series, or rent office space.
> What’s pernicious about this new organization: whereas the status of a double-breasted banker suit is transparently obvious, the technical arrangement that conspires to give an amazing streaming setup is altogether inscrutable to lay people.
What is truly inscrutable is the decision to adopt this particular style of writing.
"We have always admired them from afar, especially their dedication to craft and their commitment to their B Corp certification."
We have admired their B-corp certification? Is this a joke? It reads like satire, but I can't imagine anyone actually writing this on an acquisition announcement.
>Admittedly, a business where this company has slurped out most of the value and saddled you with various software license fees or whatever in perpetuity. But a business nonetheless.
didn't I see an episode of The Sopranos where this was the plot, albeit in mafia dress.
> never forget that they’re just here to make money.
I find this read to be a little too pessimistic. They’re not an investment firm. They’re still making products that they want to sell people, and making them the way they think is best. Do they want profit? Of course. But their product is not money. They’re first and foremost an electronics manufacturer.
This is one of those quotes that can look really bad in hindsight if something goes wrong
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