Agree.

Thinking constructively here are some ideas based on my experience on how a big company might cultivate and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of the acquired startup while changing its own company culture.

- Continued support from higher management + Board sponsor (the most important one in my view)
- Continued internal communications from higher management (email, webcasts, offline events etc.) showing the benefits and values of the startup for the whole company)
- Autonomous structure for the startup in the whole company while merging it in the processes of the company over time. Later on, after a few years, it can be immersed into other departments or BUs.
- Increase informal sessions with the startup team
- Redesigning KPIs for departments and key people interacting with the startup focusing in cooperative and learning mindsets and behavior
- Integrate the founders of the startup in the recruitment practices of the company , particularly the related functional departments and BUs to the startups’ core business
- Increase the budget for the startup
- Integrate the founders of the startup in vision and strategy sessions within the company as a whole
- Reward change agents internally who embody the vision and culture of the startup and connect them to each other using social networking tools (online and offline)
- Follow an ‘olievlek methode’ or cascade model for internal change with the founders of the startup integrated in the project team for change management

But that doesn’t make this story less true.

I agree completely. It resonates strongly with my work experiences inside big companies.

However, there is a flipside to this. In some cases (e.g., AltaVista bought by CMGI and Compaq) the acquisition of a small startup ends up badly as the bureaucratic mogol kills the entrepreneurial spirit. Sometimes there is a clash on vision, strategy or shared mental models, sometimes on having less speed and autonomy being the acquired startup, sometimes the budgetary processes inside a big company might focus on other topics besides the one acquired.