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Ask Maria: How do we gel after getting acquired?

There can be a lot of friction as teams navigate new waters. From top-down misalignment to low morale in teams, here are some tricks to tackle common problems.
December 20, 2023

We’ve been acquired by a large non-tech corporation. As a once-small company, it’s been difficult for me to understand how to interface with new management, and it’s been especially challenging to keep my team updated. Can you help?

Hi Maria,

I’m the head of engineering at an organization that used to be about 30-strong. We’ve been acquired by a non-tech company (let’s call them AcmeCorp), and moving away from product led to a more corporate, top-down approach. Senior stakeholders have a minimal understanding of engineering practices and balancing tech debt. They are quick to attribute development challenges to the technical competence of the team, when the core issues stem from previous executive’s excessive and not really thought-through product complexity.

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