Ask HN: Tips to make a pitch for "acquihire of one"?
This could also be called "How can I pitch myself for a job at a company for a position that does not exist?".
Is there such a thing? Can anyone share any stories of how they got in contact with an acquiring company? Does it just become a job interview?
I made a diet recipe app with thousands of users and sold weight loss products (stevia not ozempic lol).
I had a chat with another company. I don't recall the exact details, but basically they'd buy $10 of FB ads to sell $30 of weight loss product. I needed $0.80 or so of marketing cost (bribing bloggers, domain name, etc). So they bought the whole company, all the physical goods, platform, bank accounts, etc.
That's the short of it. This was 10 years ago, you could probably build a lot faster now especially since many companies won't adopt AI and such. And it only took me a year to get there because it was a physical channel back in the era of e-commerce.
I think it also works because it's gunship diplomacy. You should be eating a little into their product like a locust and at a point where they fear you growing bigger without them.
I've done that at least once. Researched a topic fairly thoroughly with a friend and turned it into CV material for both of us, rocked up at an interview for a fairly dull role, and ended the day starting a much more interesting role created for us on the spot...
That's interesting. Was there a regular job application that you applied to? Did you go together for the interview? Did you know or had any prior contact with the decision makers at the company? How was the market when you did this?
In my case and in the current hiring market, it feels impossible to replicate this by sending CVs and a cover letter, and while I could claim some "industry expertise" it is not something that is core to the companies I'm aiming for.