For many technology start-ups, getting swooped up by the world's biggest search company has become the ultimate goal. In fact, a growing number of small ventures are launched for the sole purpose of being acquired. So what does it really take to woo Google?
For Matt Sanchez, grooming your company to be acquired by Google is akin to flipping a house in a shaky real estate market. It can be lucrative -- but comes with a very serious risk of losing everything.
"It's like waiting to get hit by lightning," says Sanchez, the CEO of VideoEgg, a small online video advertising firm based in San Francisco.
Yet despite the risks, Google's growing appetite for small technology start-ups in recent years has encouraged many high-tech entrepreneurs to do just that, spawning what industry insiders call "Googlebait" companies -- small ventures launched for the sole purpose of getting acquired by the search engine giant and cashing out.
Text: Angus Loten, Inc.com
Image: A sign outside of the Google headquarters is shown at Mountain View, California. | Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Also read: Slideshow: The Google millionaires
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