Ask HN: The acquisition value of a codebase

2 pointstolas13y ago1 comments

I'm just wondering what value a clean and well designed code base has on an acquisition. I'm sure it varies by technology, product, team size, and acquisition value, but how important is clear well documented and tested code in an acquisition?

aka: when do you put effort into cleaning up the scrappy mvp rather than iterating on new product ideas and user tests.

1 comments

1 comments · 1 top-level

jtchang13y ago

It depends what the buyer wants. A clean code base is generally not the first thing I would look at when buying a company. Fundamentals are much more important such as revenue.

Focus on improving your fundamentals. You put effort into cleaning up the scrappy mvp when it starts to hinder your efforts to improve those fundamentals.

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