People want to save face. Some more than others. I also read the TC article and thought they were trying a bit too hard to make this seem like a good outcome.
Nothing against the founder. It's just how the game is played. And there's little to gain from deviating from the norms.
Edit: It benefits not just the founder’s ego but also the future career prospects of the employees. Big difference in your engineers being able to say “I worked at X all the way until they got acquired!!” and “I worked at X but the product was so unsuccessful we had to have a fire sale.”
Nothing against the founder. It's just how the game is played. And there's little to gain from deviating from the norms.
Edit: It benefits not just the founder’s ego but also the future career prospects of the employees. Big difference in your engineers being able to say “I worked at X all the way until they got acquired!!” and “I worked at X but the product was so unsuccessful we had to have a fire sale.”