i hope those left behind were compensated with a reasonable severance package or something.

otherwise, holy shit.

edit: i think this is relevant https://twitter.com/derekkinsman/status/556163189424267264

There's 40 people out of a job, and one less agency. These 40 people were clearly doing the vast majority of the work.

Their clients are all still out there, still in need of design work. I know these things don't happen overnight, but what's to stop them from starting a new agency—one that obviously would include the bulk of the talent from Teehan+Lax?

The Teehan Lax partners must've been offered serious $$$ to abandon something they built for the corporate Facebook.

This is the least punk rock move anyone could make. Lay off 40+ people and sell out.

"Acquihire" — You keep using that word...

Somehow it just feels so wrong for founders of a company who seemed to be at the top of its game with employees who probably busted their asses and really believed in it to just peace out. You could only hope they were left with some kind of compensation and notice.

To build something up from scratch for 12 years to where Teehan+Lax is, sounds very much along the lines of "so long suckers"

You don't get happier after 75k yearly people.

Right?

I sort of agree with your viewpoint, in that as i was reading their initial post, i had the notion that the whole company got acquired (although some might not end up going etc)..it wasn't til that very last footnote that i realized it was just the 3 partners...

...kinda seemed a bit odd to me.

so it's not really 'teehan+lax got bought at all...it's 3 dudes closed down the shop to move to greener pastures...'later!'.....

it'd be nice to see the remaining chaps just continue on under a new name, but with the partners gone, I dont' see that happening...takes time to sort out things like offices, banking arrangements...etc...

This whole thing doesn't make sense to me.

Adaptive Path is acquired by Capital One, Smart Design closed it's SF office, Teehan+Lax partners went to Facebook...

It's obvious that you need to iterate on product to make it any good and for me that seems like a logic reason why design shifts to inhouse teams more and more. I wonder what will the future bring to IDEO, Cooper and others who helped shape the field.

Their post did start off reading that it was going to be the entire company. The words 'leave Teehan+Lax' were then used a few times, which painted a much different picture.

Despite doing something seemingly pretty shitty, it didn't read like they were hiding it. Facebook offered them more exciting opportunities (and $$$ i assume) so they left the rest of the company out to dry.

Naturally, they're painting it in a more positive light than this, but I don't think they're not telling the whole story. They're just telling it from the side that came out of this in the green.

Man, on the internet, just don't say anything. The fact that they wrote this long explanation of why they did it is what's opened them up to all this scrutiny. Looks genuine, feels dubious -- but who knows!

In the words of a famous surf instructor: "JUST DO NOTHING". Never explain, never engage.

Too soon

It sounds like the founders jumped out of the plane with the only parachutes. :(

Still, ustwo NYC is nearby and hiring. ;)

As my father would say "... in the end of the day it's all about money"

It seems that many people who are criticizing the decision by Teehan + Lax partners may not know what its like to run a design business that has a substantial number of employees (vs. a sole proprietor).

When you build a company yourself and up from nothing, its hard and you have to make a lot of sacrifices. Running a design firm even if successful is like feeding a monster, its never satisfied and its a fight to get more clients, more money and build business.

Most everyone would do the same thing if it were them. Its not selling out to make sound financial decisions for yourself. Especially, when the company is built on your back. Most people don't stop to think that the partners may not have been doing much production work now but they started it, they took most of the risk and more than likely were on the hook for any debt or liability the company had. Not to mention, they were responsible for getting new work, which arguably harder than producing it. There is a good reason that principals get the lion's share when they win, because they took the risk and took on the pretty all-consuming job of running the company.

Honestly, just be happy for them. They finished as a strong company and set up their previous staff for awesome new steps in their careers.

No.