How Buyers Now Price Developer Stickiness in M&A

In tech M&A, a target's developer community is increasingly a premium asset. Lucas and Luna examine how strategic buyers like Microsoft and Salesforce are pricing developer stickiness — the likelihood that a target's API users, plugin developers, and open-source contributors stay after acquisition. They break down a 2025 deal where the buyer paid a 30% premium for a startup with a small revenue base but a passionate developer following, and contrast it with a recent acquisition where the developer base evaporated post-close, eroding value. Specific metrics: GitHub stars, NPM download velocity, Stack Overflow question volume. They also tie in this week's news about Jack Dorsey's new team chat platform Buzz, which is betting on developer buy-in from day one. A concrete look at a pricing dimension that's often overlooked in traditional financial models. #TechM&A #DeveloperStickiness #SoftwareAcquisitions #StrategicBuyers #APIEcosystem #Microsoft #Salesforce #JackDorsey #Buzz #OpenSource #GitHubStars #NPMPackages #StartupValuation #PremiumPricing #DeveloperCommunity #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo