This is one of those interesting debates that depending on the intent is unfairly or deservedly maligned. IMO, shame on a candidate for not asking it. It's generally applied that the angle of the question is a "when will I get rich" intent, which I'm sure is commonly the case. But asked with the appropriate thoughtful tone, it should be encouraged to ask this of the management team. The real and _right_ reason for asking is to know how the leaders of the business think about the business. I've worked at startups that had a 24 month build -> acquisition strategy. Others who only cared about longterm growth and profitability. And yes, there are others who figured they'd be IPO'ing any quarter now. Lastly, there are the "who knows, we're building something to see where it ends up" people. Understanding this thinking is a crucial insight into whether the company and employee are fit for one another.

The bottom line is, as a candidate it's fair and important to know what the founders think about the business and whether/how that employee's contributions/passions will help to that end. And as the employer, it is vitally important that employees are aligned with the way the company wants to build. It may be one of, if not _the_ most important company culture question there is.

Interesting post. I've been thinking a lot about the loss of universal search results in deals like this which I think is a bad thing, and for sure search-silos would stink. But the more I think about it, I think this is just a natural process of the market finding equilibrium.

No doubt the media companies are trying to squeeze out of the "old way" of doing things. The elephant in the room is that the entire media/distribution model is dead and requires a wholesale revamp, from TV/movies to music to print media. Bing search silos, iTunes, Hulu, Kindle are just band-aids. As much as I hate to admit it, maybe Murdoch's willingness to turn his protest into online competition (rather than stick his head in the sand) is a small painful step in the right direction. It sucks now because it's early days, but maybe these are the baby-steps towards a more rational market.

I'm cautiously optimistic that this first foray of the media companies demanding some more equitable remuneration for their content will settle back into universal search with a more rational spread of the revenues.

Brad,

I happen to be currently reading Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA which is a historical account of the CIA through the Reagan years. It was written by Bob Woodward of Watergate fame.

It was written in 1987 but it is amazing to read about many of the names (Robert Gates, unnamed Osama Bin Laden) and policies (sorry, Jimmy Carter) that have led us to where we are today. It is narrow and deep covering the Reagan era, but very enlightening.

Not THE history of the CIA, but probably something to put on the list after a full historical account.