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I didn’t get that at all. They talked about the funding round as a signal for what the asking price might be, and then “Mike from Sequoia” because they know Mike and therefore know which partner at Sequoia to reach out to broker a conversation.

As for location. Totally. It was likely critical.

Disclosure: I work at Google.

These very commonly considered success-probability multipliers and derisking factors -- at this stage, the makeup, expertise, and reputations of the individuals leading a company are the biggest success factors. Even if the acquisition fails, having a strong (and nearby) team adds a lot of value to the acquirer.

This was because, in the emails at that time, they thought it would be a 10-15M acqui-hire and to "block yahoo" purchase only.

Yup. There are tons of brilliant Eastern European programmers who can testify to this

All else being equal, Those closest to the money stream are the most likely to succeed.