Most founders who sell their software companies don’t join the leadership teams of their acquirers. Or they don’t stay around any longer than they have to.

But what if you sold your beloved business to a bigger company that had the same mission, the same target market, and a great CEO with lots of funding?

Would you stick around and help build the combined company to achieve the big vision you always had?

Patrick Campbell, the founder of the popular ProfitWell by Paddle software used by SaaS companies, didn’t hand over the keys when he sold his company a year ago to move on to a new startup idea.

The $200 million acquisition was half in cash and have in stock. He and his team won a prize and place a bet on the new company too.

As he explained on the Practical Founders podcast this week, he chose to be part of the leadership team of Paddle, the company that acquired ProfitWell.

“It’s so dependent on who the acquirer is—and the founders too. For me, in this case, Paddle is a place where I could theoretically stay forever.

“Before I sold ProfitWell, I talked to 30 different founders who had sold companies. About half of them didn’t go on with the company and the other half stayed on.

“Of the 15 founders who handed over the keys when they sold, 8 of them ended up regretting it pretty considerably, and 3 of them became drug addicts or alcoholics for a while.

“That was a big signal for me that my job is so much a part of my identity. I love my job, I love what I do. I don’t want to really risk that. And we weren’t done. We wanted to keep going to 10X the company.”

That’s one way to do it. It seems to be working for Patrick so far.

Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.

Listen to the in-depth interview with Patrick Campbell on the Practical Founders Podcast.

Thanks for sharing your story with me of how it’s going one year later after the ProfitWell acquisition, Patrick.

#practicalfounders