What is it about being the CEO of a startup that causes people to believe these promises?

Feels like, at this point, anyone in this situation surely knows what's gonna happen. They can't say it publicly, though, or at least, definitely not during the announcement!

I can just imagine how that would go... "Today we have been purchased by BigCo. We'll try to keep things the same for as long as we can, but tbh all the founders got a 2 year agreement after which we get a boatload of money, and then we're outta here and they'll probably shut this whole thing down. Enjoy it while it lasts!"

The bank balance

What makes you think they believe it?

For example, I honestly believe the Oculus founder believed the promises that you wouldn't ever need to use a FB account to use an Oculus, just given his public comments.

You can't use Oculus products now without a Facebook account?

Without a Facebook account, your Oculus headset has "limited" features. There's also been a bunch of stories on HN from people who've bricked their headset when their linked Facebook account got banned or deleted.

[1] https://www.oculus.com/blog/a-single-way-to-log-into-oculus-...

Does it really brick the headset? I read that if one account gets banned, you can log in with another account.

Why would you believe public comments, especially from someone who sold to Mark Zuckerberg, famous for mocking people for trustit him?

Everyone thinks “this time will be different”

I think it's more so something founders can tell themselves to feel better about the situation. Deep down they know it's not true

Indeed. The abused spouse syndrome. Although that's probably a more apt name for when you believe the same company for the nth time.

Narrator: it was.