Yesterday, Digi announced it plans to acquire Disruptive Technologies. It is the second time in a little over a year that SmartSense has grown this way, and the first time I have watched it happen knowing what the last one did to my job.
The last one was Jolt, in August 2025. I have been at SmartSense for almost five years, and Jolt changed more of my work than anything before it. Team members shuffled. People picked up new responsibilities. We got a new director, who came from Jolt. And I moved into a manager position. All of it happened while two companies were still learning each other’s names.
Shortly after the deal closed, I drove to Boston for a meet and greet with the Jolt team. I expected a day of introductions and polite small talk. In less than a day, we were off planning and building together, and sharing meals and a few laughs in between. We felt like a team from day one.
Looking back, I do not think that was luck. The teams did a lot of work to find a good fit, and it kept going long after Boston. We did not merge codebases. Instead, we looked at how they had built some of their apps and how we had built ours, and kept the best of both. That kind of learning only happens when both sides assume the other one knows something they do not.
That work is a big part of what is driving SmartSense ONE, the platform we are still building on top of both products. It started with two groups of people deciding to learn from each other.
It also changed how I read the news this week. A year ago, I would have seen an acquisition announcement and thought mostly about the disruption. I have lived through that part now, and it came with a new role. This time I am anticipating it, and wondering how we will stretch and grow. I do not know yet what the Disruptive Technologies team will teach us. I do know the fit will not be something we find. It will be something both teams build.
Culture fit after an acquisition is not discovered. It is made.