Canadian-based OpenText is finalizing a deal to acquire Vignette for $310M, slightly below the company’s peak market cap of something like $19B. They say timing is everything. Despite the fact that profitable quarters were as rare as a four leaf clover, this company was basically a “fund maker” for Austin Ventures. Vignette was a leader in the content management market for many years, snagging deals with every major web property that you could imagine. Once all the big deals were closed, the company couldn’t seem to be profitable selling to the medium or small business markets.

Let’s hope OpenText doesn’t totally gut the Austin operations, because there’s a lot of talented engineers still at Vignette. The company provided a ton of great jobs to the Austin area, and I’m sure that some early stock option holders used their gains to spin up their own innovative technology companies.

Company co-founder Ross Garber devised the company’s first functional spec by calling up hundreds of people who had lots of content to manage on their website. Being connected to the people who can write checks for your technology seems basic, but it’s amazing how many people create software in a vacuum.