When you're an entrepreneur, getting acquired is always a
possibility and one of the down-the-road exit strategies you
keep in the back of your mind. But in high tech, the pace of big
companies buying small firms has exploded to a degree that might
surprise you. Try 2,357 private tech firms bought in 2012 for a
total of about $84 billion, according to private company market
analyst PrivCo.  PrivCo looked at the top 100 acquiring
companies. You might be surprised at who's gobbling up start-ups
the fastest. Here are the top five in order of the number of
acquisitions, according to PrivCo:    1. Facebook   2. Google
3. Groupon   4. Twitter   5. Cisco  That's right, Apple's not in
the top five. Neither is Microsoft or Oracle or HP. But
privately held Twitter is.  More important, the pace of
acquisitions is feverish. Why? The answer is "defense,"
according to PrivCo CEO Sam Hamadeh. There are two things tech-
related companies--and that includes private equity firms like
Thoma Bravo, which was the most active acq