Office Hours Podcast: Keith Richman Of Boosted Commerce on Acquiring Ecommerce Companies
Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.
On today's episode of Office Hours, meet Keith Richman, co-founder of Boosted Commerce, which buys top-rated companies on Amazon and other ecommerce ecosystems and helps take them to their next level.
Boosted is one of many companies Keith has co-founded - so many of them ahead of internet trends. For example, before the ubiquitous PayPal, there was Bill Point, a company Keith co-founded in the late '90s. He says it failed for a couple of reasons. One, it was technically illegal at the time to accept payments for others and two, it was widely rumored that Ebay was going to launch its own version.
While, in hindsight, both issues were surmountable, his inexperience and the prospect of the Justice Department suing Bill Point was intimidating, so when they received an offer to sell the company, he says, "We were thrilled and took it...to the credit of both PayPal and Sequoia, they both...saw an ability and an opportunity to stick with it and build a business around it."
In this episode, hear how so many of the companies he co-founded follow or even anticipated the trajectory of the internet, what Boosted looks for in their acquisitions and what Boosted offers their companies to help them grow. Full disclosure, I'm an investor in Boosted, and Keith is an investor in dot.LA.
Keith Richman is a successful entrepreneur, investor and board member. Before Boosted Commerce, he co-founded Voi Technology, a leading European based mobility company with operations in 34 cities across 11 countries. From 2005 until October 2013, he served as the co-founder and CEO of Break Media, where he developed an expertise in digital marketing across multiple brands and vertical. Prior to Break Media, he was the co-founder and vice president of OnePage, which was acquired by Sybase in 2002, and co-founder of Billpoint Inc., which was acquired by eBay in 1999. Keith received a B.A. in International Relations and M.A. in International Policy from Stanford University. (bio from Boosted Commerce).
dot.LA Sr. Podcast Producer & Editor Laurel Moglen contributed to this post.
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Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.
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