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XHow to Startup: Mission Acquisition
Spencer Rascoff
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.
Numbers don’t lie, but often they don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the facts and figures alone, launching a startup seems like a daunting enterprise. It seems like a miracle anyone makes it out the other side.
- 90% of startups around the world fail.
- On average, it takes startups 2-3 years to turn a profit. (Venture funded startups take far longer.)
- Post-seed round, fewer than 10% of startups go on to successfully raise a Series A investment.
- Less than 1% of startups go public.
- A startup only has a .00006% chance of becoming a unicorn.
Ouch.
If your goal is to reach billion-dollar valuation and be publicly traded, the odds will never be in your favor. It does happen, of course, but it’s an exceedingly rare outcome for even the best startups. Holding on too tightly to that hypothetical can actually work against you, blinding you to the importance of planning for a different kind of exit.
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating—companies are bought, not sold. Better exits happen when someone sees the value your startup can bring to their business and is actively trying to purchase it, rather than you having to convince prospective buyers of what your services or products can bring to the table. In the latter scenario, your footing is much less secure and your odds of a successful transaction are inherently lower. You have much more power and are in a much better position when buyers are actively pursuing you.
Getting acquired may not feel like the fairy tale ending your startup deserves, but it’s more than just a back up plan—and it doesn’t happen by accident. Beginning to build the infrastructure today can give you much more control of what happens to your company in the future.
Here’s my advice to startup founders who want to be savvy about their acquisition strategy:
- Make a Buyer List: If your startup has successfully reached Series A or B funding, it’s time to put pen to paper and make a list of your top potential acquirers. Doing so does not indicate failure, just prudence. Who is in your space and could benefit from your company? What company would you like to be a part of? Who shares your mission? Questions like these can help guide you. Aim for having between 10 and 25 potential acquirers in mind.
- Make Connections: Now that you have your short list of companies, be intentional about reaching out and forging relationships with their leadership team. Shoot for the top—a CEO-level contact is ideal. Also consider speaking with people at Corporate Development, but don’t forget another key area of focus—the operating level.
Say, for example, you’re a rental software startup that serves the multifamily sector. Zillow would be a natural fit for your M&A list. Instead of just going after the Corp Dev contact, get to know the person at Zillow who runs the rental business. M&A deals need executive sponsors from the operating unit. Understanding what they do and how they do it is a big advantage when envisioning how your start up can fit into their ecosystem. - Make Those Connections Count: After you’ve connected with the right people at your potential acquirers, make sure you keep them in the loop. Every quarter or six months, reach out to them directly to keep them apprised of what’s going on in your business areas. Tell them what you’re working on. Share your big wins. Ask about potential business development partnerships. See how you might be able to sync up and compare notes.
If you go into these conversations in the name of collegial collaboration, you can form meaningful business relationships that can lead to the best possible outcome for both parties: your startup getting acquired and their company gaining new value.
We acquired 16 companies during my decade as CEO of Zillow. I estimate that the median length of time from the first time I met each of those 16 founders to when the acquisitions were completed was three years. It takes a long time to build relationships with strategic acquirers. Get started now.
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Spencer Rascoff
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.
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la
CrowdStrike CEO Says He Regrets Not Firing People Quicker
03:10 PM | March 04, 2020
Ben Bergman/dot.LA
George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO of the cloud-native endpoint security platform CrowdStrike, says executives should be obsessed with culture. Everyone below him must be fanatical about customer success and outcome and if they aren't fitting in, they need to go quickly. It's one of the biggest lessons he's learned as CEO.
"Not one time have I regretted firing someone too fast," Kurtz told a lunchtime crowd at the first day of the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica. "It's that I waited too long."
Kurtz founded the company in Sunnyvale, CA, in 2011 and it went public last year. He was joined on a panel by John Chambers, the former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, who said he bought 180 companies during his tenure. But he did not acquire a company that was not a very close cultural fit.
"I walked on one of the bigger acquisitions we were going to do," Chambers said. "Culture is as important as strategy and vision and I did not understand that when I was a young CEO."
Chambers said he was proud of Cisco's 95% employee retention rate when he was CEO, which is well above the industry average. He oversaw a rigorous hiring process to make sure candidates were right.
"If you're not interviewing through 10 people, you're not doing the screening process properly," Chambers said.
If an executive wanted to jump to a competitor, he would try to find out what was at the root of someone's unhappiness. The number one factor: Dissatisfaction with their immediate supervisor.
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Ben Bergman
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
https://twitter.com/thebenbergman
ben@dot.la
LA’s Upgrade in Travel and NBA Viewing
08:41 AM | July 26, 2024
Image Source: Los Angeles World Airports
🔦 Spotlight
Exciting developments are underway for Los Angeles as the city prepares for major upgrades in both travel and entertainment. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners has approved an additional $400 million for the Automated People Mover (APM) at LAX, increasing its total budget to $3.34 billion. This boost ensures the elevated train’s completion by December 8, 2025, with service starting in January 2026. For Angelenos, this means a significant improvement in travel convenience. The APM will streamline connections between parking, rental car facilities, and the new Metro transit station, drastically cutting traffic congestion around the airport. Imagine a future without the dreaded 30-minute traffic delays at LAX! The APM will operate 24/7, reducing airport traffic by 42 million vehicle miles annually and carrying 30 million passengers each year, while also creating thousands of local jobs and supporting small businesses.
Meanwhile, the NBA is also making waves with its new broadcasting deals. The league has signed multi-year agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, marking a notable shift in media partnerships. ESPN will maintain its long-standing role, NBC returns as a network broadcaster after years away, and Amazon Prime Video will provide NBA games through its streaming platform. Starting with the 2025-2026 season, these deals will enhance the league's reach and revenue, aligning with the NBA's goal to expand its audience and adapt to evolving viewing habits. Whether you're catching the action on TV or streaming online, these changes promise to elevate the fan experience and bring more basketball excitement to Los Angeles.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Pearl, a startup that makes AI-powered software that assists dentists in identifying cavities, gum disease, and other dental conditions, raised a $58M Series B funding led by Left Lane Capital with Smash Capital, and others also participating. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- Fulcrum Venture Group participated in a prior $3.5M Pre-Seed Round for Code Metal, a developer tools startup. - learn more
- B Capital co-led a $12.5M Seed Round for Star Catcher, a startup that aims to develop a space-based grid that captures solar energy in space and distributes it to satellites and other space assets. - learn more
- Mantis VC and Amplify participated in a $140M Series C for Chainguard, an open source security startup. - learn more
- Prominent LA venture capitalist, Carter Reum and wife, Paris Hilton, participated in a $14M Seed/Series A for W, the men’s personal care brand from Jake Paul. - learn more
LA Exits
- Warner Bros. Games acquired Player First Games, developer of the recently launched MultiVersus free-to-play platform fighter videogame. - learn more
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