Both Sides of the Table

article thumbnail

When Does a Private-to-Private Merger Make Sense?

Both Sides of the Table

I’m pretty on record as saying I don’t think many private-to-private tech mergers make sense. We at Upfront Ventures enthusiastically led a $7 million round of funding in a combined company on track to top $10 million in sales soon and geared up for growth. And that’s when a private-to-private merger works.

Merger 296
article thumbnail

Beware of Premature Merge Elation

Both Sides of the Table

I lived through the era of companies doing premature mergers. That’s why immature teams spend so much time on mergers. A merger is not the panacea. There is no such thing a “merger of equals&#. There’s really no such thing as a merger – only acquisitions. This is a good thing.

Merger 276
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Further Thoughts on Startup Operations

Both Sides of the Table

Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc. “I need a COO to focus on the business while I focus on M&A and strategic discussions.&# The company that wrote me this told me they were doing $4 million in sales.

article thumbnail

Is Silicon Valley Really Coming to an End?

Both Sides of the Table

But it’s kind of hard to say “don’t plant near the big trees” when you just completed a big sale to Microsoft building an app that they should have created and dominated. We once thought the merger of AOL/Time Warner needed to be investigated by the DOJ. Where I Might Expand the Argument. Laughable now.

article thumbnail

Is Strategic Money an Oxymoron?

Both Sides of the Table

When they promise to help you with marketing, sales, distribution, integrated product development, etc. Imagine your investor has to call the CEO of a $20 billion company for approval for your merger or sale. Yeah, I know. it sure is tempting. And they probably have every intent of helping you.

article thumbnail

Why You Should Make Your Competitors Your Frenemies

Both Sides of the Table

Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy&# – it’s the rallying cry to dig deeper, get more features out the door, issue press releases citing differences and attack the competition’s weaknesses in sales presentations. We didn’t collude (e.g.

Merger 320
article thumbnail

This Week in VC: Michael Montgomery (President, Montgomery & Co.)

Both Sides of the Table

How to investment banks help with the M&A (mergers & acquisitions) process? Woot was one of the first one-per-day item sales site with a humorous and not always PC content. This is often in the 5-7% range. Total raised: $1.3mm. TechCrunch. Acquired by Amazon for $110m. Founded by Matt Rutledge in 2004 and based in Dallas.

IPO 242