Databricks corporate development & ventures
SF, CA
Joined January 2011
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“Just sell” > Just play in the NFL = great framing from @realtarek
A startup that raised more than $50M is shutting down, and most are asking "Why didn't they just get acquired instead?" Speaking from experience, it's really, really hard to have this outcome.
There's a perception that it's super easy, and people just buy companies. You see the headlines of 18-month-old AI startups getting acquired for $1 billion, and think acquisitions grow on trees. Every week there seems to be a new life-changing outcome.
Reality is just so different. I've tried. I have a ton of friends who've tried. "Just sell" to a founder feels like saying "Just play in the NFL." Companies simply aren't out hunting for startups to buy, because it's a risky game. So many purchases go sideways for the acquirer. Even if the company is doing well.
And if they're not? No one wants to buy a company not doing well, nor are there tons of companies with cash / stock looking to do the rollup game.
Even if you do get an LOI, it's not guaranteed. Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator, puts it well: "Birds fly. Fish swim. Deals fall through." Companies at the $100b+ scale move slowly, so you need a product leader / champion to buy into what you're building, and THEN 50-100 people need to independently sign off. There's so much surface area for a 3-month due diligence process to end in a "No thanks."
Pulley did the right thing by providing a soft-ish landing for their customers, transitioning them over to Carta. This alone probably took weeks of back-and-forths with the Carta team. Exactly why "just sell" is harder than it looks.
Thoughts going out to the Pulley team.
Ouch. Bending Spoons is the grim reaper of SaaS
Wow. Airtable, founded in 2012 and once valued at $11.7B, is getting acquired by Bending Spoons, founded 2013, at 2.7x ARR.
A once hot startup; now an unfortunate victim of the SaaS bust. It raised $1.4B only to be sold for $1.285B EV ($2.25B equity value), just clearing its preference stack.
That implies common and early holders split the remaining ~$850M, a ~10x haircut from peak.
Philip Kirk retweeted
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Philip Kirk retweeted
Probably the funniest graph ever published by the FT: our 3 possible futures are either 1) infinite wealth and abundance, 2) human extinction or 3) 0.2% faster GDP growth 🤣
Philip Kirk retweeted
Yeah sex is good but have you ever got your boat stuck in the Suez Canal and blocked 10% of the world’s trade?
Philip Kirk retweeted
A few short years ago, Capitol Police arrested Rev. Raphael Warnock for praying in the rotunda in protest of GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act hankjohnson.house.gov/media-…
Philip Kirk retweeted
#SanFrancisco now has over $800,000,000 (Eight Hundred Million) to spend on reducing homelessness and addressing the drug and mental health crisis in the city. No more excuses. We must see real, measurable results and soon.
@LondonBreed @MattHaneySF @sfbos @SF_DPH
Philip Kirk retweeted
If you're able to tuck in a healthy, peacefully sleeping child into a warm bed in a safe home, you've won the lottery of life.
Philip Kirk retweeted
Imagine you’re the VP Eng at Tiktok who has to tell everyone you’re switching from AWS to Oracle Cloud
Excited to see the crowds here at #CLEUR and talk about #ciscoinvests
Kicking off #cleur today w/@TechyPhil sharing how @Cisco engages with the startup ecosystem! #ciscoinvests
Uber, why can't I select the level of aggressiveness in my driver, because I would have paid more to avoid the "Driving Miss Daisy" car I am stuck in now..
Congratulations @emileifrem on your awesome fundraise... can’t wait to see what comes next!
We just raised an $80M series E, the biggest investment ever in the graph space. Almost 80 of the F100, 20 of the 25 biggest global banks, 7 of the top 10 retailers and 4 of the 5 biggest telcos in the world now use @neo4j. And we're just getting started.
neo4j.com/emil/80-million-se…