In the days when TVs were "dumb", everyone tuned into the same content. Today, the TV watching experience is highly personalized, including the ads. This realization led Ben Antier and Cedric Tournay to start Publica, an advertising platform for smart TVs that was acquired by Integral Ad Sciences ($IAS) for $220 million in 5 years since inception. 

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Ben about:

• What is an internet connected TV (CTV)?

• How are ads served on smart TVs?

• Do smart TVs personalize ads and track users?

• Influence of COVID on TV consumption

• TV ads for startups: will TV ads become more accessible?

• Will user generated ad content make its way to "the big screen"?

• Advertising in the post cookie world

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In 2021 it's not uncommon to hear that you should build a community before building a product, but not many people could have told you this advice in the 1990s. Rob Howard, who built the early community for ASP.NET while working at Microsoft, is one of those people. After seeing the incredible power of an engaged community, Rob went on to start Telligent in 2004, an industry-leading community software company that he ran and scaled until its acquisition by Verint in 2015.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Rob about:

• Community building in the 90s

• Software for communities: 2004 vs 2021

• Distinction between using social media vs building a community

• Having both perspectives: being an acquirer and the acquired

• The future of community building

• What's next for social media?

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“We’re building a city the size of Paris each week, so every non-optimal project that’s built today is a missed opportunity for changing the world” –– this is one of the reasons why Carl Christensen founded an AI-driven architectural design startup, Spacemaker. The company raised over $30 million, was declared a startup of the year in Norway and was acquired for $240 million in just 4 years.  

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Carl about:

• What's wrong with how cities are built?

• What's the result of non-optimal urban planning?

• How's urban planning done today?

• Startup ecosystem in Norway

• Where else can AI-driven design be valuable?

• Will AI replace architects?

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Revett Eldred is a British-Canadian entrepreneur with two, eight-figure exits. After spending his career as a programmer in the 60s and 70s, he got tired of the bureaucratic nature of corporate America and started his own consulting firm, Minerva. Revett grew the company from 0 to 250 employees, became the first Canadian partner of Microsoft, won a bunch of prestigious awards and sold Minerva after 12 years –– all without a dime of outside capital!

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Revett about:

• Being a programmer in the 1960s

• Closing a first client as an unknown firm

• Sales strategy: break it down into stages

• Working with Bill Gates

• Cashing an eight-figure check after selling Minerva

• Can you predict the 2020s from the 1960s?

• The future of the office and WFH

Revett Eldred is a self-proclaimed "aging geek" and "retired bum" and spends his time giving back to young entrepreneurs, like myself and my brother Alex. We should all be grateful for people like Revett. 

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Facebook purchased GIPHY for $400 million and Take Two purchased Dots for $200 million –– what do these two acquisitions have in common? Three things: both are 9-figure exits, both happened in 2020 and both were incubated by Paul Murphy. In this episode, we focus on Paul’s experience in incubating and growing Dots, a series of casual and highly addicting mobile games, towards their eventual sale, and Paul's subsequent transition to venture capital.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Paul about:

• Incubating multiple startups at Betaworks

• Can pretty design be a value prop?

• Spending $10k on FB ads in 1 hour by accident

• Attempts at entering the Chinese market

• Moving from being a founder to VC investing

• Would Paul-the-VC invest in Paul-the-founder?

• What if the team is great but the idea is bad?

Paul Murphy is currently an investor at Northzone, an early-stage venture capital firm in London. 

Startup Exits is brought to you by StartupSoft. New episodes every month, subscribe for more.

In late 2000s, Janelle Benjamin predicted the upcoming digitalization of the gaming industry and started SuperData, an ahead-of-its-time market intelligence and analytics company for digital games and VR. She grew the company to dozens of employees, millions in revenue and a successful exit to Nielsen.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Janelle about:

• What is market intelligence and how is it collected?

• Analytics now vs 10 years ago

• Running a business with your husband/wife

• The future of the gaming industry

• Privacy and data collection in games

• Acquisition by a competitor

Janelle Benjamin currently mentors and invests in startups run by underrepresented founders.

Startup Exits is brought to you by StartupSoft. New episodes every month, subscribe for more.

Usman Haque is one of the most influential figures in the world of Internet of Things (IoT). After studying architecture in London, Usman founded Pachube (now known as Xively), a pioneering IoT platform that went on to be acquired by LogMeIn and later by Google for $50 million.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Usman about:

• Merging the world of architecture with tech

• Pioneering the early days of IoT

• Why should sensors talk to each other?

• Helping the Fukushima cleanup

• Current state of IoT

• Security concerns in an IoT world

Usman Haque is now the founding member of Umbrellium.

Startup Exits is brought to you by StartupSoft. New episodes every month, subscribe for more.

With friend and co-founder Alex Mehr, Shayan Zadeh came to US from Iran at a time when both countries had no diplomatic relations or direct flights. They went on to study computer science, work at NASA and Microsoft, and start Zoosk – an Inc 5000 dating platform that went on to exit for $250 million. 

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Shayan about:

• Coming to US as a founder

• Generating and filtering startup ideas

• Weathering a storm vs. Beating a dead horse

• Early days of Zoosk and key pivot

• Why have two CEOs at a startup?

• Cancelling an IPO

Shayan Zadeh is currently the CEO of DressBarn.

Startup Exits is brought to you by StartupSoft. New episodes every month, subscribe for more.

After coming to US as a student, Thejo Kote met his cofounder Jerry at the University of California Berkeley; there, they worked on a school projected that turned into a $115 million acquisition seven years later. Crazy! Thejo is a founder of Automatic, a "fitbit for the car" company that paved the way for making cars more connected and was acquired by SiriusXM in 2017.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Thejo about:

• How a school project turned into a successful startup

• Getting into and life after Y Combinator

• Failing to raise at YC demo day

• How raising from top tier VCs can lead to negative signaling

• Pivoting from software to hardware, B2B to B2C

Thejo Kote is now working on giving companies more financial control via his new company Airbase.

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Since the beginning of his tech career in the 1990s, Yan has experienced multiple startup exits as both an employee and as a founder. Most recently, he founded and served as the CTO of Reverb.com – a wildly-successful marketplace for musical instruments that became a top 300 most visited website in the US and was acquired by Etsy for $275 million.

On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Yan about:

• Immigrating from Soviet Union and getting into startups

• Turning passion into business

• Hiring your target audience as customer service reps

• Addressing "What if Google decides to compete with you?" type questions

• Overcoming the chicken and egg problem of marketplaces

• Why Yan is so confident in bitcoin

• Bitcoin in 10-20 years

Yan Pritzker is now working on making Bitcoin investing easy via his new company Swan Bitcoin.

Startup Exits is brought to you by StartupSoft. New episodes every month, subscribe for more.