Part 2: Companies are Bought not Sold

10/09/19 • 25 min

The media spends most of their time in the “happy part of Silicon Valley”, with stories about companies that were successfully funded, grew and acquired. The exit or sale of the company sounds like a naturally occurring event, but the effort to sell a startup company is incredibly demanding and the fact is: there are very few public forums that talk about the challenges, strategies, and effort required. This podcast is Part 2 of Companies are Bought not Sold, and explores the strategies a startup company can execute to create a leadership profile corporate buyers will find attractive.

Previous Episode

Companies are Bought, not Sold, Part 1

All entrepreneurs need an exit plan, an opportunity to see their company, generally through an acquisition with an established corporation. The difficult question is knowing when to sell, the terms of the sale and finding the right acquisition partner. This podcast challenges that assumption. It’s actually the buyer who is controlling the decision to acquire and the terms of the transaction.

Part 1 of this podcast explores the sequence of events for a Founder and CEO to take his venture-backed company to an exit. We start with a board meeting, where Ken, the Founder, and CEO is informed that a decision has been made to bring in an experienced manager to be the new CEO and take the company to the next level.

Next Episode

Smart Stadiums Play by Different Rules

Professional sports face a number of common challenges starting with developing a winning team as well as maintaining brand value within the community and with ticket buyers.

While Loyalty, community support, and financial viability are easier with a winning team, in today's connected world, every venue is vying for the attention of the consumer.

On a completely separate path, the Smart City movement has defined its mission as bringing the benefits of the digital revolution to city services. Local and regional governments have picked up this trend and are incorporating the latest digital technologies into their infrastructure projects.

There is a confluence where these two forces are becoming partners to improve the deliver a compelling engagement for those attending the sports or entertainment event.

The Irish economic planners have identified the Smart City movement as a space where they can be a leading user and provider of technology solutions. Today I have three guests representing both the government and the private sector who will discuss the strategy to create and deploy technology for the Smart Stadium.

My guests are David Brody, Vice President, IDA Ireland, Professor Noel O’Connor, CEO at the Centre for Data Analytics, Dublin City University, and Pat Dempsey, Strategic Projects Director at the Centre for Data Analytics.

This podcast addresses the following topics:

The current state of technology research and development taking place in Ireland today.
The Smart Stadium project as part of the Smart City movement.
What defines a Smart Stadium?
What technologies are utilized in a Smart Stadium?
What type of government-corporate partnerships participate in a Smart Stadium project?
How do the data scientists participate in the Smart Stadium?