Life on Mars - A podcast from MarsBased

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

Greg Scown, co-founder of TextExpander, shares an inspiring journey through the partial sale of his company to Summit Partners and the path that led him there. Discover how casual coffee chats carried invaluable advice, such as re-registering as a Delaware C corporation, which significantly boosted the company's valuation. Greg discusses the pivotal role of an enthusiastic fan at Summit Partners, which propelled TextExpander into the spotlight and paved the way for successful negotiations. As Greg and his partner Philip Goward step back from operational duties, they embark on a transformative journey of semi-retirement and advisory roles, exploring new ventures and collaborations.
The episode takes a deep dive into the strategic decision-making process behind selling to private equity versus traditional venture capital. With JD Mullen taking the reins as CEO, we examine the balance of maintaining continuity while embracing change. Greg highlights the strengths of bootstrap companies like TextExpander, emphasizing the significance of subtle improvements to enhance user experience while preserving product reliability. This discussion offers insights into the private equity landscape, exploring de-risking strategies and the challenges of transitioning from a high-pressure leadership role to a more relaxed lifestyle.
We explore Greg's insights on the evolving tech landscape, the burgeoning potential for indie app developers, and the value of partnerships with organizations like Founder Partners. Through personal stories and reflections, Greg sheds light on the emotional transition post-exit, tackling mental health challenges, and societal pressures. There's also an intriguing look at the future of indie app development and the entrepreneurial spirit driving innovation in Europe, exemplified by entrepreneurs like Michael Simmons of Fantastical. If you're an engineering founder in Barcelona or Europe, this conversation invites you to connect and collaborate, opening doors to new opportunities and shared growth.

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

For this episode, we'd like to share a small interview with Àlex, our CEO, at an investors pitch event hosted by our friends at itnig.
This time around, Àlex is the guest, while Bernat Farrero (Co-founder of itnig), interviewed him in the middle of the pitching event with startups for the Itnig Fund One, where Àlex is a partner (for the full disclosure).
Bernat improvised a fireside chat with Àlex to talk about his multiple initiatives, covering:

• How we work at MarsBased
• Why we have ARR as a services-based company
• Economics of a company like MarsBased
• What is Startup Grind Barcelona and how it is managed from MarsBased
• Why haven't we gone into product
• Why we don't have churn either in clients or employees
• Àlex's adventures in angel investing

If you want to see Àlex sweating bullets when asked about financials*, you ought to see this episode.
* Thank god we've got Jordi to make sure that the company is financially viable.
🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

A few episodes back, we discussed the future of the music industry and the role of tech in digitising concert and festival experiences with the lead singer of our favourite Grind Death Metal Band, Benighted. Now, it's time to talk about business events.
Meetups, conferences, fair trades, conventions... you name it. All of them have suffered a terrible 2020 because of the pandemic, and most have had to reinvent themselves in order to keep their community alive and their business model afloat.
We have seen an enormous transformation sped up by the pandemic, where we've had to adopt the purely online model, via Zoom, YouTube streaming, Twitch and whatnot, while others have morphed into a podcast, or the luckier ones into a hybrid model with speakers in the same venue with no audience, only the online audience via streaming.
A new world is unfolding, and we talked to Victoria Gago, from the European Blockchain Convention, about the future of events and how is technology helping to accelerate this transition. They organised a few editions of their conference offline, in Barcelona and Copenhagen, before turning into a purely-online event.
In this episode, we learn from Victoria's experience running events (online and offline), what tech stack she uses, what are her fuckups and much more!

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🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/

No one reads podcast episode descriptions, so let's rehash the one from part 1 and add a bit of Lorem Ipsum text to see if anyone notices.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Company sales: the miracle all entrepreneurs and business owners aspire to, mostly because we're bombarded every day with company exits news, and articles about serial entrepreneurs selling their 14th startup before they turn 40.
However, the reality is very different. Selling a company is an overly-complicated process that drags along for many months, taking your focus away from your company, and in a lot of cases, the business owners don't see a nickel as a result. That is, if the process ever makes it to the agreement stage, so in a lot of cases, we're seeing what is called "survivorship bias".
But one thing is still true: as business owners, we're all likely to receive offers for our companies. In fact, in 2017, we received an invitation to initiate talks about a potential acquisition, and if you want to learn the rest of the story, you should listen to this podcast.
This time around, we talk to Michael Counihan about what happens when you're approached by a buyer. We wanted to cover the whole cycle, but the episode came out so long that we had to split it in two.
In this first part, we'll be talking about the initial exchanges of intentions, what protocols to follow, how to behave in the meetings, what things to do and what NOT to do, how to bring more offers to the table, when's the right time to engage with an M&A boutique and more.
Michael is the Managing Director of Transcend Partners (www.TranscendPartners.com), a technology focused international M&A boutique. Michael has executed company sales, mergers and acquisitions across a wide variety of technologies. He regularly speaks with acquirers and investors all across Europe, North America, Latam, Middle East, Asia and Australia.
But most of all, Michael is a very great guy. Trust us. You'll like Michael.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
🎬 You can watch the video on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/ozPyy_qgE9Y

Support the show

🎬 You can watch the video of this episode on the Life on Mars podcast website: https://podcast.marsbased.com/