Selling Iversity to Springer Nature - Hannes Klöpper on making an exit during though times

08/15/22 • 39 min

In this episode of The Big Exit Show we talk to serial entrepreneur Hannes Klöpper. Hannes is currently building a new company called HelloBetter, but sold his previous company that specialized in Massive Online Open Courses - Iversity - in 2017 to Springer Nature. It wasn't the exit you hope for as a founder when starting a company, but nonetheless a story with many valuable lessens:

The challenges when building a company with large education institutions as a customer
When you know it might be the right time to hand over the company
Why you should make an exit, even if the forecast of the company isn't looking too bright

In The Big Exit Show our hosts Johan van Mil and Remy Gieling talk to tech entrepreneurs about scaling their companies and the lessons and pitfalls of a successful exit.

The Big Exit Show is an initiative by Peak. Peak invests in early-stage SaaS, marketplace, and platform companies ran by kick-ass teams. Want to know more about Peak and the ventures we back? Check out our website or send us a message! Feedback for our podcast or want to be featured on our show? Please reach out at [email protected].

The challenges when building a company with large education institutions as a customer
When you know it might be the right time to hand over the company
Why you should make an exit, even if the forecast of the company isn't looking too bright

In The Big Exit Show our hosts Johan van Mil and Remy Gieling talk to tech entrepreneurs about scaling their companies and the lessons and pitfalls of a successful exit.

Previous Episode

Selling Vamp to CircleCI - Olaf Molenveld on the exit of his tech company

In this episode of The Big Exit Show we talk to Olaf Molenveld who sold his scaleup Vamp to one of the world's most popular CI/CD platforms - CircleCI. You will learn:

When to pivot your initial business idea
How serendipity works, even when exiting a company
What to do when you found a dream partnership for your company

In The Big Exit Show our hosts Johan van Mil and Remy Gieling talk to tech entrepreneurs about scaling their companies and the lessons and pitfalls of a successful exit.

Next Episode

Selling Ubimax to Teamviewer - Hendrik Witt on taking advantage of the right moment

In this episode of The Big Exit Show we talk to Hendrik Witt of Ubimax. Witt sold his augmented reality solution to Teamviewer in 2020. A story with many valuable lessons:

How to bootstrap your startup, by doing consulting on the side
Successfully working together with the innovation department of big corporations
The importance of momentum and why you need to close a deal as soon as possible

In The Big Exit Show our hosts Johan van Mil and Remy Gieling talk to tech entrepreneurs about scaling their companies and the lessons and pitfalls of a successful exit.

The Big Exit Show - Selling Iversity to Springer Nature - Hannes Klöpper on making an exit during though times

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:00.320

It wasn't sort of, you know, seed, series a, series b, but it's like we always receive more money when we shouldn't have. And we were always kind of more, like, of a put down when I think we actually would have deserved praise. So it was a bit of an odd experience.

Speaker 200:00:16.410

Starting a company is easy. Selling your company? That's a different story.

Speaker 100:00:20.489