INC - Nov 29 - A few years after
its founding Match.com was sold for just a small fraction of its actual
worth. What did one member of the original start-up team learn from the
misadventure? Fran Maier was one of the first half dozen employees to
join the fledgling company, and who took the role of general manager.
Match.com was sold to Cendant for $7M. Cendant sold it to Ticketmaster
Citysearch Services for $50M just a year and a half later.
Q: What did Maier learn from her intimate insider's view of that colossal error?
A: Confidence
Through Networking - I wish I had gone out and reached out to a broader
range of people to help me figure out not just how to do it but how to
sell it.
Q: What was the other big takeaway of the botched Match.com exit?
A:
Exhaustion can play a big role in poor decision-making. Fighting the
necessary fights for your start-up's future can take a ton of energy,
she learned, and somewhat costly investments in conserving that energy
can really pay off.
Actually, a lot can happen to a startup and the investment confidence and environment in 18 months. They may not have screwed up so badly.
Posted by: Mark Brooks | Dec 01, 2012 at 05:33 AM