Jonathan Matus’ Post

We are proud to announce our acquisition of NeedsList, a trailblazing platform that matches crisis-response organisations with critical resources. This strategic acquisition marks a significant milestone in the burgeoning tech-for-good sector, uniting seasoned entrepreneurs from two visionary companies dedicated to leveraging technology for the greater good. NeedsList's innovative approach to addressing urgent needs in crisis response aligns seamlessly with Armillaria’s mission to catalyse positive change through digital solutions that mobilise people, knowledge, and capital at unprecedented scale. Our CEO, Cameron Burgess put it like this: “The acquisition of NeedsList is a testament to what we believe is the future of tech-for-good. Rather than prioritising the formation of new ventures, we must adopt and adapt what’s already working in order to significantly increase the speed and scale at which we can collectively create change. We are delighted to be incorporating NeedsList into our existing software, as we advance towards a more decentralised, mutualistically owned and governed, full-stack-for-impact solution.” Founded by Natasha Freidus and Amanda Levinson in 2016, NeedsList has been at the forefront of leveraging technology to streamline the process of connecting organisations working in crisis response with essential resources. Natasha Freidus shared her enthusiasm about the acquisition, stating, “This acquisition opens up new possibilities for NeedsList’s software to expand its impact and reach even more communities in need. We’re proud of the impact we’ve achieved at NeedsList over the past seven years, and have been impressed with Armillaria’s’s vision to build people centred digital tools for addressing the urgent challenges of our time. We know NeedsList is in good hands.” NeedsList cofounder Amanda Levinson agrees. “Armillaria is uniquely positioned to address the complex challenges facing the tech-for-good sector. This acquisition will fast-track Armillaria’s development of innovative tools and solutions to better address the growing climate, conflict, and other complex challenges facing communities worldwide.”

🏆 Exciting News: Tenzing has been nominated for Small Buyout Exit of the Year (CitNOW Group) at the British Private Equity Awards 2023! 🏆 We're super excited to announce that Tenzing is a finalist at this year's Awards and we'd really appreciate your support in the public vote. 🌟 Why Vote for Tenzing? 🌟 At Tenzing, we've always believed in the power of innovation, collaboration, and sustainable growth. Our commitment to excellence has driven us to achieve remarkable milestones in the world of private equity. Here's why we think you should vote for us: 1️⃣ Exceptional Team: Our dedicated team works tirelessly to identify and support high-potential businesses, fueling their growth and success. 2️⃣ Transformative Investments: Tenzing has a track record of turning high-growth businesses into global powerhouses, creating value for all stakeholders. 3️⃣ Industry Recognition: Our work has garnered industry recognition, and winning this award would be another testament to our commitment to excellence. 🗳️ How You Can Help 🗳️ Your vote can make a real difference! Please follow these simple steps to support Tenzing: 1. Visit the voting page here: https://lnkd.in/eNTnGzj7 2. Select "Tenzing" in the relevant category. 3. Cast your vote and show your support! 🙏 Thank you for your support! 🙏

🧢🧢🧢 Three Hats, One Incredible Journey 🧢🧢🧢 The road never looks the way you expect it to. It's filled with twists, turns, and unexpected challenges. 🚀 One week before our launch, we faced a trademark issue with our original company, "GoodCents." We were left with no choice but to pivot and rebrand as "Gyve." 😬 In 2019, we achieved another milestone when we were acquired by Cass Information Systems. This acquisition marked a significant step forward on our journey. 🤝 Fast forward to 2022, and the story continues with the merger of Gyve and TouchPoint Software. 🤝 Two companies with a shared vision coming together to create something even greater. As founders, patience is key. It's about trusting the process, even when the path seems uncertain. 🙏 And speaking of trust, Psalm 37:3 reminds us: "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." 📖 We're grateful for the incredible support we've received along the way. Tagging some amazing individuals who have been instrumental in our journey: David Dummitt, Dustin Bosscher, Dwight Erdbruegger, Ross Miller, Martin Resch, Steve Caton, Mark Kitts, Peter Moraes, Derek Montgomery, Don Martin, Chris Dolan. Thank you all for being a part of this incredible journey. 🙌 #Entrepreneurship #Journey #TrustTheProcess #TouchPoint #CassInformationSystems

Amongst #founders there are #winners and #losers. Few winners. More losers. Few get funding. Few scale. Few get to true #productmarketfit. Fewer get #VC funding. Fewer survive to five years and beyond. Fewer #exit. Few, very few, are exceptional. First time round it’s all a new experience. But it’s not as if no-one has ever done it before, there’s no map, no-one who could help. It’s not as if what you need to do is a complete mystery. Yes, I get that the problem for many is that there’s too much to do. Often that means you feel you can’t prioritise your own development needs even if you want to. But that’s key. Because to succeed you need to play your A game, to be the best version of yourself you can be. Can I suggest you do one thing? Find someone, a founder, you admire. Maybe someone who’s exited (one of the few), or someone who’s scaled up to Series B or C or beyond and ask them what their personal growth priorities are or were at your stage. And if you can’t find anyone, I’ll talk to you – if you really want it. Really want it.   #AngelThink

Here are some thoughts on Airtable’s acquisition of Airplane. One indirect consequence of the startup failures will be a rise in hesitation to buy from startups. Startups will have to adapt and further de-risk the buying decision. People should be looking at all their vendors and evaluating vendor risk based on size of the company It’s probably worth doing the exercise…you should know if any of them are mission critical. Will source code escrow clauses come back? https://lnkd.in/gGidK7XD

How Exitwise 10x'd a $5M offer into a $50M deal. Imagine turning down a $5M offer for your company, only to have the CEO of a publicly traded company personally call you the next day with a $10M offer. Would you take it? Here's what I told my founder friend to do instead ... and it led to a 10x increase in the final purchase price. When you receive an acquisition offer, the most important thing is understanding WHY they want to buy your company. Because the WHY drives the purchase price. In this case, a public company offered my client $5M to buy his startup. I advised him to respectfully decline, saying: "Thank you very much. We appreciate and value our partnership, but we are building a rocket ship and are only in the first inning. The company is not for sale today." The next day, the CEO personally called with a $10M offer, saying he could make it happen quickly without board approval. That's when I told our client to let us bring in our secret weapon: The world's #1 HR technology investment banker in the lower middle market. (who knew the buyer and WHY they needed our client) On the Zoom call, the buyer was visibly shaken to see who else was present. Our banker calmly said: "Great to see you again. I'm glad our last transaction went well. I understand why you're so interested in buying our client's business. It makes a ton of sense to make sure you get this market before your competitors. Since this is an unsolicited offer and we aren't in the market, you know who I have to call if we can't reach an acceptable valuation range on this call." The result? We structured a deal with a 3X increase in cash upfront with ongoing payments based on future revenue generated. This structure increased the offer to expected outcome of more than $50M. That's a 10x jump from the initial $5M. Remember: It pays to have an expert in your corner during a negotiation. When you bring in a pro, you swing the odds in your favor and are far more likely to win big. Don't leave money on the table. Get expert help and maximize your outcome. P.S. - Get some value? Please reshare this.

A case study for exit success, Todd Sullivan! Don't be afraid to reach out to Exitwise if you're building a business. Because it's never too early to contemplate your future M&A strategy. #exitstrategy #mergersandacquisitions #founderjourney

What if I told you there is a way to 4x the size of your scale-up, make it profitable and get you closer to an IPO — for potentially only a little more dilution than a typical financing round? Meet the Private Reverse Merger (PReM). A PReM is a M&A event where a smaller, fast-growing but loss-making, private tech company acquires a larger, slow-growing/declining but profitable, private incumbent. A case study of how to do this successfully is Swile. Swile is a European tech company and the provider of an all-in-one card and app for employee benefits (a big market where the global leader is $15bn publicly-listed Edenred).  In 2022, Swile had conquered 13% of the French corporate market in 4 years, armed with $300m in funding. While an impressive feat, it was still a relatively small (<$50m ARR), fast-growing, and high-burn company. Like most other scale-ups in 2022, they had two obvious choices when the growth market shut down: Option 1: Continue to burn and risk flameout Option 2: Reduce burn and risk becoming a zombie Loïc Soubeyrand, the CEO and founder of Swile, a brilliantly creative repeat entrepreneur, decided to go for a third option: the PReM. Swile acquired employee benefits platform Bimpli, a subsidiary of Groupe BPCE, in a PReM. Worth noting: Swile built a relationship with BPCE a year prior — likely the only reason they could explore an acquisition in 2022. Swile gained significant scale, improved their unit economics, and got closer to profitability. Bimpli’s parent company BPCE received 22% of Swile’s capital and a convertible vendor loan, giving it a foothold in a fast-growing, innovative company with significant long-term upside and protected downside. Plus one board seat and one observer seat. Since the acquisition, Swile’s customer base and revenue have grown significantly and the company expects €30m in EBITDA in 2024. This success illustrates the value that a PReM strategy can offer. For the scale-up: ✔️ Greater revenue scale and profitability ✔️ Faster path to liquidity and a premium valuation as a larger company and possible category leader ✔️ A de-risked business with a reduction in future dilution ✔️ Better terms for raising debt with a profitable business in the future For the incumbent: ✔️ Turns a large stake in a declining business with limited terminal value into a smaller stake in a growing business with potentially much larger terminal value ✔️ Downside protection through a vendor/convertible loan As both organic growth and the funding environment continue to be more difficult, I expect more creative M&A options, like a PReM to become increasingly common in the coming years. In my next post, I’ll share more specifics on the considerations that come into play when putting the approach into practice.

A picture perfect case study that will become more and more relevant for growth stage companies in 2024 and 2025!

Bankrupt. Small. 6 hours away. These are a few of the characteristics of the business that today's guest Jens Grudno bought. Those were the bad. But there were also the good: * 117 years old * Strong brand * Differentiated, high-quality product * And cheap — Jens didn't pay much for the business This is the story of how Jens worked his way through finance and startups, and arrived as the owner of DOVO, an old business manufacturing an old product: straight razors. This is a turnaround story, and Jens acknowledges that he chose for himself a very difficult task for someone who'd never bought a business before. But as you'll hear, he is drawn to outsized challenges, to proving the haters wrong. But it wasn't just an emotional decision. This is a guy who read Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor as a teenager, so he thinks like an investor, always seeking value, risk-reward asymmetries. And he thought the downside here was limited, while the potential to restore this centenarian to its former glory represented big upside. Now of course, there's theory... then there's reality. This has ended up being extremely difficult, and everything has taken longer than predicted. But Jens has survived and stabilized DOVO, and he's gearing up for the launch of a new product that he's optimistic will dominate its category and catapult its revenue. Enjoy this rollercoaster ride with Jens Grudno, owner of DOVO. ( 👉 link to interview in comments below)