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Matt Switzer

Partner, Northwest Capital Partners · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorexecutiveoperatornorthwestcap.ca ↗

Matt Switzer helped scale Hootsuite from roughly 30 to 1,000 employees, leading over $200 million in financings and completing multiple acquisitions. After serving as Hootsuite's interim COO, he co-founded Northwest Capital Partners to acquire and operate private businesses across British Columbia.

10statements → 3claims → 1claims resolved → 3.7/5average certainty → 1.7/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 3said about them ↓

0 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 3 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 assertions · 6 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 3 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 1 is resolved, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Matt argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

How they sound: speaking style how? →

224 words/min while actually speaking · 3.4 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Matt Switzer: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 23 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 3,205 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Matt Switzer is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 3/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 1/10
setup questions received 70%

Everything Matt Switzer said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Putting an explicit for-sale sign on a startup destroys value
“I think generally, unless you are in a situation where you absolutely need to sell, I think it's inadvisable to put a for sale sign in front of your company. I really think it's too much opportunity to destroy value. I think you can just leave too much value o…”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 15:11 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Insight
Fundraising and M&A force startups to codify their company strategy
“There's two big forcing functions for codifying company strategy, and I think one of those is financings and raising money, and then the other is M&A”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 5:08 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Insight
Funding rounds signal M&A availability or price startups out of acquisitions
“Funding rounds are interesting. It could either signal that someone, you know, could be open or interested in M&A, or it could mean they've gotten beyond what we could do a deal in, and maybe they're out of our range.”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 12:17 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Insight
Startups built specifically to sell early are obvious to acquirers
“Reaching out too early just defocuses the business, and can be a huge distraction, and businesses that have been built to sell early are really, really obvious to acquirers.”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 14:51 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Disclosure
Hootsuite only engages VCs regarding M&A with startup management consent
“We almost always try to work through the management team directly, or if we are interacting with VCs, we are typically trying to do so with the consent of management.”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 18:01 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Insight
Acquirers prefer trusted founder relationships over engineered corporate perfection
“I think you often see startups trying to engineer the perfect process, trying to make the company look as perfect as it can possibly be, and I think probably the thing I like founders to know the most is really that trust is everything. You know, we, it's more…”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 19:29 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Insight
Technology, talent, and traction are the three M&A value drivers
“Ours is called the three T's, and these are really the three sources of value in a transaction. Everything that we do here through the M&A process centers around these three T's, and they are technology, talent, and traction.”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 6:23 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Assertion Partly supported
Most Hootsuite acquisition targets were existing business partners first
“If you look at the transactions that we've done, disproportionately, they've been partners with Hootsuite before we've engaged.”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 9:14 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hootsuite's M&A team holds substantive discussions with 300+ startups annually
“Over the course of a year, we will have substantive, and this is probably 30 minute, at least, discussions with over 300 companies over the course of a year, and so we're a relatively small acquisition team, and that's a lot of contact”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 9:50 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hootsuite involves talent assessment in every acquisition deal
“For us at least, talent is involved in every transaction that we do. It's very rare we pursue a transaction without that Particular T being in place.”
Matt Switzer Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 8:35 20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & The Biggest Risk of M&A with Matt Switzer, SVP of Corporate Development @ Hootsuite

The other half of the tape: Matt Switzer's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 3 times in 2 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 3

Every mention by year

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
20VC: 3 Things Acquirers Look For In Startup M&A's, How To Price A Startup Acquisition & T Oct 2, 2017 15m
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