Felser: Spinner sold to AOL for $320M after initial $500M anchor
Josh Felser · 20VC: Can Founders Really Trust Their VC & How To Navigate The Acquisition Process Successfully with Josh Felser, Co-Founder @ Freestyle.vc · Apr 17, 2017 · at 16:48
Josh Felser, co-founder of Freestyle.vc, discusses M&A negotiation tactics with Harry Stebbings, recounting how anchoring high led to a $320 million acquisition of his startup Spinner by AOL.
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“So with the spinner, we were asked what our number was, and we, and I remember, I was sitting in the boardroom with AOL, and I said, five hundred million. Now, first, what was that based on? Nothing. It was just, I said it with conviction. I remember, I looked the CorpDev person in the eye when I said it, and he looked down first, and he said, give us a minute. And we had this crazy negotiation where he came back with two hundred and fifty million. Now remember, I've anchored high now. I would have taken two hundred and fifty million, but because I'd anchored high, we ended up negotiating around my anchor. So we ended up with three hundred and twenty million, which was my board. I think the board had given us the freedom to sell the company for two hundred million or more.”
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