James Crennan, General Partner at Xenon Partners, recounts how the firm launched by acquiring Exceptional from Intercom's founder.
0:00 / 0:08exact quote · 8.8s
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“So the first transaction that we actually did was working with the founder of intercom to remove his main distraction.”
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More from James Crennan
Insight
Crennan: Many Solid Software Businesses Fail Under VC Growth Expectations
“We talk to these founders who have built this business that is in all senses, a great business. But when you overlay the venture capital trajectory that needs to happen for businesses to be doing actually great by the label of great in the modern world, then t…”
James CrennanApr 4, 2022▶ 3:00Startup Acquisition Stories with James Crennan - General Partner at Xenon Partners
Disclosure
Crennan: Xenon buys blemished software companies that other acquirers avoid
“Will, we often deal with these companies that, that have this, these marks on their name that I think a lot of others would look at and just say, you know, this, these are smells that we don't want to be involved with. We're very much not like that, and I gues…”
James CrennanApr 4, 2022▶ 8:57Startup Acquisition Stories with James Crennan - General Partner at Xenon Partners
PredictionHeld up
Crennan predicted in April 2022 that tech valuations would contract
“And so I think over the next 12 months or 20, 22, I think we're going to see some really bubbly valuations that we've had start to contract down again.”
James CrennanApr 4, 2022▶ 23:05Startup Acquisition Stories with James Crennan - General Partner at Xenon Partners
Disclosure
Crennan: Xenon Partners has completed 49 founder transactions since 2010
“So we've done 49. Transactions with founders since 2010.”
James CrennanApr 4, 2022▶ 4:13Startup Acquisition Stories with James Crennan - General Partner at Xenon Partners
Disclosure
Crennan: Xenon acquired Scripted without recurring revenue to convert it to SaaS
“There are instances where we've actually done transactions a little bit outside these criteria. So one example would be scripted where it didn't actually have a recurring revenue subscription business, but we immediately saw that the one could be implemented. …”
James CrennanApr 4, 2022▶ 14:08Startup Acquisition Stories with James Crennan - General Partner at Xenon Partners
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