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Feb 5, 2016 · 24m · top-founders

We got an offer to sell Heyo with Nathan Latka

Nathan Latka · 15m spoken Chris Rieger · 2m spoken Nathan's Mother · 1m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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Heyo founder Nathan Latka explores an unexpected acquisition offer from his top competitor, consulting his mother, key executives, and audience while committing to a radically transparent buyout process.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 72.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.0 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 1.4
05100:0010:0020:000:00–4:05 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Discussing College Dropout and Business Sale with Mother Nathan's mother bluntly corrects his recollection of dropping out of college over the phone rather than in person and dismisses his attempts to make profound quotes about living forever. Nathan playfully pushes back on her multitasking with her phone while seeking her grounding advice on selling the company.4:06–7:22 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Nathan Announces Acquisition Offer and Transparency Strategy This is a solo host monologue where Nathan announces the inbound acquisition offer from a competitor and outlines his strategy to share the process transparently with his team.7:24–12:26 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Evaluating Buyout Strategy with Operations Lead Chris Rieger Nathan outlines M&A tactics including leveraging multiple LOIs to drive up bidding, while Chris Rieger provides supportive, pragmatic input focusing on team welfare and next-stage alternatives.12:27–20:27 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Internal Reflection on Team Attachment and Emotional Nuance Nathan explains corporate acquisition dynamics and brand absorption to Christina, addressing her concerns about brand identity and reminding the team to maintain sales momentum during deal negotiations.20:29–23:42 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Dilemmas of Selling and Audience Call to Action Solo host concluding monologue reflecting on the risks of opening up the acquisition talks and asking the audience to call in with their perspective on whether he should sell Heyo.0:00–4:05 · Guest teaching 5/10 Discussing College Dropout and Business Sale with Mother Nathan's mother bluntly corrects his recollection of dropping out of college over the phone rather than in person and dismisses his attempts to make profound quotes about living forever. Nathan playfully pushes back on her multitasking with her phone while seeking her grounding advice on selling the company.4:06–7:22 · Guest teaching 0/10 Nathan Announces Acquisition Offer and Transparency Strategy This is a solo host monologue where Nathan announces the inbound acquisition offer from a competitor and outlines his strategy to share the process transparently with his team.7:24–12:26 · Guest teaching 3/10 Evaluating Buyout Strategy with Operations Lead Chris Rieger Nathan outlines M&A tactics including leveraging multiple LOIs to drive up bidding, while Chris Rieger provides supportive, pragmatic input focusing on team welfare and next-stage alternatives.12:27–20:27 · Guest teaching 2/10 Internal Reflection on Team Attachment and Emotional Nuance Nathan explains corporate acquisition dynamics and brand absorption to Christina, addressing her concerns about brand identity and reminding the team to maintain sales momentum during deal negotiations.20:29–23:42 · Guest teaching 0/10 Dilemmas of Selling and Audience Call to Action Solo host concluding monologue reflecting on the risks of opening up the acquisition talks and asking the audience to call in with their perspective on whether he should sell Heyo.0:00–4:05 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Discussing College Dropout and Business Sale with Mother Nathan's mother bluntly corrects his recollection of dropping out of college over the phone rather than in person and dismisses his attempts to make profound quotes about living forever. Nathan playfully pushes back on her multitasking with her phone while seeking her grounding advice on selling the company.4:06–7:22 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Nathan Announces Acquisition Offer and Transparency Strategy This is a solo host monologue where Nathan announces the inbound acquisition offer from a competitor and outlines his strategy to share the process transparently with his team.7:24–12:26 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Evaluating Buyout Strategy with Operations Lead Chris Rieger Nathan outlines M&A tactics including leveraging multiple LOIs to drive up bidding, while Chris Rieger provides supportive, pragmatic input focusing on team welfare and next-stage alternatives.12:27–20:27 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Internal Reflection on Team Attachment and Emotional Nuance Nathan explains corporate acquisition dynamics and brand absorption to Christina, addressing her concerns about brand identity and reminding the team to maintain sales momentum during deal negotiations.20:29–23:42 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Dilemmas of Selling and Audience Call to Action Solo host concluding monologue reflecting on the risks of opening up the acquisition talks and asking the audience to call in with their perspective on whether he should sell Heyo.0:00–4:05 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Discussing College Dropout and Business Sale with Mother Nathan's mother bluntly corrects his recollection of dropping out of college over the phone rather than in person and dismisses his attempts to make profound quotes about living forever. Nathan playfully pushes back on her multitasking with her phone while seeking her grounding advice on selling the company.4:06–7:22 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Nathan Announces Acquisition Offer and Transparency Strategy This is a solo host monologue where Nathan announces the inbound acquisition offer from a competitor and outlines his strategy to share the process transparently with his team.7:24–12:26 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Evaluating Buyout Strategy with Operations Lead Chris Rieger Nathan outlines M&A tactics including leveraging multiple LOIs to drive up bidding, while Chris Rieger provides supportive, pragmatic input focusing on team welfare and next-stage alternatives.12:27–20:27 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Internal Reflection on Team Attachment and Emotional Nuance Nathan explains corporate acquisition dynamics and brand absorption to Christina, addressing her concerns about brand identity and reminding the team to maintain sales momentum during deal negotiations.20:29–23:42 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Dilemmas of Selling and Audience Call to Action Solo host concluding monologue reflecting on the risks of opening up the acquisition talks and asking the audience to call in with their perspective on whether he should sell Heyo.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 60.6% · guest 39.4%0:00 · Nathan 60.6% · guest 39.4%3:00 · Nathan 84.2% · guest 15.8%3:00 · Nathan 84.2% · guest 15.8%6:00 · Nathan 52.3% · guest 47.7%6:00 · Nathan 52.3% · guest 47.7%9:00 · Nathan 78.5% · guest 21.5%9:00 · Nathan 78.5% · guest 21.5%12:00 · Nathan 60.2% · guest 39.8%12:00 · Nathan 60.2% · guest 39.8%15:00 · Nathan 83.3% · guest 16.7%15:00 · Nathan 83.3% · guest 16.7%18:00 · Nathan 62.7% · guest 37.3%18:00 · Nathan 62.7% · guest 37.3%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%24:00 · Nathan 0% · guest 0%24:00 · Nathan 0% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 0:00 Calling out dropout narrative

Nathan's mother immediately rejects his framing that he entered her office, calling him chicken and noting he called on the phone instead.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 0:44 Calling out phone distraction

Nathan halts the interview flow to push back on his mother for looking at her phone instead of engaging with his questions.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:08 Dismissing quotable framing

Nathan's mother refuses his attempt to coin a profound quote about living forever, telling him bluntly that it is not quotable and reminding him of baseline ethical responsibility.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:09 M&A bidding strategy

Nathan demonstrates operational and deal-making knowledge by breaking down how to solicit multiple competing letters of intent to bid up an acquirer.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Discussing College Dropout and Business Sale with Mother 3543 Nathan's mother bluntly corrects his recollection of dropping out of college over the phone rather than in person and dismisses his attempts to make profound quotes about living forever. Nathan playfully pushes back on her multitasking with her phone while seeking her grounding advice on selling the company.
Nathan Announces Acquisition Offer and Transparency Strategy 0000 This is a solo host monologue where Nathan announces the inbound acquisition offer from a competitor and outlines his strategy to share the process transparently with his team.
Evaluating Buyout Strategy with Operations Lead Chris Rieger 6312 Nathan outlines M&A tactics including leveraging multiple LOIs to drive up bidding, while Chris Rieger provides supportive, pragmatic input focusing on team welfare and next-stage alternatives.
Internal Reflection on Team Attachment and Emotional Nuance 6212 Nathan explains corporate acquisition dynamics and brand absorption to Christina, addressing her concerns about brand identity and reminding the team to maintain sales momentum during deal negotiations.
Dilemmas of Selling and Audience Call to Action 0000 Solo host concluding monologue reflecting on the risks of opening up the acquisition talks and asking the audience to call in with their perspective on whether he should sell Heyo.

Statements from this episode (9)

Disclosure
Latka shared all buyout offers and negotiation bids with entire team
“I decided very early on in the process to have the whole team see the offers come in, See kind of how I bid up each offer on Hale, and they all got to learn from the process, and people that, where it was clear that they had moved away, and that they weren't g…”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 1:56
Disclosure
Seed investor Pat Matthews urged Nathan Latka to sell Heyo
“Pat Matthews, one of our early, early seed investors in the business, and one of my, I've learned a ton from him. He, you know, his advice to me was, Nathan, you need to look at this as an opportunity to, you know, declare victory, close this chapter of your l…”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 3:24
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Heyo reached 10,000 paying customers and $5 million in sales
“Many of our competitors were left crushed, while we rapidly grew to over 10,000 paying customers, over five million in sales, and as you guys know, we raised over 2.5 million dollars from some of the world's top venture capitalists.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 4:45
Disclosure
Heyo received an acquisition offer from its top competitor
“Our number one competitor offered to buy the business.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 5:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Heyo had a 20-month cash runway during acquisition talks
“We technically could keep building campaign builder on Facebook apps for the next 20 months and not worry about payroll.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 10:00
Opinion
Building a Facebook app will not yield a billion-dollar outcome
“My fear is we're so comfortable that there's probably other opportunities out there where our team could hit a massive billion dollar home run, and that's not going to be a Facebook app.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 10:10
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Heyo's main competitor appeared to be executing a roll-up strategy
“They also just acquired somebody else in our space. So I think they might be doing a roll up strategy.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 11:17
Insight
M&A deals take longer than expected, making ongoing growth crucial
“And the fact of the matter is, deals, if we do one, they end up taking way longer than we expect. And we want that last month before the deal is signed to be One of the best months ever, because it gives us leverage.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 19:47
Assertion Supported
Heyo's investors included Techstars' David Cohen and a Forbes billionaire
“We have David Cohen from Techstars in the business. We have, you know, our, you know, a Forbes billionaire involved in the business.”
Nathan Latka Feb 5, 2016 ▶ 22:24
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