Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 2/5

ThriveCart's Acquirer Publicly Announced the $35M Buyout as a Funding Round

Thomas Smale · Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit · Jul 3, 2023 · at 18:28

This episode carries Thomas Smale's own address, with nobody on the show putting questions to them. It still counts as said, and it is kept out of every score on their page.

Thomas Smale, CEO of FE International, explains how media outlets like TechCrunch frame M&A transactions and reveals the true structure behind ThriveCart's announcement.

0:00 / 0:09exact quote · 9.4s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“A thirty-five million dollar transaction the fund that acquired it, raised money, acquired Thrivecart as part of the deal, announced as a raise.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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Insight
SaaS businesses below $1M ARR sell on net profit, not revenue
“So that will definitely apply where a business is doing over a million ARR, but on smaller businesses we deal with, so our average deal size is around 250,000. For deals at that level, there just isn't the scale, so buyers don't tend to pay a multiple of reven…”
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Assertion Not checkable as stated
ThriveCart Reached $1B GMV Selling Lifetime Deals Instead of Subscriptions
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Opinion
Public Market Tech Downturns Do Not Affect $35M to $100M Acquisitions
“Public markets, Yes, as a savvy founder, you should keep an eye on it, but it doesn't affect transactions at thirty five million dollars, or even a hundred million, to be completely honest.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 22:15 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ThriveCart Processed Over $1B in Annual GMV at Exit
“Thrivecart at time of exit actually had over a billion dollars a year in GMV.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 8:20 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ThriveCart's Buyer Tripled Revenue Just By Renegotiating Its Stripe Partnership
“My understanding is the buyer is about tripled revenue of the business by renegotiating a partnership agreement with Stripe.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 9:18 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
Assertion Not checkable as stated
ThriveCart's Founder Chose Rapport Over Better Terms Among 11 Bids
“Out of, I think we had 11 offers on this business. Kevin was the one that won, and it wasn't necessarily because his terms were the best, it's because Josh liked Kevin.”
Thomas Smale Jul 3, 2023 ▶ 15:47 Lessons From $1bn in Exits: Behind The Scenes of the ThriveCart Exit
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