Match.com founder Gary Kremen says consider exit strategies early

Lessons learned from entrepreneur by Ezra Roizen
November 29, 2007 | last edited July 10, 2008 | Comments (2)
Short URL: http://vator.tv/n/b7

Match.com founder Gary Kremen answers whether or not his new venture, Sex.com, is the ultimate distillation of his earlier efforts. Gary, who gave his pitch about his other ventures -- Citizen Hawk and Clean Power Finance -- on Vator.tv, also talks about innovation, his thoughts on angel investing and what he looks for in the entrepreneurs he backs. He also shares his thoughts on why exit/acquisition dynamics are something startups should consider early. Essentially, he suggests that entrepreneurs think about their entire company as a product that will need to be of use to a larger company at some point in the future.

Comments

David Saad, on November 30, 2007

Everyone has his/her own experience - be it an entrepreneur and/or and investor. Also, there are as many ways of skinning the cat as there are people skinning. From my perspective, what distinguishes the men from the boys as investors are the ones who can take their prior experience, and not apply it, but adapt it to the new venture that they are investing in. After all, each company, like a person, has its unique characteristics. What worked before for one company at one time, may not work for another company at other time.

I do agree with a lot of the points that Gary made, but I wouldn't go as far as he did on certain issues, especially concerning issues related to the entrepreneur. For example, as an investor, I wouldn't mind hearing from an entrepreneur: "I'm IT", if there is indeed substance to back up the claim. While there might be cases when an entrepreneur needs to be replaced by an experienced CEO to take it to the next step, there are indeed other entrepreneurs who are quite polished and adaptive to be able to carry the company from its inception to its growth, even though, those kinds of entrepreneurs are rather rare, but they do exist. So, I wouldn't make it a requirement when evaluating an entrepreneur to wanting to hear the entrepreneur talking about his/her replacement.

Danny McGowan, on December 7, 2007

interesting............fellow. Social Entrepreneur. I like that. My definition of entrepreneur is a game changer. Problem solver from hell. Money comes naturally easy to the humble hard working entrepreneur who know he has to boldly go where no one has gone before. All he carries is his character, integrity, goodwill, experience and contribution. Leadership is everything on a quest to being #1.

For a true entrepreneur its not about how much money you can make it is who you help along the way. Its not about how much money you have, its about what you do with it. The Heart of a true Entrepreneur knows "Life" is really about creating the "greatest good" for yourself and others relentlessly, passionately on a daily basis.