Contributor article written by serial startup entrepreneur Matt Wasserlauf

Build a Start-up That Gets Acquired
by Matthew Wasserlauf
In my ten years of TV, I learned what makes the
sexiness and glamour of the TV business work –
Sales. It wasn’t my first thought when I joined
Petry television in 1992. I always imagined that
the great TV programming I watched everyday
would more or less sell itself. When I joined
Warner Bros. in 1995, I had to believe Friends and
ER were must buys and the TV stations and
networks, I called customers, would automatically
buy them. And when I joined CBS in 1999, I was
convinced The Late Show and Survivor were
“must haves” to my customer base of advertisers,
up and down Madison Avenue.
But the truth is now very clear to me – it would
require the best Salesmanship to win in TV.
Over my career in the TV business, I worked with
some of the very best sellers in the world: Leslie
Moonves, Mel Karmzin, Lisa McCarthy, Dick

Robertson, Vince Messina. These were some of
the names of those people who taught me how to
sell. Selling, at the end of the day, is how the
business gets done.
It’s also the key to how to build and sell a startup.
Period.
I’ve now built and sold two companies: BBE to
Specific Media in 2010 and Torrential to ITN in
2017. In both instances, it was my raw ability to
sell that drove the success of the business and the
sale of the company. It is simply the most
important aspect of the entire process.
My mentor Jim DePalma gave me the greatest
advice I’d ever receive after asking him how to
start BBE without having raised the capital to
build it. “Can you sell?” knowing fully well I
could. “Then go sell. You’ll have the revenues
from selling to use to build BBE.” That is indeed
what I did. Bootstrapping the business is what
allowed me to raise the necessary capital for BBE

while also keeping control by not having to give
away equity in the company to investors.
With that said, there are still a few other critical
steps necessary to both build your company and
sell it. Hiring good people is second only to
selling. Building a great product or technology
and finally, having the right banker are third and
fourth to getting your company acquired.
Hiring good people is hard. I remember my first
hires at BBE and the amount of time I spent
scrutinizing them. Those hires can be the
difference between growing a company that gets
acquired or not.
With such a significant amount of importance on
good hires, it pays to hire more slowly than most
entrepreneurs are comfortable with. I tell young
entrepreneurs as often as I can to involve as many
people as you have access to, in the interview
process. As much time and effort should be
afforded to hiring as you grow and scale your
company.

The third key ingredient to building and selling
your company, is product. Any buyer will need a
good, marketable product to gain if they’re to take
the plunge and acquire your company. When
Specific Media bought my company BBE, they
made several allusions to the importance of our
technology platform VINDICO, the “special
sauce” as they called it. They referred to it as key
to why they purchased the company. Any acquirer
likes the feeling of having something tangible they
can hold onto. Building good product and having
that product deployed makes your company highly
desirable to any buyer.
After Selling, Hiring Good People and Product is
hiring the right banker to sell the company. This
isn’t the most difficult step but finding the right
banker makes the difference between selling your
company or not.
Most investment bankers will do the basics:
canvass the market for buyers, help your company

prepare for sale and provide you a deal team.
There are a great many investment bankers to
choose from and the process of finding one can be
daunting.
When I went through that process, I was keen to
how many bankers told me what I wanted to hear
rather than guide me toward the things I needed to
do and needed to hear.
BBE and Torrential were sold by GCA Savvian, a
firm I deemed as having all the key ingredients
and most critically, the best “seller” of the many I
met. They touted a great many deals in the digital
media space and created a great many outcomes. I
was sold on GCA Savvian.
My advice is to meet with as many investment
banks as you can and search them for the right fit
for you and your organization. Ultimately, when
you pick your Investment bank, make sure to find
the right fit for your company and then make sure
your Investment bank does one of those things
better than anyone else – Sell.

For Advice or Consulting Services
Contact:
Matthew Wasserlauf
CEO and Founder, Torrential Inc.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewwasserlauf-13360364/