The $192 Million Exit

After starting and exiting BabyCenter.com, Mark Selcow built Merced Systems into a profitable business after year one. Ten years later he sold Merced for $192 million, equating to over 3 times top line revenue.

Merced had found their niche providing performance management software for large companies and quickly became the dominant provider in their industry. Selcow financed his astronomical growth with only one round of venture capital leaving he and his partner with most of the spoils of their phenomenal exit.

About Our Guest

Mark is a serial entrepreneur and operator who has founded and led companies in the consumer Internet and enterprise software sectors. He is currently CEO at Quizlet, a leader in Education Technology with tens of millions of learners using its products every month. He is also Venture Partner at Costanoa Venture Capital, a Palo Alto firm specializing in early-stage investing in software businesses. He previously co-founded and served as President of two companies. The first, BabyCenter, was a pioneer in the consumer Internet, and grew to become the leader in the online parenting market. BabyCenter was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2001. The second, Merced Systems, became the dominant provider of Performance Management software for large Customer Service functions.