Inside Nasdaq’s Acquisition of Quandl: Lessons on Timing and Negotiation for Entrepreneurs

Read Show Notes

In 2011, Tammer Kamel launched Quandl, a company that provided investors with data designed to give them a competitive trading edge. For example, Quandl offered subscriptions that let investors access private jet flight information for public companies as a predictor for M&A activity.

By 2018, Quandl had grown to 75 employees. Kamel saw industry giants entering the space, but knowing the time and capital investment it would take to build a competitive offering, he believed they would prefer to acquire Quandl.

Kamel began shopping the business around, and shortly after, Nasdaq acquired Quandl for a life-changing sum. In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Weigh the pros and cons of raising venture capital.
• Compete with a giant with a stranglehold on your industry.
• Negotiate the sale of your business with a direct competitor (without giving away your secrets).
• Pinpoint the ideal time to sell your company.
• Avoid sabotaging your relationship with an acquirer.

 

Check out our article on How To Sell Your Company Beyond Its Weight Class.

And Lessons From The Happiest Founders too.

Check out our full M&A Glossary

Show Notes & Links

CNBC interview

Quandl

Official Press Release

Leave a Review

Want to Sponsor an Episode? Click Here

 

Today’s episode is brought to you by Scribe Media.

Scribe Media is a hybrid book publishing company that specializes in helping founders, entrepreneurs, and executives write and publish their books. You can’t meet with every person you want to reach, but with Scribe’s help, your book can. We create and execute a plan to get your message to your ideal reader. Not a writer? No problem. Scribe Media’s experts can write for you—in your voice. When it’s time to sell your business, buyers will know who you are, what you stand for, and the legacy they’ll inherit from the company you’ve built. Visit ScribeMedia.com to book your free consultation.

 

Definitions

 

Due-Diligence: Due diligence is an investigation, audit, or review performed to confirm facts or details of a matter under consideration. In the financial world, due diligence requires an examination of financial records before entering into a proposed transaction with another party.

Source: https://bit.ly/3yYDfo5

Earn-out: Earnout or earn-out refers to a pricing structure in mergers and acquisitions where the sellers must “earn” part of the purchase price based on the performance of the business following the acquisition.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnout

Letter of Intent (LOI): A letter of intent (LOI) is a document declaring the preliminary commitment of one party to do business with another. The letter outlines the chief terms of a prospective deal. Commonly used in major business transactions, LOIs are similar in content to term sheets. One major difference between the two, though, is that LOIs are presented in letter formats, while term sheets are listicle in nature.

Source: https://bit.ly/3ppDnr3

About Our Guest

Tammer Kamel

Tammer Kamel founded Quandl, a financial data platform, which received venture funding from Silicon Valley and was later acquired by Nasdaq in 2018.

After the acquisition, Tammer has since started a new company in the agtech space called Streambatch.

 

Do you want to nominate a guest to be on Built to Sell Radio? Click HERE.