What lessons have been learned by the CEO of a startup that failed to sell a company to Steve Jobs?


by Angelo Amboldi

Ten years after Steve Jobs's death, Ali Partovi, a businessman with a bitter experience who had a chance to sell his company to Jobs in his lifetime but failed just because he was greedy, met Jobs. He talked about the lessons he learned from and lessons for startup entrepreneurs.



The acquisition of their company by Apple was the biggest goal that Apple and its co-founders dreamed of launching iLike, a music-sharing service. Therefore, when the acquisition offer came from Apple in 2008, Mr. Paltvi and others said that they headed to Apple's headquarters with their eyes shining. After waiting for a while in the lobby, Jobs welcomed Mr. Partovy and others who were sent to the executive suite in a friendly manner, saying, 'I often hear about you.'



At first, the presentations by Mr. Paltvi and others suffered from troubles such as the Wi-Fi of the executive suite going down and the demonstration could not be operated, but the co-founder and twin brother Hadi Paltvi who accompanied him and the best technology It was a success, partly because the chief technology officer (CTO), Nat Brown, was smart. Jobs, who was listening to the presentation, said that he was leaning forward and nodding constantly.

At the end of the presentation, Jobs told Partovy and others, 'I like you guys. I have a good discussion. You guys are perfect for Apple, so I definitely want to buy your company.' Mr. Paltvi recalls this time, 'I wish I could keep that beautiful moment in my memory forever.'



But that's all there is to it. As the acquisition was about to be decided, Mr. Partovy was wondering how much it would cost, and he asked Jobs, 'Why don't you discuss the range of the acquisition amount before you go?'

When asked what the valuation of the most recent funding was, Jobs said, 'When we raised the funding two years ago, the valuation was $ 50 million (about 6 billion yen at that time).' Jobs replied, 'Then I'll buy it for $ 50 million.' Mr. Partovy was disappointed to hear this. That's because the same valuation and acquisition price two years ago means that the work of Paltvi and colleagues over the last two years hasn't created any new value.



'I don't think the investors will be convinced,' Jobs said, 'don't worry, I'll convince you.' 'You don't have to want to sell the company. Apple It's easy to make the same thing as iLike. '



Just then, Partovy, who was talking to investors trying to raise new funding for $ 150 million (at the rate of about $ 18 billion at the time), said, 'Steve, at least three times the value of $ 50 million. After saying, 'I think there is,' he repeatedly said, 'In fact, we know that we are three times more valuable.'

Jobs, who did not overlook the difference in nuances between the words 'I think' and 'I know' and immediately realized that negotiations with Apple were underway, said, 'Do you know? Do you have an offer? '' You are lying to me. This is the end of the story. '

Mr. Partovy has always regretted this, saying, 'There is no day when I feel embarrassed while thinking' What should I do at that time? ' I keep feeling that I've done it in my heart. '



A few weeks later, Apple and others were officially informed that the deal had broken down. Eddy Cue, who was already an executive at Apple at the time, managed to negotiate between the two companies, but it ended in vain. In addition, Jobs said to Mr. Partovy, who later spoke on the phone, 'You are a liar. I can't trust anything you say.'

Later, Apple announced the 'Genius Sidebar' as a new feature in iTunes. According to Paltvi, this feature is a copy of iLike's 'iLike Sidebar' released for iTunes. In addition, Facebook, which was the main platform of iLike, copied iLike's main feature 'iLike button', which made iLike's business stagnant, and Mr. Partovy gave up the company in less than a year. I had to.



From this lesson, Partovy said, 'Trust can be ruined in just one word, and it's not easy to recover.' He also told startup leaders in takeover negotiations, 'When you're making big deals, especially when you're negotiating with a formidable partner, don't be afraid to surprise your chances of success. Even if you don't lie. , I can be a good negotiator enough. '

Related Posts:

in Note, Posted by log1l_ks