$380 Million for Knowledge Curated at the School of Hard Knocks
“David Perry shares his story of selling his gaming business and what it takes to build a brand,” shares Sam Thompson a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “He uses a train analogy to describe how to be a leader in the industry. David uses a creative strategy in finding natural acquirers for his business.”
David Perry co-founded Gaikai, a video game company that enables popular games like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty to be played on just about any device.
Perry raised $50 million through three rounds of funding and sold Gaikai for $380 million to Sony.
Not bad for a high school-educated kid from Belfast. This episode is full of wisdom curated at the school of hard knocks including how to:
- Finance the early days of your business without diluting your equity.
- Name your company and products to stimulate tribe-like loyalty.
- Find the natural acquirers for your business.
- Use the “restaurant test” to validate your business ideas.
- Protect your working relationship with your acquirer without giving up negotiating leverage.
- Get investors to see the value in what you’re building.
- Deal with an “exploding term sheet”.
- Capitalize on what Perry calls “down the track” thinking.