Thompson Reuters Acquires Pondera in 9-Figure Deal
“Jon Cross founded Pondera Solutions in 2011 and sold to Thompson Reuters in 2020 for $124M,” shares Sam Thompson a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “This episode will cover topics such as avoiding unrealistic expectations for investors and a good way to structure compensation for your executive team.”
When Jon Cross founded Pondera Solutions in 2011, his goal was to reduce fraud in U.S. government programs like Medicaid and unemployment insurance. By 2020 Cross and his partners had built Pondera to more than $9 million in annual recurring revenue when they received an offer from Thompson Reuters for a reported $124 million. In this wide-ranging interview, you’ll learn how to:
- Take some chips off the table while still benefitting in the upside of a majority re-capitalization.
- Recruit experienced employees for less than market.
- Leverage the difference between TAM and SAM.
- Use a simple hack for increasing the amount of inbound interest you get from acquirers and investors.
- Avoid setting unrealistic expectations for investors.
- Structure compensation for your executive team.
- Know when venture debt might be a better option than selling equity.
- Protect your relationship with the acquirer using the good cop/bad cop negotiation strategy.