"As an entrepreneur, it’s essential not to get too caught up in the potential exit," he writes.
It has been several months since we last published a column by David Cummings, Founder of Atlanta Tech Village and also Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Atlanta Ventures. This one, however, seemed so appropriate as we begin a new year.
He describes a time in late 2010 when, as Co-Founder of Pardot, Cummings and his partner were the recipients of an inbound email from HubSpot asking if we were available to discuss partnerships. They went to Boston for serious discussions that eventually did not produce anything. Eighteen months later, they sold Pardot to ExactTarget that was subsequently acquired by Salesforce.com.
“As an entrepreneur, it’s essential not to get too caught up in the potential exit,” Cummings writes. “The focus should be on enjoying the journey and continuing to build a great business. In 2011, we had one of our first serious opportunities to consider selling, but we chose to stay the course, and were better off for it.”
You can find the column titled “The First Serious Acquisition Conversation” here.
