4 ms·

This is a great story. But perhaps a story of survivorship bias as well? It would be interesting to know if this happened 3 months, 6 months, or several years

by tarr11 14y ago

This is a great story. But perhaps a story of survivorship bias as well? It would be interesting to know if this happened 3 months, 6 months, or several years after TACODA was working on their product. According to this Rho ventures article, TACODA was founded in 2001. http://www.rhoventures.com/new-media-Tacoda-case-sudy.htm http://www.rhoventures.com/new-media-Tacoda-case-sudy.htm They raised 12M from Union Square in 2006. Fred Wilson states he was an early angel investor, and that this conversation occurred early. My question is - Did they pivot because they raised a lot of money and were under pressure from investors? Or was it the right thing to do? They certainly had a successful exit by selling to AOL a year later for a good chunk. Hard to argue with that. But, then AOL shuttered it, and there's not much data on why (other than the "AOL are incompetent" trope) So, did they sell AOL a time bomb? Or did AOL screw it up?

davemorgannyc 14y ago
The pivot of TACODA occurred more than 3 years after launching the business and a lot of work in the product. We weren't pressured into the pivot. But, as Fred Wilson related, we were working super-hard at the business and only had a modest technology license business to show for it. Our board - Fred, Brad Burnham, Rich Levandov (Masthead/Avalon), Habib Kairouz (Rho) and Curt Viebranz (COO) - was composed of folks who were long-time VC's and very strategic and senior, so they were comfortable with the idea that we should try to go big. We knew that our clients couldn't exploit our platform as well as we could. So, when Brad pushed us to really evaluate whether we couldn't build a bigger (and easier) business doing what our clients weren't doing well - using our platform to deliver and sell better targeted online ads - it didn't take long for all of us to realize that we should take the chance and pivot. As for post-AOL ... a lot was going on at that time that makes it hard to analyze without the advantage of hindsight. While most of the team didn't end up staying with AOL very long, the technology still powers most of Aol's targeted ad business, I believe, and the team has spread out and populate dozens of adtech start=-ups today.
- fredwilson 14y ago
  i love it when the lead character in the post stops by and participates in the discussion

by tarr11 14y ago

davemorgannyc 14y ago

The pivot of TACODA occurred more than 3 years after launching the business and a lot of work in the product. We weren't pressured into the pivot. But, as Fred Wilson related, we were working super-hard at the business and only had a modest technology license business to show for it. Our board - Fred, Brad Burnham, Rich Levandov (Masthead/Avalon), Habib Kairouz (Rho) and Curt Viebranz (COO) - was composed of folks who were long-time VC's and very strategic and senior, so they were comfortable with the idea that we should try to go big. We knew that our clients couldn't exploit our platform as well as we could. So, when Brad pushed us to really evaluate whether we couldn't build a bigger (and easier) business doing what our clients weren't doing well - using our platform to deliver and sell better targeted online ads - it didn't take long for all of us to realize that we should take the chance and pivot. As for post-AOL ... a lot was going on at that time that makes it hard to analyze without the advantage of hindsight. While most of the team didn't end up staying with AOL very long, the technology still powers most of Aol's targeted ad business, I believe, and the team has spread out and populate dozens of adtech start=-ups today.

fredwilson 14y ago
i love it when the lead character in the post stops by and participates in the discussion