On this week’s episode of Exit Stories, host Kevin Mosley talks with Ben Weinberger, the former CEO and Co-Founder of Digitalsmiths, a personalized video search company that sells platforms for video content discovery to cable, satellite, and digital video operators.
Digitalsmiths, which began in Weinberger’s college dorm room at Southern Illinois and eventually grew to serve seven of the top 10 paid TV operators in the U.S., exited to TiVo in 2014 for $135 million.
Thanks as always to season sponsor Dualboot Partners!
Three Highlights:
- Moving to Raleigh in 2007 helped actuate the company’s first fundraising round and helped turn connections into investment opportunities. Weinberger said “it showed that we were really investing and doing what it took to be successful and get the right team.” Shortly after the move, they finalized an investment from Aurora Group, and Chrysalis syndicated a Series A round worth $6 million. [10:30]
- Weinberger said neither of the two deals Digitalsmiths was considering were based on a financial multiple. Deciding to pursue a strategic acquisition versus doing a financial buyout helped the company in many ways by creating forward-looking opportunity and value creation. [34:30]
- Digitalsmiths went from being entirely North American-focused to a highly international company after partnering with a globally focused company like TiVo. In fact, revenue outside the U.S. started to grow fastest. [33:40]
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