00:00:00 · S0, Valentina Jerusalmi, Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Molly O'Shea
[00:00:00] S0: Vending Spoons has announced Vimeo, a deal worth $1,300,000,000. Eventbrite in a deal worth $500,000,000. [00:00:06] S1: Airtable for 1,250,000,000. [00:00:09] S0: AOL for $1,500,000,000. [00:00:11] S2: We don't sell the companies we buy. Mhmm. So they know that with us, the company has a private owned, and they've seen how much we can invest in the product. [00:00:19] S3: Private equity comes in and buys a business. Generally, that means that the founder needs to be involved for the next three, four, five years. And with Bending Spoons, we can take care of it from closing date. Within our portfolio, we have plenty [00:00:32] S4: of products. People that come into Bending Spoons, they don't need to come in because they wanna work specifically on Vimeo or with WeTransfer or AOL. They can actually be exposed to a lot of different products. [00:00:43] S1: AOL was a pretty healthy business when we acquired it, and it's still as of today. It has, like, millions and millions of users who are still very active and still very engaged. [00:00:52] S5: I'm so excited to see what you acquire next. Airtable broke the Internet a lot of people's brains, so I'm excited to see what happens. We are here at Bending Spoons in Milan, Italy with CEO Luca Ferrari. We're going go for a little walk around the office, and then later we're going to speak to the co founders as well as Valley, the GM of AOL. So Luca, wanna take it away? [00:01:28] S4: Alright. [00:01:28] S5: So how many offices do you have now?
00:01:28 · Molly O'Shea, Luca Ferrari, Valentina Jerusalmi
[00:01:28] S5: So how many offices do you have now? [00:01:31] S2: For the core team, we have Milan, then we have London, Madrid in Spain, and Warsaw in Poland. And then with the acquired companies, you know, many others in The States, in Tokyo, all over the place. [00:01:46] S5: Alright. So you have this office here. When did you open this one? [00:01:49] S2: About three years ago. [00:01:51] S1: Okay. [00:01:51] S2: And we're working on opening another one next door, which will be way bigger, so we're looking forward to that maybe next year. [00:01:58] S5: How many how many floors is that one? [00:02:00] S2: Nine, I think. Nine? That's way bigger. It's good for 500 to a thousand people, something like that. [00:02:07] S5: And so are all the offices set up like this with open desks? Do you guys have a specific office or you... [00:02:13] S2: No. Everybody, you know, can pick their desk. They're all up for booking, and everybody is the same in that regard. There are no private offices. We have meeting rooms, of course, but no private offices. [00:02:24] S5: I know we're recording this in reverse order, but I have spoken with everyone already. And one of the main takeaways is the density of talent that you have here, the extreme ownership culture, and I guess, the quality overall. So what are the traits that you look for when hiring employees?
00:02:24 · Molly O'Shea, Luca Ferrari
[00:02:24] S5: I know we're recording this in reverse order, but I have spoken with everyone already. And one of the main takeaways is the density of talent that you have here, the extreme ownership culture, and I guess, the quality overall. So what are the traits that you look for when hiring employees? [00:02:46] S2: Well, it it boils down to looking for people who are smart and who care. Smart means people who can learn quickly, even if they don't have the knowledge, they'll pick it up rapidly and they'll be able to develop the skills they need to succeed, and then who care means, and that's the extreme ownership trait you just referenced, It means they care tremendously about being amazing in what they do, delivering the greatest possible impact for the team and the company. So that's sort of a fire in the belly to to be awesome at work. [00:03:16] S5: I have to ask you. I forgot to ask this in our sit down, but what is the biggest lesson you've learned from all the acquisitions?
00:03:16 · Molly O'Shea, Luca Ferrari
[00:03:16] S5: I have to ask you. I forgot to ask this in our sit down, but what is the biggest lesson you've learned from all the acquisitions? [00:03:25] S2: Oh my goodness. That's a pretty huge question. But I'd say, I guess we've confirmed just how incredibly powerful it can be, if there was multiple people who are very high caliber, and who have almost complete autonomy and leeway in being ambitious and executing. Going from a much larger company where people don't feel as much sense of ownership, they're not as accountable, there's more process, more bureaucracy to that small team, magic happens almost every single time. So we've, you know, we have now come to believe in that formula fully, and it's really a trademark of our Weel Prix. [00:04:09] S5: And what's the key to negotiation? [00:04:12] S2: To acquire a company? [00:04:14] S5: Yeah. [00:04:14] S2: Price. Price? I've never seen a transaction where the highest price didn't win. [00:04:20] S5: Really?
00:04:20 · Molly O'Shea, Luca Ferrari
[00:04:20] S5: Really? [00:04:21] S2: Yeah, basically. I think in our case, what we bring to the table that's very convincing games, typically, have offered the highest price, and the reason why we've been able to do that is we, as an operator, are so effective through the integration by bringing our platform, our technologies, our people at generating value from businesses that were typically capable of offering a better price than everybody else, while delivering high returns for our shareholders, so that's certainly, you know, number one. But as a close second, I think something that especially founders have appreciated, not so much institutional investors, but founders is that we don't sell the companies we buy, so they know that with us, the company has a probably a forever home, and they've seen how much we can invest in the product and make the product better, and many founders feel a sense of attachment, even legacy connected the products they helped develop. And so knowing that they're selling their business, including the products to someone who's passionate about developing digital products, has an engineering mindset, pays attention to detail and and takes pride in the craft when it comes to user experience, that makes the decision of selling easier. So those are the two main things, I believe.
00:04:21 · Luca Ferrari, Molly O'Shea
[00:04:21] S2: Yeah, basically. I think in our case, what we bring to the table that's very convincing games, typically, have offered the highest price, and the reason why we've been able to do that is we, as an operator, are so effective through the integration by bringing our platform, our technologies, our people at generating value from businesses that were typically capable of offering a better price than everybody else, while delivering high returns for our shareholders, so that's certainly, you know, number one. But as a close second, I think something that especially founders have appreciated, not so much institutional investors, but founders is that we don't sell the companies we buy, so they know that with us, the company has a probably a forever home, and they've seen how much we can invest in the product and make the product better, and many founders feel a sense of attachment, even legacy connected the products they helped develop. And so knowing that they're selling their business, including the products to someone who's passionate about developing digital products, has an engineering mindset, pays attention to detail and and takes pride in the craft when it comes to user experience, that makes the decision of selling easier. So those are the two main things, I believe. [00:05:37] S5: So you recently had a big milestone, Bending Spoons went public. Mhmm. I heard that you did something a little unconventional. You actually weren't the one ringing the bell. You were down in Times Square, and you gave a fairly unusual speech as well. So what happened there?