Awesome! Congrats to Xander. Nice write-up.
Main Topics
Browse All Topics
Loading Advertisement...
Google Gets Punchd, Acquires Former Experts Exchange Employee In the Process
BID:: 5387
Ever wonder what it would be like to make a million dollars? How about $10 million? For former Experts Exchange employee Xander Pollock and the other co-founders of Punchd, a mobile phone-based customer loyalty program for businesses, that dream became a reality last week when Google acquired the startup for $10 million.
Not one to forget the little people, Xander took some time to talk with us yesterday about Punchd’s early days, the Google acquisition process and what it takes to launch a successful startup.
Senior Project to 500 Startups
In 2010, Reed Morse started his senior project at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to answer a nagging question: How do you connect customers to their favorite shops, restaurants and venues?
“Reed was frustrated with paper loyalty cards and decided to build an app with a friend at Cal Poly,” Pollock says. “They worked on it for a year as their senior project. Ironically, they used Android phones that Google had donated to Cal Poly for the Android class to work on the app. It generated a lot of interest and eventually the marketing director at Cal Poly signed up to use it and then the local Jamba Juice and Pete’s Coffee.”
Wanting to keep the project alive after graduation, Morse asked Pollock to join the Punchd team along with now co-founder and product lead Niket Desai.
“Niket was the visionary of our team. He thought Punchd could be something really big,” says Pollock. “He convinced us to work on it more. I was in Italy for three months and I talked with Niket on Skype every day building the product. We all really liked working with each other and we were having fun.”
For Pollock, the chemistry among Punchd’s original team members was largely what made them keep working on the project and eventually led them to join Silicon Valley incubator 500 Startups.
“We had applied to a few different incubators, but 500 Startups has a really good reputation in the Valley for being straightforward and a lot of fun. Plus, they had mentorships, and we felt we needed a lot of guidance to take Punchd to the next level,” Pollock says.
Google Comes Calling
After graduating from the inaugural class at 500 Startups, Pollock and his co-workers found themselves with a lot of experience, a few great mentors and very little money. And that’s when things got interesting.
“Out of nowhere, a guy who worked in mergers and acquisitions at Google approached us and said he wanted to talk,” Pollock recalls. “Since Google likes to stay on top of who’s doing what in the industry, we actually thought he was just inviting us to the office to get more information on what we were doing. But once we got to Google, they were really upfront and said they were interested in acquiring Punchd.”
Of the acquisition process, Pollock says Google was most interested in making sure the Punchd crew would fit in well at the Google offices.
“Google wanted to make sure our product was a good fit and determine whether we’d get along with the people we’d be working with,” Pollock says.
After a series of interviews, Google offered the Punchd team $10 million for their product. While Pollock can’t give any additional information about the deal or say specifically what Google plans to do with Punchd (rumor has it they will integrate the product into Google Wallet or Google Checkout), he did say that for now, he and his coworkers will move to Mountain View and continue to work on Punchd at the Google offices.
“Google has been fairly open about its strategy of acquiring companies that are doing something better than them,” Pollock says. “Google + is an example of a quality product they’ve built themselves, but a lot of their best products have been acquired from someone else.”
Passion + Teamwork = Success
We talk a lot about business models here on the EE-Tech-News blog and have even gone so far as to say that getting bought out by Google is not one. For the Punchd crew, a buyout was never the end game.
“We always knew a buyout was a possibility simply because there are a lot of players in the local mobile space like Groupon, Living Social and Foursquare who might have a use for a product like Punchd, but this whole thing started as a way for Reed to scratch an itch,” Pollock says.
When asked what he thinks about building a product with the intention of being bought out, Pollock asserts it’s probably not the best idea:
“Unless you have something you’re passionate about, people will see right through you. We’ve run into a lot of companies who are building a product with the intention of being bought out, and you can tell that they lack passion for what they’re doing.”
Over the past year, Pollock says that he and his team have learned a lot about building customer facing products. Most importantly, build a product with a specific customer in mind. It also helps to work with people you enjoy working with and be the type of person someone would want to work with.
“Our product is not technically challenging. It’s a simple concept, but some of the folks at Google (including Marissa Mayer) told us that they were initially attracted to the quality of our team. In the end, if people can’t stand to have a phone conversation with you, it doesn’t matter how awesome your product is.”
We couldn’t agree more, Xander, and we mean it when we say this type of good fortune (no pun intended) couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Best of luck, to you and the Punchd crew!
Not one to forget the little people, Xander took some time to talk with us yesterday about Punchd’s early days, the Google acquisition process and what it takes to launch a successful startup.
Senior Project to 500 Startups
In 2010, Reed Morse started his senior project at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to answer a nagging question: How do you connect customers to their favorite shops, restaurants and venues?
“Reed was frustrated with paper loyalty cards and decided to build an app with a friend at Cal Poly,” Pollock says. “They worked on it for a year as their senior project. Ironically, they used Android phones that Google had donated to Cal Poly for the Android class to work on the app. It generated a lot of interest and eventually the marketing director at Cal Poly signed up to use it and then the local Jamba Juice and Pete’s Coffee.”
Wanting to keep the project alive after graduation, Morse asked Pollock to join the Punchd team along with now co-founder and product lead Niket Desai.
“Niket was the visionary of our team. He thought Punchd could be something really big,” says Pollock. “He convinced us to work on it more. I was in Italy for three months and I talked with Niket on Skype every day building the product. We all really liked working with each other and we were having fun.”
For Pollock, the chemistry among Punchd’s original team members was largely what made them keep working on the project and eventually led them to join Silicon Valley incubator 500 Startups.
“We had applied to a few different incubators, but 500 Startups has a really good reputation in the Valley for being straightforward and a lot of fun. Plus, they had mentorships, and we felt we needed a lot of guidance to take Punchd to the next level,” Pollock says.
Google Comes Calling
After graduating from the inaugural class at 500 Startups, Pollock and his co-workers found themselves with a lot of experience, a few great mentors and very little money. And that’s when things got interesting.
“Out of nowhere, a guy who worked in mergers and acquisitions at Google approached us and said he wanted to talk,” Pollock recalls. “Since Google likes to stay on top of who’s doing what in the industry, we actually thought he was just inviting us to the office to get more information on what we were doing. But once we got to Google, they were really upfront and said they were interested in acquiring Punchd.”
Of the acquisition process, Pollock says Google was most interested in making sure the Punchd crew would fit in well at the Google offices.
“Google wanted to make sure our product was a good fit and determine whether we’d get along with the people we’d be working with,” Pollock says.
After a series of interviews, Google offered the Punchd team $10 million for their product. While Pollock can’t give any additional information about the deal or say specifically what Google plans to do with Punchd (rumor has it they will integrate the product into Google Wallet or Google Checkout), he did say that for now, he and his coworkers will move to Mountain View and continue to work on Punchd at the Google offices.
“Google has been fairly open about its strategy of acquiring companies that are doing something better than them,” Pollock says. “Google + is an example of a quality product they’ve built themselves, but a lot of their best products have been acquired from someone else.”
Passion + Teamwork = Success
We talk a lot about business models here on the EE-Tech-News blog and have even gone so far as to say that getting bought out by Google is not one. For the Punchd crew, a buyout was never the end game.
“We always knew a buyout was a possibility simply because there are a lot of players in the local mobile space like Groupon, Living Social and Foursquare who might have a use for a product like Punchd, but this whole thing started as a way for Reed to scratch an itch,” Pollock says.
When asked what he thinks about building a product with the intention of being bought out, Pollock asserts it’s probably not the best idea:
“Unless you have something you’re passionate about, people will see right through you. We’ve run into a lot of companies who are building a product with the intention of being bought out, and you can tell that they lack passion for what they’re doing.”
Over the past year, Pollock says that he and his team have learned a lot about building customer facing products. Most importantly, build a product with a specific customer in mind. It also helps to work with people you enjoy working with and be the type of person someone would want to work with.
“Our product is not technically challenging. It’s a simple concept, but some of the folks at Google (including Marissa Mayer) told us that they were initially attracted to the quality of our team. In the end, if people can’t stand to have a phone conversation with you, it doesn’t matter how awesome your product is.”
We couldn’t agree more, Xander, and we mean it when we say this type of good fortune (no pun intended) couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Best of luck, to you and the Punchd crew!
About This Blog
The EE Tech News blog is produced by Jenn Prentice, Gary Weyel and Matt Stanford. Prior to joining Experts Exchange in 2009, Jenn worked as an editor at Metro Magazine (Raleigh, N.C.). Gary is a 10-year veteran of the advertising/marketing industry and has done work for numerous global brands. Matt is the Experts Exchange Marketing Coordinator by day and Penn State legal student by night.
Comments
Blog Archives
Blog Categories
Blog Roll
Top Bloggers
There are no top bloggers
by: jhoekman on 2011-07-20 at 10:26:24ID: 29932
Could not agree more. Congrats Xander! You go boy!