The title is really the whole post.
But two weeks ago, the artist [redacted] acquired Eternal. Luca and I will be advising the new organization to build [redacted]. And we are excited to contribute to the vision, while having space to keep exploring what’s next for us.
LESSONS FROM M&A
I was going to do an entire write up about all my lessons from this long M&A experience, but honestly this book is the best thing there is. It was recommended to me by my friend Suraya who’s startup was acquired by Snap.
M&A is such a funky and opaque process. It isn’t written about for many reasons. But it’s truly the dark arts of the startup industrial complex. This book + reaching out to others that have gone through it before, really helped.
ON AGREEING TO [REDACTED] BUYING THE ETERNAL IP
I was inspired by Em Herrera to really see the potential in this deal.
One of the rubber meets the road moments in the Eternal life cycle was distribution advantages of incumbents. This is something Nikita Bier talks about at length as well. It’s an incredibly hard problem, and there’s a few ways to bunny hop the initial hurdles.
Creators / Artists / any identity that has built in distribution rails — unlocks an unfair advantage. This is why tech is obsessed with media, and why more founders’ social presence looks indistinguishable from creators. Em sees this in a really deep way, and it helped me get excited about the deal (beyond the brand living on).
CLOSING THOUGHT
Keeping this as short as humanly possible (for my writing style). That’s all I have to say. It feels good to truly close this chapter. I’m grateful to God for the journey that Eternal was, and the fact that it gets to live on in this way.
I’m excited for folks to see what it becomes. And I’m incredibly excited about the projects that have been cooking in silence for quite some time now that are about to go public.
* my sweater says “God Answers Prayer”
I don’t do edits really, so excuse typos and things that don’t make sense.
Thanks so much for giving me your attention. I hope it was worth it, if not… unsubscribing will not hurt my feelings, and will give you back time you literally cannot have back.
Much love.
Live in the light