Leaders Unscripted

Conversations with leaders about the challenges they’ve faced and what they’ve learned.

Listen

11: Leading a Company Through Acquisition with Co-Founders of Packet, Zac and Jacob Smith

Episode cover image

Being acquired by another company might seem like a simple scaling of what you’ve done before, but actually requires leaders to re-learn the basics.

Packet was a startup founded by brothers, Zac & Jacob Smith, operating with speed at its core. That said, they’ll attest to the mindset shift that came with their merger with innovation juggernaut, Equinix.

Join us on Leaders Unscripted as we dissect the ins and outs of acquisition, bringing your team on the journey, and how to ‘encourage serendipity’.

This Episode Covers:

  • The origins of Packet’s creation
  • Aligned goals between Packet and their now-parent-company, Equinix
  • Bringing your old company’s team on your new journey
  • The change of mindset from speedy startup survival to scaleable impact

Episode Highlights:

“We were always trying to encourage serendipity. You can’t get timing right in deals, but you can increase your opportunities and hope those things align.” - 10:55 - Jacob Smith
“One of the smart things that we did is we brought in a temporary CFO to help run that merger process. We paid real money to add someone to our team to say ‘You just do this’. It was really important, and something that everyone should consider.” - 20:15 - Jacob Smith
“Change is sometimes really comforting or exciting to people, and for others that's really discomforting and scary. A big focus for us was collectively working on, and putting creative energy towards, how we help people feel.” - 25:35 - Jacob Smith
“As a startup founder, you’re convincing people to come on this journey with you. To transition that to something else is difficult while still honouring why they might have joined you in the first place.” - 28:05 - Zac Smith
“We were lean on purpose. It wasn't like we were lean just because we wanted to save money or use our capital. We were lean because it allowed us to move very quickly. ” - 31:35 - Zac Smith
“As startups, we're always just running out of oxygen. As such, that builds in this constant, healthy fear of ‘We only have x amount of dollars, and it's currently burning down’.” - 38:15 - Zac Smith

Links & References:

Constellary: https://www.constellaryhq.com/

Suzan Bond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanbond/

Zac Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zsmith/

Jacob Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobsmith79/

Equinix: https://www.equinix.com/