From University Project to Billion-Dollar Exit: SIGNAVIO - Together As One – with Signavio Co-Founder & CEO Gero Decker

On March 5th, 2021, SAP acquired Signavio for a billion dollars –
this marks one of the largest Tech Exits in the German market to
date. How does a university side project become a billion-dollar
acquisition?  In this episode, Gero Decker, co-founder of
Signavio, shares the incredible journey of building the company –
from its roots as an open-source project to bootstrapping, scaling,
and eventually being acquired by SAP for over a billion
dollars.  Learn about the pivotal moments, the role of timing,
and how a strong team culture propelled Signavio to success, even
when the odds were against them. What you’ll learn: How a
university project turned into a profitable company Why customer
feedback and bootstrapping were critical in the early days How
creative lead generation methods (like the "Hare Krishna Method")
made a difference Why team culture and timing played a vital role
in success How the billion-dollar SAP acquisition unfolded and the
dynamics of negotiation MORE UNICORN BAKERY:
https://zez.am/unicornbakery  More about Gero Decker:
LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/gerodecker  Website:
https://www.signavio.com/de/  Where to get the Book: Amazon:
https://links.unicornbakery.de/signavio Spotify Audio Book:
https://links.unicornbakery.de/signavio-audio-book  Join our
Founder Tactics Newsletter: Twice a week, you’ll get the tactics of
the world’s best founders delivered straight to your inbox.
https://www.tactics.unicornbakery.de/  Marker: (00:00:00) Why
were so many coincidences necessary for Signavio to even be
founded? (00:05:00) How did the Signavio story unfold? (00:12:10)
From open source to profitable company: The milestones (00:21:22)
Equity & founding team: The starting point for Signavio
(00:27:54) Prioritization & team spirit in a small team
(00:31:11) Product & growth in 2010 (00:34:46) Lead generation
& the failure of conversion (00:42:02) First Go-to-market
motion at Signavio (00:46:52) First customers: The challenges with
Customer Success (00:52:42) From bootstrapped to VC case – why now
& what changed? (00:59:13) Fast-growing company: How do you
maintain focus? (01:07:54) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
Signavio (01:13:04) The Path & Negotiation to the SAP
Acquisition  (01:17:14) The Future of SAP Signavio (01:21:37)
The Lesson: Lifting Up Each Other Hosted on Acast. See
acast.com/privacy for more information.