Lessons Learned from running and exiting 42matters to Similarweb

I have been very fortunate to start a company with very capable and reliable founders, which gradually established itself to be one of the leaders in the App Intelligence field. It exited in July 2024 to the leader in Digital Intelligence - Similarweb (ticker SMWB) and I became a part of the new App Intelligence division, responsible for the transition and integration of the data, services and team of 42matters R&D into SMWB. I’ve finally found some time to reflect on the journey and lessons learned from the journey, acquisition and transition.

Founder compatibility is critical. The journey is a rollercoaster, less-resilient people jump off and derail the whole progress. Be very selective.
Clarify ownership and responsibilities early with the founding documents. Split ownership equally and commit 100%. Avoid part-time commitments, advisory offers, people in multiple boats. Doesn’t work.
You should have good contingencies if a founder is not delivering or is just not happy. You should be able to buy back their shares, have a meaningful cliff and vesting.
Do not raise too much money in the beginning, at least until you have some traction, it makes you feel “successful” and dilutes you.
Where possible pay people for performance only, do not offer shares until you’re sure they’re the right person.
Start marketing from day 0, that pays off later on. Long-term content marketing and customer word-of-mouth trumps everything else.
It’s a slow process, your founder stamina is part of your moat.
Grow and reward your best people, fire your worst people.
Be supportive of your customers, respond personally to their questions and requests. They remember and appreciate this highly.
Be polite to your customers, you will always have people in bad mood or under stress. Nobody is inherently bad.