Nurturing Entrepreneurial Spirit in Acquisitions and Supporting Founders' Success

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The chapter delves into maintaining the entrepreneurial culture within a larger corporation post-acquisition, emphasizing the importance of respecting founders' vision and decision-making autonomy. It contrasts successful approaches like Priceline's trust in founder autonomy with potentially damaging control exerted by some big companies over acquired businesses. The narrative then shifts to the CEO of Techstars and their supportive platform for founders, highlighting the intense effort and commitment expected from founders during the program and the high success rate in raising capital post-accelerator.

Maëlle Gavet is the CEO of Techstars, a pre-seed investor focused on early-stage entrepreneurs. It boasts a market cap of $111.6 billion, and supports founders in programs that span from Tokyo to Lagos to Alabama. Maëlle champions hard work, gratitude, and a questioning nature, qualities her grandfather imparted while she was growing up in France. She has carried her curiosity through a wide-ranging international career, in start-ups and scaled corporations. We hear lessons drawn from her vast experience, including the transformation of Ozon — the "Amazon of Russia" — in the early 2010s, to leadership roles in global travel and real estate. And we get a sample of the advice she often shares with Techstars’ founders, about how to balance their values and the needs of their company, always with an optimism about entrepreneurship as a force for good.

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