The Logan Bartlett Show EP 66: George Boutros (CEO, Qatalyst) On Negotiating the Biggest Tech Acquisitions (LinkedIn, Slack, Figma) and Advising Steve Jobs in 1996
Boutique’s Edge: Focus and Trust
- Advisory in tech M&A thrives on singular client focus and deep expertise, unlike capital raising which is commoditized.
- Avoiding conflicts and serving one client ensures better trust and fearless negotiation.
Building Trust Over Deals
- Clients’ natural distrust is that bankers want deals for fees, but seasoned bankers earn trust by long-term honesty.
- Transparency and trust encourage clients to be open, enabling better deal strategies and outcomes.
Apple’s Near-Sale to Sun
- Apple was near insolvency in 1996 and almost sold to Sun, which withdrew fearing it would hurt its own success.
- This was a pivotal moment leading to Apple's resurgence and Steve Jobs’ eventual return.
George Boutros is commonly known in Silicon Valley as the man behind basically every big tech acquisition in the past 10 years. George was involved in the sale of LinkedIn to Microsoft, Slack to Salesforce, Figma to Adobe, and many others. On this episode he shares his background, how he got into investment banking, and what it was like advising on some of the greatest deals in history including Steve Jobs at Pixar. Finally, George shares his best negotiating advice and misconceptions about the role of investment banking in the tech world. George is currently CEO of Qatalyst Partners, a boutique investment bank focused on tech M&A.
(0:00) Intro
(0:41) Welcome George Boutros
(11:08) Advising deals 2008-2010
(16:48) Pillars of building out an investment bank
(30:58) Becoming CEO at Qatalyst
(34:32) Working because you enjoy it
(37:42) George's father
(49:23) Shifting focus to tech
(54:53) Apple almost selling in 1996
(1:01:06) Pixar
(1:07:53) Negotiating Advice
(1:10:46) Figuring out when to sell
(1:17:43) Council to private companies now
(1:24:08) The institutionalization of private equity within technology
(1:38:03) How is the investment banking industry changing
(1:42:52) Balancing work and family
Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Produced: Rashad Assir
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
Music: Griff Lawson
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.
Executive Producer: Rashad Assir
Producer: Leah Clapper
Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky
Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA
🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1
Follow on Socials
📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow
📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow
🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow
About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member.
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