BRAVE COMMERCE | Episode Special Episode: Inside an Acquisition—The MikMak x SPINS Story + Lessons from BRAVE COMMERCE Leaders
In this special episode of BRAVE COMMERCE, hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter unpack M&A from the inside, drawing upon their experience navigating acquisitions firsthand.
Rachel announces MikMak’s acquisition by SPINS, sharing how it came together, why it was the right partner at the right moment, and her priorities for the first 90 – 180 days, from change management and customer communication to accelerating product innovation. She also reflects on the human side of the acquisition and what it means to support teams through uncertainty and transition.
They also share standout clips from the BRAVE COMMERCE community—featuring Stuart Heflin (Quest Nutrition), Dan O’Leary (Hostess), and Esi Seng (Tate’s Bake Shop)—highlighting what makes acquisitions successful from a brand operator’s perspective—protecting what works, honoring culture, and maintaining a challenger mindset during change.
Key Takeaways
- Why integration and change management, not the deal itself, define acquisition success
- How to evaluate the right partner for customers, employees, and investors
- What founders and leaders can do now if M&A is a long-term goal
- How to preserve culture and momentum while continuing to deliver for customers
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:03,290 –> 00:00:06,510
Speaker 1: I believe that in moments of great change, often you
2
00:00:06,550 –> 00:00:10,690
Speaker 1: can be stronger together than being an independent player. And
3
00:00:10,730 –> 00:00:13,550
Speaker 1: I think you’re seeing that across the ecosystem. I went
4
00:00:13,590 –> 00:00:15,210
Speaker 1: in there thinking that we were going to talk about
5
00:00:15,230 –> 00:00:18,270
Speaker 1: a data partnership. Very quickly, I realized, oh, this is
6
00:00:18,300 –> 00:00:20,140
Speaker 1: going to be a very different day than I thought
7
00:00:20,160 –> 00:00:20,739
Speaker 1: it was going to be.
8
00:00:20,860 –> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 2: Well, ultimately, you did end up with a partnership, right?
9
00:00:23,260 –> 00:00:25,860
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Just different than what I imagined it was
10
00:00:25,880 –> 00:00:26,360
Speaker 1: going to look like.
11
00:00:29,910 –> 00:00:33,810
Speaker 2: Welcome to today’s episode of Free of Commerce. I’m Sarah Hofstadter.
12
00:00:33,930 –> 00:00:36,610
Speaker 1: And I’m Rachel Tippegraff. And this is a show that
13
00:00:36,670 –> 00:00:39,949
Speaker 1: talks about what’s relevant in commerce for the world’s biggest brands.
14
00:00:47,970 –> 00:00:51,269
Speaker 2: And you know, normally we bring on brands and so
15
00:00:51,310 –> 00:00:53,910
Speaker 2: many of them have been through mergers and acquisitions and
16
00:00:53,930 –> 00:00:57,600
Speaker 2: divestitures and all that other stuff. But gosh, Charity begins
17
00:00:57,640 –> 00:01:02,770
Speaker 2: at home. And today we are really excited to unpack
18
00:01:03,010 –> 00:01:06,649
Speaker 2: what the M & A world looks like on our
19
00:01:06,830 –> 00:01:10,289
Speaker 2: side of the table. In fact, if you’ve been living
20
00:01:10,330 –> 00:01:15,520
Speaker 2: under a rock, Micmac has recently been acquired by Spence.
21
00:01:15,970 –> 00:01:18,880
Speaker 2: And so this represents a big day or big month
22
00:01:18,940 –> 00:01:22,380
Speaker 2: or whatever big year for my co-host sister from another
23
00:01:22,420 –> 00:01:26,780
Speaker 2: mess serve, Rachel Typograph. And today we’re going to unpack
24
00:01:26,819 –> 00:01:29,260
Speaker 2: a little bit about what goes into these kinds of things.
25
00:01:29,520 –> 00:01:32,440
Speaker 2: Many of you have been involved, maybe from the sidelines,
26
00:01:32,520 –> 00:01:34,780
Speaker 2: and many of you maybe have been involved very directly,
27
00:01:34,860 –> 00:01:40,330
Speaker 2: but selling a company, integrating, that stuff is complicated and
28
00:01:40,510 –> 00:01:43,030
Speaker 2: not usually part of your day-to-day job as a CEO.
29
00:01:43,170 –> 00:01:47,730
Speaker 2: So Rachel, why don’t we start, just take us through
30
00:01:48,110 –> 00:01:51,950
Speaker 2: the process. You built this company, you were employee number one,
31
00:01:52,640 –> 00:01:55,120
Speaker 2: at what point did you say, hmm, now is the
32
00:01:55,160 –> 00:01:58,260
Speaker 2: time for a liquidity event? And let me think about
33
00:01:58,780 –> 00:02:00,020
Speaker 2: where I would want that to happen.
34
00:02:00,380 –> 00:02:03,200
Speaker 1: First of all, thank you, Sarah. Just following your footsteps
35
00:02:03,840 –> 00:02:07,750
Speaker 1: in the journey of being acquired. Yeah, we’re super excited
36
00:02:07,780 –> 00:02:10,470
Speaker 1: to be a part of SPINS. I imagine many of
37
00:02:10,490 –> 00:02:13,190
Speaker 1: our listeners are aware of SPINS, but if you’re not,
38
00:02:13,669 –> 00:02:18,930
Speaker 1: they essentially have proprietary access to the majority of grocery
39
00:02:18,990 –> 00:02:22,329
Speaker 1: retail data in the US. And as a result, if
40
00:02:22,700 –> 00:02:26,300
Speaker 1: your brand and you’re listed in places like Whole Foods
41
00:02:26,380 –> 00:02:29,840
Speaker 1: or Sprouts or even big box like Walmart or Kroger,
42
00:02:30,220 –> 00:02:32,540
Speaker 1: you have to leverage their software and data for you
43
00:02:32,560 –> 00:02:36,550
Speaker 1: to understand your market share within those environments. So we’re
44
00:02:36,770 –> 00:02:39,410
Speaker 1: really excited to be a part of Spins. And the
45
00:02:39,450 –> 00:02:42,590
Speaker 1: really cool thing is that Micmac has been very focused
46
00:02:42,750 –> 00:02:45,810
Speaker 1: on the enterprise market, meaning we work with really big brands.
47
00:02:46,610 –> 00:02:50,020
Speaker 1: And Spins bread and butter is actually the opposite end
48
00:02:50,040 –> 00:02:53,340
Speaker 1: of the market, which is SMB and mid-market. And many
49
00:02:53,380 –> 00:02:56,960
Speaker 1: of those brands end up getting acquired by our customers.
50
00:02:57,060 –> 00:02:59,870
Speaker 1: So we now are in a position to see everything
51
00:02:59,880 –> 00:03:02,790
Speaker 1: that’s truly happening in the global consumer economy from big
52
00:03:02,810 –> 00:03:05,970
Speaker 1: to small. But to get to your question, Sarah, of
53
00:03:06,290 –> 00:03:10,150
Speaker 1: the journey, honestly, I’m still processing it. We closed on
54
00:03:10,190 –> 00:03:14,310
Speaker 1: January 5th of 2026. So really just three weeks ago
55
00:03:14,430 –> 00:03:17,369
Speaker 1: from when we’re recording this right now. And I’ve been
56
00:03:17,389 –> 00:03:20,060
Speaker 1: building Micmac for 11 and a half years of my life.
57
00:03:20,250 –> 00:03:23,730
Speaker 1: So in many ways, the majority of my adult career.
58
00:03:24,530 –> 00:03:29,010
Speaker 1: And it was a whirlwind. I met Jay Margulies, who’s
59
00:03:29,090 –> 00:03:35,110
Speaker 1: the CEO of Spins, for breakfast on October 6th. It’s
60
00:03:35,170 –> 00:03:39,850
Speaker 1: honestly been a whirlwind. And when you are a founder
61
00:03:39,880 –> 00:03:42,380
Speaker 1: or even an operator and you think about the next
62
00:03:42,400 –> 00:03:45,040
Speaker 1: stage of your company, you have to think about a
63
00:03:45,080 –> 00:03:48,160
Speaker 1: lot of things. You have to think about, one, how
64
00:03:48,200 –> 00:03:51,970
Speaker 1: long have investors been on your cap table? That’s one
65
00:03:51,990 –> 00:03:57,440
Speaker 1: thing to consider. The second is market dynamics. So whether
66
00:03:57,480 –> 00:04:01,080
Speaker 1: that’s what’s happening in the global economy, so the cost
67
00:04:01,120 –> 00:04:05,540
Speaker 1: of capital, what’s happening in technology, are there major shifts
68
00:04:05,590 –> 00:04:08,910
Speaker 1: happening that could cause you to rethink the strategy of
69
00:04:08,950 –> 00:04:12,870
Speaker 1: your business, what’s happening in your customer environment, and then
70
00:04:12,910 –> 00:04:17,130
Speaker 1: of course, what is important for your employees. And so
71
00:04:17,620 –> 00:04:20,570
Speaker 1: for me, 11 and a half years in, It still
72
00:04:20,620 –> 00:04:23,360
Speaker 1: feels like day zero. I think everyone who’s been following
73
00:04:23,400 –> 00:04:26,840
Speaker 1: Micmac is constantly reinventing itself to make sure that it’s
74
00:04:26,980 –> 00:04:29,460
Speaker 1: ahead of the market. And that’s not going to change
75
00:04:30,220 –> 00:04:32,640
Speaker 1: because we sit at the intersection of media and commerce
76
00:04:32,660 –> 00:04:35,849
Speaker 1: and you have to move at that speed. But I’ve
77
00:04:35,890 –> 00:04:38,770
Speaker 1: had investors who were with us for 11 and a
78
00:04:38,810 –> 00:04:43,330
Speaker 1: half years, and we are sitting at a major period
79
00:04:44,089 –> 00:04:48,260
Speaker 1: of consumer behavior and technology shift. And none of us
80
00:04:48,320 –> 00:04:51,589
Speaker 1: have a crystal ball I believe that in moments of
81
00:04:51,650 –> 00:04:56,330
Speaker 1: great change, often you can be stronger together than being
82
00:04:56,370 –> 00:04:58,890
Speaker 1: an independent player. And I think you’re seeing that across
83
00:04:58,930 –> 00:05:03,030
Speaker 1: the ecosystem. Obviously, Publicis acquired Profiterra a few years ago,
84
00:05:03,430 –> 00:05:05,849
Speaker 1: and that was at a moment of when commerce media
85
00:05:05,870 –> 00:05:10,310
Speaker 1: was changing. And so honestly, all the stars aligned when
86
00:05:10,350 –> 00:05:13,050
Speaker 1: I met Jay for breakfast. I went in there thinking
87
00:05:13,070 –> 00:05:14,910
Speaker 1: that we were going to talk about a data partnership.
88
00:05:15,850 –> 00:05:18,169
Speaker 1: And he looked me in the eyes during breakfast and
89
00:05:18,210 –> 00:05:20,670
Speaker 1: told me that he wanted to acquire Micmac. And very
90
00:05:20,710 –> 00:05:22,570
Speaker 1: quickly I realized, oh, this is going to be a
91
00:05:22,630 –> 00:05:24,690
Speaker 1: very different day than I thought it was going to be.
92
00:05:24,790 –> 00:05:27,090
Speaker 2: Well, ultimately you did end up with a partnership, right?
93
00:05:27,190 –> 00:05:29,810
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Just different than what I imagined it was
94
00:05:29,830 –> 00:05:30,330
Speaker 1: going to look like.
95
00:05:30,690 –> 00:05:33,909
Speaker 2: When he brought this concept to you, I mean, obviously
96
00:05:33,930 –> 00:05:36,390
Speaker 2: it wasn’t the first time you thought about what’s the
97
00:05:36,630 –> 00:05:41,280
Speaker 2: long-term goal for where Micmac would go. When you thought
98
00:05:41,320 –> 00:05:44,840
Speaker 2: about what would make for an ideal partnership, partner? What
99
00:05:44,880 –> 00:05:48,860
Speaker 2: were the qualities, hard, soft, that were really important to
100
00:05:48,920 –> 00:05:51,940
Speaker 2: you to make sure that Micmac would be able to
101
00:05:52,220 –> 00:05:55,480
Speaker 2: continue to serve the market and its employees? Yeah.
102
00:05:55,620 –> 00:05:58,580
Speaker 1: So our number one company value is to be brand obsessed.
103
00:05:58,720 –> 00:06:02,159
Speaker 1: So the first thing for me is, is the partnership
104
00:06:02,220 –> 00:06:06,400
Speaker 1: going to better our output in terms of product and
105
00:06:06,500 –> 00:06:09,690
Speaker 1: serve our customers? So really answering the question, is this
106
00:06:09,700 –> 00:06:13,100
Speaker 1: good for the customer? With Spins, it absolutely is because
107
00:06:13,560 –> 00:06:16,400
Speaker 1: one of the most valuable things that we do is
108
00:06:16,980 –> 00:06:20,840
Speaker 1: aggregate retail data and then obviously marry that to media data.
109
00:06:21,600 –> 00:06:24,920
Speaker 1: And Spins has a competitive moat around their retail data.
110
00:06:25,060 –> 00:06:28,000
Speaker 1: So that was clear as day that this was going
111
00:06:28,020 –> 00:06:30,359
Speaker 1: to be good for the customer. And then the second
112
00:06:30,500 –> 00:06:34,860
Speaker 1: is good for my investors. So I did raise money.
113
00:06:35,400 –> 00:06:37,680
Speaker 1: You have to think about what’s the financial outcome going
114
00:06:37,700 –> 00:06:40,220
Speaker 1: to be for your investors and And then the third
115
00:06:40,339 –> 00:06:42,820
Speaker 1: is my employees. Are they going to be able to
116
00:06:42,880 –> 00:06:46,310
Speaker 1: continue to grow their careers at Micmac or at a
117
00:06:46,350 –> 00:06:48,730
Speaker 1: greater company? Or does the parent company have a different
118
00:06:48,770 –> 00:06:51,010
Speaker 1: vision for what they want to do? And the beautiful
119
00:06:51,029 –> 00:06:54,670
Speaker 1: thing about Spins is that Spins business is currently concentrated
120
00:06:54,790 –> 00:06:58,250
Speaker 1: in the U.S. and very much on SMB and mid-market.
121
00:06:58,589 –> 00:07:02,870
Speaker 1: So Micmac is complementary and we’re global and Spins wants
122
00:07:02,910 –> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 1: that focus to maintain. And so… It really checked all
123
00:07:07,040 –> 00:07:09,820
Speaker 1: three boxes in terms of being good for the customers,
124
00:07:09,880 –> 00:07:11,780
Speaker 1: good for my investors and good for my employees.
125
00:07:12,670 –> 00:07:16,950
Speaker 2: So now that you’re on the acquired side, over the
126
00:07:16,990 –> 00:07:21,310
Speaker 2: past few years, you’ve made some acquisitions yourself. Yeah. Is
127
00:07:21,330 –> 00:07:24,450
Speaker 2: there anything you think you would have done differently with
128
00:07:24,490 –> 00:07:28,450
Speaker 2: your acquisitions? The process of it, not the actual acquisitions,
129
00:07:28,510 –> 00:07:30,600
Speaker 2: but like, what do you think you could have done
130
00:07:30,680 –> 00:07:34,340
Speaker 2: differently or better? What do you wish you knew then, you.
131
00:07:34,260 –> 00:07:37,190
Speaker 1: Know, now? It’s so funny, like M & A is
132
00:07:37,330 –> 00:07:40,370
Speaker 1: so freaking hard. You know, there’s so much glamour around it,
133
00:07:40,530 –> 00:07:41,730
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, I think it’s
134
00:07:41,790 –> 00:07:43,690
Speaker 1: one of the hardest things that you can do as
135
00:07:43,730 –> 00:07:47,980
Speaker 1: a business operator. And really creating the deal isn’t the
136
00:07:48,020 –> 00:07:52,460
Speaker 1: hard part. It’s the integration after. We learned a lot
137
00:07:52,520 –> 00:07:55,840
Speaker 1: with our first acquisition. So our first acquisition was Suaven,
138
00:07:55,880 –> 00:07:59,550
Speaker 1: a company that was headquartered in Paris. And we applied
139
00:07:59,580 –> 00:08:02,590
Speaker 1: those learnings to then our channel advisor acquisition, where again,
140
00:08:02,650 –> 00:08:06,520
Speaker 1: we learned a shit ton. And I’m really grateful for
141
00:08:06,560 –> 00:08:09,640
Speaker 1: those experiences because it’s now setting us up for, I think,
142
00:08:09,790 –> 00:08:13,570
Speaker 1: greater success going into spins. But the biggest, biggest part
143
00:08:13,690 –> 00:08:17,410
Speaker 1: that I think we fumbled at with the first acquisition,
144
00:08:17,430 –> 00:08:19,550
Speaker 1: because we honestly just didn’t know better, was the change
145
00:08:19,590 –> 00:08:23,630
Speaker 1: management aspect. Even though Suaven was a competitor of ours,
146
00:08:23,730 –> 00:08:28,670
Speaker 1: meaning our products were doing very similar things, culturally, our
147
00:08:28,690 –> 00:08:33,580
Speaker 1: businesses were actually very different. There’s the geographical element, for sure.
148
00:08:34,050 –> 00:08:35,929
Speaker 1: There was also the size of the company. Like when
149
00:08:35,950 –> 00:08:38,470
Speaker 1: we picked them up, there were 22 people. For anyone
150
00:08:38,510 –> 00:08:42,370
Speaker 1: who’s ever worked at a 22-person company, you’re a family then, right?
151
00:08:42,410 –> 00:08:45,809
Speaker 1: Like you really have that nature. And they were only
152
00:08:45,870 –> 00:08:48,950
Speaker 1: selling into the European market. And so bringing them into
153
00:08:48,970 –> 00:08:52,670
Speaker 1: a U.S. company that had a lot of process and rigor,
154
00:08:52,690 –> 00:08:56,410
Speaker 1: that was a huge adjustment for those employees. And I
155
00:08:56,630 –> 00:08:58,890
Speaker 1: don’t think in the early days we did a great
156
00:08:58,950 –> 00:09:02,780
Speaker 1: job of level setting for them what that experience initial
157
00:09:02,820 –> 00:09:05,470
Speaker 1: experience was going to be like at Micmac. We tried
158
00:09:05,490 –> 00:09:08,050
Speaker 1: to do a much better job of that as channel advisor.
159
00:09:08,490 –> 00:09:13,190
Speaker 1: Now that acquisition also had its own uniqueness. We did
160
00:09:13,250 –> 00:09:15,910
Speaker 1: a carve out. So we didn’t acquire the entire channel
161
00:09:15,929 –> 00:09:18,150
Speaker 1: advisor business. It was just a particular product line that
162
00:09:18,170 –> 00:09:22,530
Speaker 1: we competed on called shoppable media. And I think one
163
00:09:22,550 –> 00:09:25,210
Speaker 1: of the things that we didn’t realize in the diligence
164
00:09:25,270 –> 00:09:29,020
Speaker 1: period was that those employees, once again, it always comes
165
00:09:29,059 –> 00:09:31,700
Speaker 1: down to people. They had gone through a lot of change.
166
00:09:32,080 –> 00:09:35,540
Speaker 1: They had entered Channel Advisor through their own acquisitions. Channel
167
00:09:35,559 –> 00:09:37,939
Speaker 1: Advisor then went from a public to a private company.
168
00:09:38,200 –> 00:09:41,559
Speaker 1: Then they got acquired by essentially a venture-backed company, Micmac.
169
00:09:42,059 –> 00:09:46,940
Speaker 1: And so they were going through their own personal experiences of,
170
00:09:47,750 –> 00:09:49,110
Speaker 1: do I want to stay on this journey or not?
171
00:09:49,790 –> 00:09:52,870
Speaker 1: And so the biggest thing that is so hard to
172
00:09:52,910 –> 00:09:55,050
Speaker 1: do in M & A diligence, because a lot of
173
00:09:55,090 –> 00:09:58,050
Speaker 1: it is always a secret, is the people diligence part.
174
00:09:58,570 –> 00:09:58,910
Speaker 3: Yeah.
175
00:09:59,210 –> 00:10:01,839
Speaker 2: You’re talking about the people. I was thinking as you’re
176
00:10:01,880 –> 00:10:05,620
Speaker 2: talking about the next question, which for me turned out
177
00:10:05,640 –> 00:10:08,680
Speaker 2: about culture and culture is so much about people and
178
00:10:08,720 –> 00:10:12,320
Speaker 2: how people work with each other. And even if the
179
00:10:12,360 –> 00:10:15,920
Speaker 2: companies are serving a similar need and they are operating
180
00:10:15,960 –> 00:10:18,540
Speaker 2: with similar customers, even if they’re the same size, everybody’s
181
00:10:18,580 –> 00:10:24,070
Speaker 2: battle rhythm. is very different. And the Swaybin acquisition is interesting.
182
00:10:24,110 –> 00:10:27,100
Speaker 2: You look at the Swaybin acquisition, 22 people, family style,
183
00:10:27,140 –> 00:10:31,280
Speaker 2: if you will, and international roots, there’s always culture gaps
184
00:10:31,320 –> 00:10:33,800
Speaker 2: when it comes to that. It’s never about the language.
185
00:10:33,820 –> 00:10:35,800
Speaker 2: It’s always about the culture. People think it’s language and
186
00:10:35,820 –> 00:10:39,569
Speaker 2: it’s not, but there’s this emotional toll because it’s a
187
00:10:39,630 –> 00:10:42,949
Speaker 2: small company and it’s There are so many rituals that
188
00:10:43,010 –> 00:10:46,470
Speaker 2: exist within companies that you don’t even realize that they are.
189
00:10:46,610 –> 00:10:49,450
Speaker 2: It’s like when you walk into your parents’ house after
190
00:10:49,510 –> 00:10:51,750
Speaker 2: not being there for a long time and you smell,
191
00:10:52,250 –> 00:10:54,400
Speaker 2: you smell the house smell that nobody else knows.
192
00:10:54,820 –> 00:10:55,040
Speaker 3: Yeah.
193
00:10:55,220 –> 00:10:57,100
Speaker 2: Those are the kinds of things that, you know, those
194
00:10:57,120 –> 00:11:00,340
Speaker 2: would be intangibles in M & A. Yeah. That you
195
00:11:00,380 –> 00:11:02,400
Speaker 2: have to have a sensitivity to, like you have to
196
00:11:02,440 –> 00:11:05,450
Speaker 2: acknowledge it’s always going to be there. It’s always going
197
00:11:05,470 –> 00:11:08,030
Speaker 2: to be there. You know, I’ve been the acquired, I’ve
198
00:11:08,050 –> 00:11:12,569
Speaker 2: been an acquirer. My acquirer has been acquired. There’s a
199
00:11:12,570 –> 00:11:15,969
Speaker 2: whole bunch of, you know, nesting dolls and it brings
200
00:11:16,370 –> 00:11:20,189
Speaker 2: different personalities and it brings different emotion. I mean, I
201
00:11:20,230 –> 00:11:23,130
Speaker 2: know it’s very early days, you know, like you said,
202
00:11:23,150 –> 00:11:26,350
Speaker 2: it’s just a few weeks, but what are you thinking
203
00:11:26,429 –> 00:11:30,600
Speaker 2: about in terms of yourself? This was your baby and
204
00:11:31,410 –> 00:11:34,580
Speaker 2: now you have handed this baby for a check, but
205
00:11:34,620 –> 00:11:36,980
Speaker 2: you’ve handed this baby to somebody else. Like, how are
206
00:11:37,000 –> 00:11:38,240
Speaker 2: you emotionally feeling?
207
00:11:39,050 –> 00:11:41,850
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, what’s so unique is I’m still
208
00:11:41,910 –> 00:11:44,210
Speaker 1: the CEO of Micmac. I report into the CEO of
209
00:11:44,230 –> 00:11:47,730
Speaker 1: Spins and I’m now running a business unit within Spins.
210
00:11:48,130 –> 00:11:51,610
Speaker 1: So essentially Spins owned a competitive asset to us and
211
00:11:51,650 –> 00:11:54,510
Speaker 1: I’m now running both Micmac and this company that was
212
00:11:54,530 –> 00:11:58,420
Speaker 1: called Destiny, which will now be called Micmac. So it’s
213
00:11:58,440 –> 00:12:01,500
Speaker 1: almost like a babushka doll in the sense that Spins
214
00:12:01,520 –> 00:12:03,800
Speaker 1: is a big doll, then there’s Micmac, then there’s Destiny
215
00:12:03,820 –> 00:12:06,460
Speaker 1: and I’m controlling Micmac and Destiny. To be transparent, like
216
00:12:06,480 –> 00:12:09,630
Speaker 1: we’re going through that dance right now. What remains the
217
00:12:09,670 –> 00:12:13,410
Speaker 1: way of Micmac’s operating cadence and culture and what needs
218
00:12:13,450 –> 00:12:16,280
Speaker 1: to change to become a part of a larger parent company?
219
00:12:16,980 –> 00:12:21,260
Speaker 1: You know, I think the first 90 to 180 days
220
00:12:21,760 –> 00:12:25,460
Speaker 1: of an M & A integration is extremely telling. There’s
221
00:12:25,480 –> 00:12:29,270
Speaker 1: this infographic that some of you have probably seen, storming, forming, norming,
222
00:12:29,929 –> 00:12:32,410
Speaker 1: and you just kind of go through those motions and
223
00:12:32,429 –> 00:12:34,589
Speaker 1: there’s no way around it. And you’ll get to the
224
00:12:34,630 –> 00:12:38,810
Speaker 1: other side. You’ll come out stronger. The experience might be
225
00:12:39,130 –> 00:12:41,970
Speaker 1: what certain employees want and what others don’t. And, you know,
226
00:12:42,010 –> 00:12:45,250
Speaker 1: you work through all of that. The beautiful thing, and again,
227
00:12:45,290 –> 00:12:47,329
Speaker 1: this is why I’m grateful, is like we’ve done it
228
00:12:47,390 –> 00:12:50,510
Speaker 1: twice already at Micmac. So we know this is just
229
00:12:50,550 –> 00:12:54,230
Speaker 1: par for the course. It’s not fun, but it’s totally
230
00:12:54,270 –> 00:12:57,950
Speaker 1: worth it. And as long as you keep open communication
231
00:12:58,570 –> 00:13:01,720
Speaker 1: with the folks throughout the experience, that’s really all you
232
00:13:01,740 –> 00:13:02,240
Speaker 1: can ask for.
233
00:13:02,780 –> 00:13:05,920
Speaker 2: So heavy duty empathy, especially coming from having done it before,
234
00:13:06,000 –> 00:13:08,540
Speaker 2: which is just such a critical skill and one that
235
00:13:08,600 –> 00:13:09,920
Speaker 2: comes very naturally to you.
236
00:13:10,340 –> 00:13:13,040
Speaker 1: I try, but it’s an adjustment for all of us,
237
00:13:13,360 –> 00:13:16,340
Speaker 1: but it’s going to be worthwhile.
238
00:13:16,700 –> 00:13:19,780
Speaker 2: How are you? The communication to the clients probably also
239
00:13:19,800 –> 00:13:22,400
Speaker 2: is one of those things where I’m sure Spins is
240
00:13:22,420 –> 00:13:24,390
Speaker 2: super excited to tell their clients, you’re super excited to
241
00:13:24,429 –> 00:13:27,880
Speaker 2: tell your clients. there’s a lot that kind of goes
242
00:13:27,960 –> 00:13:30,880
Speaker 2: into that consideration side and it crystallizes a lot of things,
243
00:13:30,920 –> 00:13:32,100
Speaker 2: makes it really real, you know?
244
00:13:32,260 –> 00:13:37,449
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was really special. So we did press a
245
00:13:37,490 –> 00:13:39,970
Speaker 1: few days after we closed. It was whatever, we closed
246
00:13:39,990 –> 00:13:42,530
Speaker 1: it on Monday and it was seven business days later
247
00:13:42,570 –> 00:13:45,810
Speaker 1: that we did press. Right before, the two days before press,
248
00:13:46,590 –> 00:13:51,240
Speaker 1: I personally contacted our most strategic customers, as well as
249
00:13:52,140 –> 00:13:54,380
Speaker 1: some people that took big bets on Micmac in the
250
00:13:54,460 –> 00:13:57,800
Speaker 1: early days as customers, whether they remain customers or not,
251
00:13:58,240 –> 00:14:02,020
Speaker 1: to express my personal gratitude and appreciation for what they
252
00:14:02,040 –> 00:14:04,460
Speaker 1: did for us. And so that was really, really special
253
00:14:04,480 –> 00:14:06,660
Speaker 1: to be able to connect with customers on an individual
254
00:14:06,700 –> 00:14:11,240
Speaker 1: level like that. And then press hit and communication went
255
00:14:11,340 –> 00:14:14,640
Speaker 1: out to both all of Micmac and Spin’s customers and
256
00:14:15,320 –> 00:14:17,860
Speaker 1: the best thing is everyone sees this opportunity. It’s clear
257
00:14:17,880 –> 00:14:20,120
Speaker 1: as day. Like this is just good for the market.
258
00:14:20,600 –> 00:14:24,620
Speaker 1: And so it’s just been a really positive experience hearing
259
00:14:24,660 –> 00:14:26,160
Speaker 1: from all of the customers.
260
00:14:26,840 –> 00:14:30,540
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Good market opportunity. We’re all excited. So happy
261
00:14:30,600 –> 00:14:33,860
Speaker 2: for you. And as I said to Jay, he really
262
00:14:33,880 –> 00:14:37,160
Speaker 2: hit jackpot with you. What’s next for Micmac? I mean,
263
00:14:37,180 –> 00:14:39,790
Speaker 2: you gotta, you gotta do the integration, all that other stuff,
264
00:14:39,810 –> 00:14:42,250
Speaker 2: but like business gotta get done. You still gotta, you know,
265
00:14:42,330 –> 00:14:43,730
Speaker 2: customers still need to be served.
266
00:14:44,010 –> 00:14:44,150
Speaker 4: Yeah.
267
00:14:44,540 –> 00:14:47,600
Speaker 2: Product needs evolution, like all this other stuff, how do
268
00:14:47,620 –> 00:14:49,580
Speaker 2: you make sure it’s not noise, but what happens to Micmac?
269
00:14:49,600 –> 00:14:50,950
Speaker 2: What should people be looking for?
270
00:14:51,610 –> 00:14:56,350
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, I mean, there’s three big priorities. So first
271
00:14:56,610 –> 00:15:00,510
Speaker 1: is we want to get this proprietary spins data into
272
00:15:00,570 –> 00:15:04,210
Speaker 1: Micmac because it’s a fricking home run that is already
273
00:15:04,230 –> 00:15:08,720
Speaker 1: in the works. The second is we are now going
274
00:15:08,740 –> 00:15:12,860
Speaker 1: to be available to the SMB and mid-market. So, I mean, brands,
275
00:15:13,710 –> 00:15:16,290
Speaker 1: and 25 million revenue, brands that are doing 25 million
276
00:15:16,310 –> 00:15:18,730
Speaker 1: to 200. And then of course, we’ve always had our
277
00:15:18,770 –> 00:15:22,410
Speaker 1: enterprise segment. So that’s the destiny business that we’ve taken
278
00:15:22,490 –> 00:15:24,960
Speaker 1: over and bringing them over to Micmac and offering them
279
00:15:25,180 –> 00:15:27,400
Speaker 1: way more capabilities than they’ve ever had. And then the
280
00:15:27,460 –> 00:15:30,880
Speaker 1: third is what you were getting at Sarah, continued product innovation.
281
00:15:30,980 –> 00:15:36,260
Speaker 1: So we are about to announce our new platform, Micmac 4.0,
282
00:15:36,260 –> 00:15:39,010
Speaker 1: which is a big step forward because we’re obviously living
283
00:15:39,050 –> 00:15:41,110
Speaker 1: in a moment of change and we’re not all just
284
00:15:41,170 –> 00:15:44,310
Speaker 1: caring about the digital shelf or the social shelf or
285
00:15:44,330 –> 00:15:46,910
Speaker 1: the physical shelf, but obviously we now have the agentic shelf.
286
00:15:47,830 –> 00:15:51,880
Speaker 1: And being able to understand that end-to-end customer journey is
287
00:15:51,900 –> 00:15:56,540
Speaker 1: becoming more complicated than ever before with traditional forms of
288
00:15:56,600 –> 00:15:59,880
Speaker 1: investment like media mix modeling. And there’s nothing out in
289
00:15:59,940 –> 00:16:03,230
Speaker 1: market that can help you understand how to invest your
290
00:16:03,260 –> 00:16:06,930
Speaker 1: dollars across all of those channels in real time, married
291
00:16:06,970 –> 00:16:10,710
Speaker 1: to actual in-market execution. So that is our brand new product,
292
00:16:10,750 –> 00:16:13,930
Speaker 1: Micmac Aura. that we’ll be launching next month that I
293
00:16:13,970 –> 00:16:16,150
Speaker 1: think is going to really disrupt a new segment of
294
00:16:16,170 –> 00:16:19,540
Speaker 1: the space. So that’s what we’re focused on. And we’re
295
00:16:19,580 –> 00:16:21,600
Speaker 1: excited to just be able to now bring this to
296
00:16:21,640 –> 00:16:22,320
Speaker 1: more brands.
297
00:16:23,120 –> 00:16:26,400
Speaker 2: There are people that listen to us that are founders, leaders.
298
00:16:26,440 –> 00:16:29,320
Speaker 2: There are also people that are considering moving to smaller
299
00:16:29,360 –> 00:16:33,610
Speaker 2: companies from bigger companies. But for the founders and leaders
300
00:16:34,190 –> 00:16:37,850
Speaker 2: and people who own their own business, what advice would
301
00:16:39,120 –> 00:16:43,880
Speaker 2: do you have on what it takes to both being
302
00:16:43,920 –> 00:16:47,060
Speaker 2: independent and the process of selling the company?
303
00:16:47,700 –> 00:16:50,960
Speaker 1: Well, first, if you’re still in your building journey, someone
304
00:16:50,980 –> 00:16:52,740
Speaker 1: said this to me when I was just starting the company,
305
00:16:53,560 –> 00:16:54,960
Speaker 1: you got to want to do it for at least
306
00:16:54,960 –> 00:16:58,560
Speaker 1: 10 years. It took me 11 and a half. Most
307
00:16:58,600 –> 00:17:00,640
Speaker 1: of this journey takes a lot of blood, sweat, and
308
00:17:00,660 –> 00:17:03,380
Speaker 1: tears and time. The second is you really got to
309
00:17:03,400 –> 00:17:05,860
Speaker 1: believe in what you’re doing. You got to be obsessed
310
00:17:05,940 –> 00:17:09,270
Speaker 1: with winning and not the actual idea because markets are
311
00:17:09,290 –> 00:17:11,470
Speaker 1: gonna change and you gotta be able to reinvent yourself.
312
00:17:12,190 –> 00:17:16,659
Speaker 1: And the third is make sure you surround yourself with investors,
313
00:17:16,700 –> 00:17:20,920
Speaker 1: board members, teams, partners that really believe in what you’re doing.
314
00:17:21,280 –> 00:17:24,260
Speaker 1: There’s no room for dissenting voices when you’re trying to
315
00:17:24,320 –> 00:17:27,180
Speaker 1: create a market opportunity. And then from M & A,
316
00:17:27,200 –> 00:17:30,650
Speaker 1: I mean, Sarah, you probably have way more wisdom than me,
317
00:17:31,190 –> 00:17:34,070
Speaker 1: but I think when it comes to M & A,
318
00:17:34,790 –> 00:17:38,670
Speaker 1: There’s strategic M & A and there’s financial sponsor M & A.
319
00:17:38,690 –> 00:17:40,930
Speaker 1: So let’s just say private equity coming to buy you.
320
00:17:41,030 –> 00:17:44,219
Speaker 1: But if you’re focused on strategic, keep in mind that
321
00:17:44,260 –> 00:17:48,980
Speaker 1: your competitors could become your next great buyer. And so
322
00:17:49,060 –> 00:17:52,620
Speaker 1: it’s actually important to build human relationships with your competitors.
323
00:17:53,460 –> 00:17:57,750
Speaker 1: And the second is building really strong relationships with the
324
00:17:57,830 –> 00:18:01,409
Speaker 1: sister ecosystem, the strategic partner ecosystem that you might be
325
00:18:01,470 –> 00:18:05,070
Speaker 1: playing in, because those are also potential likely buyers. And
326
00:18:05,170 –> 00:18:07,370
Speaker 1: so at the end of the day, this is just
327
00:18:07,450 –> 00:18:09,949
Speaker 1: all about human to human relationships.
328
00:18:10,590 –> 00:18:16,260
Speaker 2: That’s extremely well said. The support given post-acquisition from so
329
00:18:16,300 –> 00:18:20,960
Speaker 2: many of our ecosystem partners actually really helps. It helped
330
00:18:20,980 –> 00:18:23,080
Speaker 2: in a way that I didn’t expect it to. I mean,
331
00:18:23,119 –> 00:18:25,540
Speaker 2: not that we had any issues, like Mark was pretty
332
00:18:25,640 –> 00:18:30,960
Speaker 2: positive about our acquisition, but the reaction from that ecosystem
333
00:18:30,980 –> 00:18:34,650
Speaker 2: that we’re so proud to be a part of, certainly
334
00:18:34,730 –> 00:18:38,890
Speaker 2: helped post-acquisition. And then just pre-acquisition just helps you understand.
335
00:18:38,970 –> 00:18:41,010
Speaker 2: I mean, you and I have had so many conversations
336
00:18:41,190 –> 00:18:43,680
Speaker 2: over the past six years that we’ve known each other
337
00:18:43,700 –> 00:18:47,460
Speaker 2: on market dynamics, on who’s selling to whom and why,
338
00:18:47,480 –> 00:18:53,159
Speaker 2: and our own little private, not recorded assessments, evaluations, and
339
00:18:53,200 –> 00:18:57,830
Speaker 2: things like that. So it’s helpful to hear the advice. Well, Rachel,
340
00:18:57,850 –> 00:19:01,460
Speaker 2: thanks so much for sharing some of your thoughts. On this, obviously,
341
00:19:01,480 –> 00:19:04,820
Speaker 2: we’re going to be watching a lot about MCMAC 4.0.
342
00:19:04,820 –> 00:19:08,070
Speaker 2: There seems to be a lot going on. Next episode
343
00:19:08,130 –> 00:19:10,850
Speaker 2: after this, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programs.
344
00:19:11,010 –> 00:19:13,830
Speaker 2: As a segue, we thought it would be a fun
345
00:19:14,330 –> 00:19:18,410
Speaker 2: little tip to give you some clips from prior episodes
346
00:19:18,470 –> 00:19:21,550
Speaker 2: of our clients who have been through acquisitions, which we
347
00:19:21,609 –> 00:19:22,429
Speaker 2: hope you’ll enjoy.
348
00:19:22,450 –> 00:19:27,990
Speaker 5: The main takeaway here is don’t get comfortable. And you
349
00:19:28,030 –> 00:19:31,189
Speaker 5: have to double down on the things that make you
350
00:19:31,210 –> 00:19:33,950
Speaker 5: who you were. And in this case, we really doubled
351
00:19:33,990 –> 00:19:36,290
Speaker 5: down on what made us Quest. And that can be
352
00:19:36,390 –> 00:19:39,150
Speaker 5: difficult to do because, you know, especially if you’re coming
353
00:19:39,190 –> 00:19:41,540
Speaker 5: from a world where the intent of the company is
354
00:19:41,560 –> 00:19:44,720
Speaker 5: to be acquired, you’re an acquisition target. You know, people
355
00:19:44,760 –> 00:19:46,860
Speaker 5: are trying to find an exit, maybe make a little
356
00:19:46,900 –> 00:19:51,320
Speaker 5: bit of money. The tendency becomes to sort of. slow down,
357
00:19:51,900 –> 00:19:55,419
Speaker 5: take a deep breath, relax. And we were lucky that
358
00:19:55,460 –> 00:19:57,399
Speaker 5: we kept a lot of the core folks, even to
359
00:19:57,440 –> 00:20:00,590
Speaker 5: this day, on the team at Quest. And we didn’t
360
00:20:00,609 –> 00:20:03,030
Speaker 5: do that at all. We doubled down. We doubled down
361
00:20:03,070 –> 00:20:06,169
Speaker 5: on everything that made Quest different. There’s a tendency to
362
00:20:06,190 –> 00:20:09,139
Speaker 5: want to go corporate. There’s a tendency to want to
363
00:20:09,640 –> 00:20:12,720
Speaker 5: sort of, as we like to say, be big company.
364
00:20:13,359 –> 00:20:15,760
Speaker 5: What we try to do is double down on being scrappy.
365
00:20:16,119 –> 00:20:20,090
Speaker 5: The mission stayed intact. We got more obsessive about our consumer.
366
00:20:20,109 –> 00:20:23,750
Speaker 5: And I think actually with Simply Good acquiring Quest, it
367
00:20:23,770 –> 00:20:26,810
Speaker 5: gave us access to more resources, more data, which actually
368
00:20:26,850 –> 00:20:31,129
Speaker 5: helped us drive the consumer harder. And to the credit
369
00:20:31,170 –> 00:20:33,930
Speaker 5: of Simply Good, when they acquired Quest, they didn’t try
370
00:20:33,950 –> 00:20:37,250
Speaker 5: to fix Quest completely. I mean, obviously, we had some
371
00:20:37,270 –> 00:20:39,030
Speaker 5: things we had to do, right? We had to integrate.
372
00:20:39,070 –> 00:20:41,669
Speaker 5: We had to take on new processes, new systems. But
373
00:20:41,690 –> 00:20:42,689
Speaker 5: they let us be Quest.
374
00:20:43,670 –> 00:20:45,670
Speaker 6: I am really proud of everything that we created at
375
00:20:45,730 –> 00:20:49,070
Speaker 6: Hostess Brands. If you think about the 10-year arc of Hostess,
376
00:20:49,130 –> 00:20:52,190
Speaker 6: of going from being liquidated, to your point, to selling
377
00:20:52,250 –> 00:20:54,770
Speaker 6: for a great price and a great multiple, it was
378
00:20:54,810 –> 00:20:58,310
Speaker 6: a huge ride. And when I think about everything that
379
00:20:58,330 –> 00:21:02,270
Speaker 6: we created at Hostess, we really built a strong innovation engine.
380
00:21:02,869 –> 00:21:07,600
Speaker 6: We had the ability to really redefine our go-to-market in
381
00:21:07,640 –> 00:21:11,770
Speaker 6: terms of our distribution model, our manufacturing capabilities. We built
382
00:21:12,030 –> 00:21:14,909
Speaker 6: sales and channels that a lot of companies weren’t focused on.
383
00:21:14,950 –> 00:21:17,750
Speaker 6: And so we accomplished a lot. When I think about
384
00:21:17,770 –> 00:21:20,110
Speaker 6: kind of pivoting to Smucker, the thing that’s great about
385
00:21:20,170 –> 00:21:23,010
Speaker 6: Smucker is now we’re basically taking this engine that was
386
00:21:23,050 –> 00:21:25,600
Speaker 6: built at Hostess and then applying a lot of the
387
00:21:25,720 –> 00:21:29,040
Speaker 6: skills and the scale of a larger organization to take
388
00:21:29,100 –> 00:21:31,159
Speaker 6: everything we did and really just turbocharge it.
389
00:21:32,290 –> 00:21:36,050
Speaker 4: That founder connection is amazing because I’ll tell you, I
390
00:21:36,150 –> 00:21:39,180
Speaker 4: actually spent a couple of days ago talking to Kathleen
391
00:21:39,780 –> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 4: and be in understanding that DNA is absolutely critical. So
392
00:21:43,280 –> 00:21:46,649
Speaker 4: leading that acquisition brand takes a different muscle altogether. If
393
00:21:46,690 –> 00:21:48,740
Speaker 4: you think about it, the very reason that a Colgate
394
00:21:48,780 –> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 4: acquires a Tom’s of Maine or a Mondelez acquires a
395
00:21:51,780 –> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 4: Tate’s is because these brands bring an incremental value to
396
00:21:55,359 –> 00:21:58,129
Speaker 4: the parent company. That parent company can’t make a Tom’s
397
00:21:58,170 –> 00:22:00,590
Speaker 4: of Maine. They can’t make a Tate’s because that’s not
398
00:22:00,630 –> 00:22:04,310
Speaker 4: in their DNA. So sure, there is this product portfolio
399
00:22:04,350 –> 00:22:06,930
Speaker 4: that hopefully is in the wheelhouse of the parent company,
400
00:22:07,470 –> 00:22:10,310
Speaker 4: but it’s also distinct enough to be incremental. And when
401
00:22:10,350 –> 00:22:13,800
Speaker 4: we think about an acquisition, we often think about that
402
00:22:13,900 –> 00:22:19,350
Speaker 4: product portfolio. But culture is where the true incrementality of
403
00:22:19,369 –> 00:22:24,290
Speaker 4: the value lies. So successfully leading an acquisition brand requires
404
00:22:24,390 –> 00:22:30,210
Speaker 4: that dogmatic focus on culture, on preservation, on rebuilding, if
405
00:22:30,250 –> 00:22:33,250
Speaker 4: you will, that culture into newcomers. The question that I
406
00:22:33,470 –> 00:22:37,109
Speaker 4: often ask myself, whether at Tom’s or at Tate’s, is
407
00:22:37,250 –> 00:22:40,910
Speaker 4: how do I continue to keep that DNA, that challenger
408
00:22:40,930 –> 00:22:45,840
Speaker 4: brand mentality to innovate, to experiment, to be obsessive about
409
00:22:45,880 –> 00:22:49,180
Speaker 4: the quality, to continue to deliver that super hyper growth, right?
410
00:22:49,810 –> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 3: Thank you. Hi, I’m Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer
411
00:23:20,320 –> 00:23:22,940
Speaker 3: at Edelman and the host of Touch of Truth, a
412
00:23:22,980 –> 00:23:26,900
Speaker 3: new podcast launching on the Adweek Podcast Network. My dad
413
00:23:26,980 –> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 3: gave me this incredibly smart piece of advice. Meet everyone once.
414
00:23:30,859 –> 00:23:33,200
Speaker 3: As a result, I’ve met some of the most fascinating
415
00:23:33,240 –> 00:23:36,510
Speaker 3: and inspiring people on the planet. Now on Touch of Truth,
416
00:23:36,730 –> 00:23:39,990
Speaker 3: we’re coming centre stage and sharing the mic to experience
417
00:23:40,030 –> 00:23:42,899
Speaker 3: stories of truth, insights and visions for the future that
418
00:23:42,920 –> 00:23:45,379
Speaker 3: will challenge your way of thinking. Touch of Truth is
419
00:23:45,440 –> 00:23:48,969
Speaker 3: available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out
420
00:23:49,170 –> 00:23:51,230
Speaker 3: every Tuesday. I do hope to see you there.