It’s always hard to hold onto those pesky entrepreneurs after you acquire their company – the best ones always get restless and bail. Feedburner cofounder and CEO Dick Costolo will be leaving Google within the week, we’ve confirmed.
Costolo and his team, based in Chicago, joined Google two years ago when Feedburner was acquired for $100 million. Like some other Feedburner employees he has moved on to other projects within Google. He currently reports to Neal Mohan, an exec in the Ads group, as the group product manager for social ads.
Costolo has no plans for his next job/startup. But something tells me that in a few months we’ll be hearing about his next venture. He turned $8 million in venture capital into a $100 million payday. More than a few venture capitalists will be taking him to lunch at their first opportunity.
Interesting side note: Costolo, who was a stand up comedian in a former life, is rumored to be the author of a Twitter account mocking a well known Silicon Valley angel investor, Chris Sacca. Zingers include “Headed to Africa for charity kite-surfing event. Kites made from t-shirts of child soldiers in Ivory Coast to draw attention to their plight” and “Going over my SXSW talk on “why I should have equity in your startup”. Getting inspired just proofreading it.” Sacca’s real Twitter account is here.
Interested to see what Costolo brings to the web next.
his legacy will be presiding over the slide of Feedburner from something that mostly worked to the malfunctioning stinking pile of garbage that we all know.
My understanding is that Google pulled Costolo off of Feedburner to work on other projects before the ink was even dry.
No idea why the service has been flaky as of late, but I’d be hardpressed to blame any of the Feedburner guys for it.
agree
This story implies Mr. Costolo was doing a good job, achieved some sort of success, and now flutters forth from Google like a fat pheasant to go roost someplace.
Um… Feedburner is awesome, and maybe he’s to thank, but gosh in my opinion they’ve had some problems lately.
Customer support has gone dark, eBay-style. Contact forms are dead, tech support links cycle back unto themselves, feedback/support email addresses get auto-responses, and no phone number can be found. Meanwhile, Feedburner’s migration to Google has been riddled with issues. Feedburner’s own customer support fora are flowing with glitches and frustrated customers.
Maybe Google expects more?
There’s no way Costolo could ever write the wit that is @fakesacca. This is nothing but groundless rumor and hearsay.
Take the money and run. Why work for a salary when you look for the next big score.
Hi sometimes I don’t get it. If you are the CEO and co-founder of one company but your company was funded by a VC, then someone bought your company for $100M (in Costolo’s case, Google), how many would you receive as CEO and co-founder who didn’t fund the company?
What’s your question?
I know it’s tough to use reasoning and comprehension, but swap the many for a much.
It depends entirely on the pre-money valuation of the company when they raised capital from the VC, how much equity the founder owned before that round, and the conversion rules for the investors.
Budi, even though VC funds your company, they do not own 100% of your company. As a founder, you do not give up 100% of your company. You give a certain percentage anywhere from 20% – 51% of your company to investors. That means you still own some percentage of your company.
Take for example, Facebook has $500 million in VC investment. Last I heard, Mark Z still own 29% of the company. So when the company is sold or goes IPO, the founders will receive compensation (monetary) or in stock based on their percentage, and their investors will receive compensation based on their percentage.
Good for him. I don’t think entrepreneurs should be sticking around at the acquirer. They usually get little say, and eventually leave anyways, whether it be after 6 months or 5+ years…
@fakesacca lives!
Robin/Mike. I’d love to see a TC article branding of small company after acquisition. Examples.
(1) Feedburner.com – take a visit now, it’s assimilated fully under the Google fold…it looks completely Google.
(2) Fickr.com – left in-tact…with small words at bottom of “a Yahoo! Company”.
What decisions go into such assimilation by acquiring company and brand? What’s better, complete assimilation or keep brand image of acquired company?
Been itching for insider scoop on that.
Good luck Dick, It will be exciting to see what the next adventure will be.
Looking forward to see what he creates next.
Aw, it is pretty expected by all parties to leave an acquirer after a year or two. The job is just a part of the compensation (for the sale) package and transition assurance.
The only real surprise is when an entrepreneur stays around past a couple of years.
The second exit of the year… Gonzalo Alonzo was the first!
What’s happend Google, what’s is the exit of the enterpreneurship?
i think … i buy… them i fly whitout you!
An interesting perspective would be that of a Google stock holder. Take Feedburner as one example. Has the money invested, the product relegated to cobweb status, and the original founders/talent jumping ship brought additional value to the company?
How does it look when all of the other acquisitions that went the way of the dodo bird are added in as well?
I’d say there is a strong argument that Google does not know how create additional value from acquisitions (other than adsense).
Good luck Dick! I am looking forward to seeing what embark on next.
Maybe Dick CostALot! Zing… hahahaha I crack myself up.
rss is dead!
heh.
Wondering were will he embark on next
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Gujarati is going to everywhere and settled to any country.