From University Project to Billion-Dollar Exit: SIGNAVIO - Together As One – with Signavio Co-Founder & CEO Gero Decker

Unicorn Bakery - Der Startup Podcast für Gründer und Operator

On March 5th, 2021, SAP acquired Signavio for a billion dollars – this marks one of the largest Tech Exits in the German market to date.

How does a university side project become a billion-dollar acquisition?

In this episode, Gero Decker, co-founder of Signavio, shares the incredible journey of building the company – from its roots as an open-source project to bootstrapping, scaling, and eventually being acquired by SAP for over a billion dollars.

Learn about the pivotal moments, the role of timing, and how a strong team culture propelled Signavio to success, even when the odds were against them.

What you’ll learn:

• How a university project turned into a profitable company
• Why customer feedback and bootstrapping were critical in the early days
• How creative lead generation methods (like the "Hare Krishna Method") made a difference
• Why team culture and timing played a vital role in success
• How the billion-dollar SAP acquisition unfolded and the dynamics of negotiation

MORE UNICORN BAKERY:

https://zez.am/unicornbakery

More about Gero Decker:

LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/gerodecker

Website: https://www.signavio.com/de/

Where to get the Book:

Amazon: https://links.unicornbakery.de/signavio

Spotify Audio Book: https://links.unicornbakery.de/signavio-audio-book

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Marker:

(00:00:00) Why were so many coincidences necessary for Signavio to even be founded?

(00:05:00) How did the Signavio story unfold?

(00:12:10) From open source to profitable company: The milestones

(00:21:22) Equity & founding team: The starting point for Signavio

(00:27:54) Prioritization & team spirit in a small team

(00:31:11) Product & growth in 2010

(00:34:46) Lead generation & the failure of conversion

(00:42:02) First Go-to-market motion at Signavio

(00:46:52) First customers: The challenges with Customer Success

(00:52:42) From bootstrapped to VC case – why now & what changed?

(00:59:13) Fast-growing company: How do you maintain focus?

(01:07:54) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Signavio

(01:13:04) The Path & Negotiation to the SAP Acquisition

(01:17:14) The Future of SAP Signavio

(01:21:37) The Lesson: Lifting Up Each Other

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