1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development at Chegg Inc. (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: In smaller acquisitions, what role does valuation play?

Seong Kim: It really depends on why you’re acquiring the business and what you’re ascribing the value of the business to. The role of valuation is always prevalent and important. The needle gets moved by the conviction that an acquirer is able to build around what it’s acquiring and the future state of that team as well. When you’re talking about smaller check sizes, the acquirer tends to focus on the simplest forms of consideration. It can be just cash along with some equity incentive.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development at Chegg Inc. (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What have you disclosed on the valuation on this most recent acquisition? In general, how do you think about valuation? How does valuation play into your acquisition decision?

Seong Kim: The valuation of this deal was approximately $436 million. This is based in London and Madrid. It’s definitely a key factor that impacts whether or not a deal is done, but it shouldn’t be the most important. Valuation is a dependent variable that is influenced by a multitude of factors, some of which, founders can influence and others, they can’t.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seksom Suriyapa, Partner at Upfront Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I’m going to double-click down on your second category. You have product-market fit. The options are, do we sell the company now or do we go for another round of funding. If we choose to go for another round of funding, we will get funded because we have product-market fit. In that scenario, how does valuation compare in an exit versus a funding valuation?

Seksom Suriyapa: This is where things get tricky. Because of the way the venture market is today, which is frothier than where an acquirer is willing to pay, the sticker price on getting venture money will look very attractive from a valuation point of view. The tension is two-fold. One is when you raise money at a relatively high valuation because that’s where the venture is pricing you, you’re also building an execution that could potentially be heroic. You have to grow into these valuations through executions.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Seong Kim, Corporate Strategy & Development at Chegg Inc. (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Is the driver in that acquisition strategy upselling from your current user base and giving them more products to get into?

Seong Kim: Yes, it serves the two purposes that I alluded to before. It expands the suite of products and services and support we can offer to our existing base. It also extends our addressable market and audience. You look at the other three-quarters or so of language learners out there in the world that engage with this platform or other platform, they are looking at learning for work.

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