
The email I received from Google in 2007 when they wanted to buy Zlio   - cypriend
http://www.berrebi.org/2012/11/07/the-email-i-received-from-google-in-2007-when-they-wanted-to-buy-zlio/
======
nugget
Some of these comments confuse me. What do you expect an m&a email to read
like? Having been through a bunch of acquisitions, that email is par for the
course, especially for a (presumably) smaller acquisition. You have an
internal product sponsor who asks for basic financial info, asks for a price,
has clearly laid out next steps and the process, and wants to start
immediately. All positive for a first step. Some of the best corp dev guys I
know have the worst grammar and email manners and to focus on that as a
weakness is ridiculous...as long as they can approve a wire transfer, who
cares? Some people are Youtube and have Eric layering sweet sugary syrup on
their Pancakes whilst they discuss the beautiful synergies of a monster deal,
but most of the time, the startup CEO is hustling it across the finish line.

------
citizens
> "For the little story, Zlio, became blacklisted/sandboxed by Google 6 months
> after…. It killed the company…"

This is only speculation, but it looks like zlio.com was sandboxed/blacklisted
because of rampant spamming. 4 out of the top 5 referring domains are porn
sites (about 150k links).

Source: [http://ahrefs.com/site-
explorer/refdomains/subdomains/zlio.c...](http://ahrefs.com/site-
explorer/refdomains/subdomains/zlio.com)

~~~
allbombs
took a quick look, aren't those backlinks to subdomains? No idea what the
product/service does but it appears subdomains are the main spam links, not
the root.. So perhaps they were duped by spammers creating subdomains

~~~
robryan
It is a create your own store product. People would have simply been making a
store and then using software to spam their links everywhere. I think sub
domains are usually treated as separate domains though?

~~~
Evbn
They are separate for user generated subdomains.
[http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-
subdom...](http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-
vs-subfolders-microsites)

It is possible that on that fateful day, Google noticed zlio is user generated
sub domains, and lost power.

~~~
allbombs
technically you could still suffer from that.

subdomains are treated as separate domains, right

If all the subdomains had links back to zilo (say the header or footer), it
starts to look like a huge link farm, or a bunch of satellite sites. It's
actually pretty dangerous. But disavow is here, right? hah

------
mvkel
What an awful email. Reads like a lazy VC associate trying to do as little
work as possible to pass along metrics to higher ups.

~~~
jrockway
It's amazing how even when buying a company, people can't be bothered to use
proper capitalization or even spell out the word "please". Wow.

I must have slept through the English class where they told me this was OK.

~~~
imglorp
I think it's a power thing because they're manoeuvring for negotiation.

Translation: "I can't be bothered to spell because you're teensy and I have
another $1B to spend today on companies 100x bigger than yours. Make with the
paperwork chop chop."

Then, confirmation: "Give me your mobile so I can call you any time I feel
like to make you jump, because you're the bitch now."

~~~
jrockway
Yeah. My reply to that message would have been "I only give my mobile phone
number to friends. Please use my office line between the hours of 9 AM and 5
PM EST."

But honestly, a lot of people seem to like doing business deals while walking
around with their cell phones, so perhaps this is not actually a power play.

------
trevelyan
They wanted financials and a valuation range? And then deep communications
about technical challenges and workarounds? Reminds me that one of the nice
things about owning a company is you can tell people to go away.

------
woodchuck64
Social eCommerce Site Zlio Joins the Deadpool:
[http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/social-ecommerce-site-
zlio-...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/19/social-ecommerce-site-zlio-joins-
the-deadpool/)

~~~
robryan
This is why I wouldn't touch SEO as a consultant. They ended up getting sued,
despite little chance probably they could fix their issues without massive
internal changes to the service. I guess the SEO company overpromised.

~~~
Evbn
Referencement appears to be a black-hat-SEO French company:
<http://m.pinterest.com/visual3d/referencement-seo-smo/>

I didn't realize, France has UK-style libel laws, where complaining about
getting ripped off is punishable?

------
dsymonds
Why is it now trendy to publish private mail like this? Is there really that
much public benefit to be had?

~~~
Evbn
For a washed up has-been startup founder looking for catharsis or another 15
minutes of fame? Sure.

~~~
jdg
Clearly you don't know Jeremie.

His best work has yet to be done.

~~~
atomical
I'm not sure if you're trolling but this, comically, adds nothing.

------
damian2000
Looks like they also got banned from selling on Amazon too...
<http://techcrunch.com/2007/05/21/zlio-banned-from-amazon/>

------
satp
I always used to wonder about the contents of the first mail when an
acquisition offer is made. Sad if all read like this! I hope not.

------
OldSchool
Of course I don't know what the terms were, but if you're in a position to
decide to take on (more?) VC or sell to Google I'm inclined to say going with
the latter is the better choice.

If you're a great visionary you'll have another chance not too far down the
road to show the world again. If your good fortune hitched a ride with lady
luck to some extent, then shamelessly cashing out your personal bubble is also
a smart thing to do.

~~~
ryanglasgow
Did you read the article? Google took longer than 30 days to close the deal,
and their term sheet with Mangrove was about to expire.

He had no choice but to accept the VC funding.

~~~
OldSchool
Sure, I read this: "After waiting for it 30 days, we decided to accept the
Mangrove investment proposal." That sounds like a choice was made.

My main point is for those going forward: unless the equity you stand to
convert into your own personal wealth is insignificant to you, an exit can't
really stop your career for long but it also just might be the only chance you
get.

Maybe the Google deal wasn't a sure thing but whether or not they could pay
was not a question.

~~~
jfoster
If Google wanted them enough they could still purchase after the additional
VC. They'd just need to pay more.

------
exolxe
I love Jeremie's life principle which got him through the Google
sandboxing/blackballing and company failure after passing on the acquisition:

“Everything that happens in your life is for your own good”, “Every challenge
makes you stronger”... "All he said was, don’t worry, good things will happen
after this tough experience"

\--<http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ilan-abehassera>

