Podcasts Technology Acquired Episode 27: SpecialA Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz

Episode 27: SpecialA Conversation with Microsoft's Head of Strategic Investments Brian Schultz

Published: Dec. 16, 2016, 2:56 p.m.

Topics covered include:\xa0

  • Brian\u2019s history working across \u201cboth sides of the aisle\u201d as both a startup founder and corporate development leader at a big company, how perspective from each informs the other, and the importance of learning \u201ccustomer empathy\u201d\xa0
  • How Microsoft approaches M&A from an organizational perspective, and the importance of fit with the company\u2019s product roadmap\xa0
  • How Brian approaches strategic investments at Microsoft, and the evolution over time of the Microsoft (and large technology companies as a whole) perspective on investing in other companies
  • Balancing the tension between partnering and investing, and what criteria Brian thinks about when evaluating companies\xa0
  • Microsoft\u2019s investment in Facebook in 2007 (at a then-crazy-seeming $15B valuation), and more recently Foursquare, \xa0Mesosphere, \xa0CloudFlare and others
  • The current state of the tech M&A landscape, and the emergence of private equity as tech company acquirers\xa0
  • Potentially changing corporate and foreign tax structures and how they impact acquirers\u2019 thinking around deals (or not!)\xa0
  • How Microsoft tracks and evaluates success of acquisitions over time, and lessons learned from successes and failures\xa0
  • The increasing number of operating companies (technology and otherwise) looking to invest in startups, and how that landscape has evolved over time\xa0

Sponsors:
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta


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Followups:\xa0

\xa0 Hot Takes:\xa0

\xa0 The Carve Out:\xa0