Startup exits are the most sought after events in Silicon Valley, but very few people get to experience them. On the Startup Exits Podcast we chat with founders that started, ran and sold a tech company to learn about how it all went down. This podcast is hosted by Andrew Vasylyk and produced by StartupSoft – visit www.startupsoft.com for more info and other great content.
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episode 5: Tim Gill, founder of Quark: $500 million founder exit
Tim Gill founded Quark in 1981, which built the world's most popular enterprise publishing software and held 90% of the market share at its peak. After selling all his shares in Quark for $500 million in 2000, Tim became one of the wealthiest 400 people in America and the single largest individual donor to the LGBT rights movement in US history.
On this episode of the Startup Exits Podcast, we chat with Tim about:
• Early days of word processors.
• Cost of shipping updates in the 80s & 90s.
• Bringing in an external CEO.
• Founders leaving the company.
• How Tim negotiated to be bought out for $500 million.
• Startups in the 80s vs now.
• How to spend capital and control burn rate.
• Current state of home automation.
• Future of smart homes.
Tim now runs Josh.ai, a voice-controlled home automation startup. He’s also the founder of the Gill Foundation, a philanthropic organization supporting the LGBT community in the US.
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