There’s plenty of news out about the deal (see here, here, and here) but I wanted to pile on with a quick shout-out to the Nearlyweds! team on their acquisition of Chicago-based OneWed. The company has been executing like crazy on their core business since we first invested a year ago, striking deals with some of the best names in the wedding invitation business and constantly iterating to deliver the best wedding website platform on the web. Every Founders Co-op company runs lean, but Nearlyweds! accomplishes more with less than almost anyone else in the portfolio.
The OneWed deal is a perfect example of GFA* at work. John Scrofano (Nearlyweds! CEO) was already running flat out on his core business and had lined up a great series of partner and distribution deals heading into winter – the peak season for wedding planning. But when he heard a rumor that a big venture-backed wedding site was in play he found another gear, flying out to Chicago to dig in on diligence, warming up investors for a fast-track raise, and bringing his team and board along with well-crafted arguments and supporting analysis on the deal.
In less than a month, the OneWed deal went from wild-hare idea to fully diligenced, funded strategic acquisition. And this was not a sweetheart deal – competitors were bidding up to the last few days of the process – and the Nearlyweds! team only won the day because they brought their best game – financially, technically, and personally – to the field every day.
I was already excited about Nearlyweds! as an enabling platform for the future of social wedding planning and celebration. With the addition of the OneWed team and capabilities they took an already-great business and supercharged it for profitable growth. Kudos to Nearlyweds! and a warm welcome to family for the OneWed team.
*GFA = Get F**king Aggressive