Greg is CEO, Acast; Matt is CEO, Backyard Ventures — this interview has been lightly edited for style and readability
Sam Sethi: Greg, why did you go and buy Backyard Ventures?
Greg Glenday: If it’s one word, it would be synergy. If it’s two words, it would be synergy and culture. You know, a funny story. And I know you had recommended to me Thomas Reedman’s book, Thank You for Being Late. I think our story starts with Matt and I both being an hour early for a meeting in January. We were supposed to meet with a bunch of advisors and lawyers. And literally it was a 9am meeting. And both Matt and I went to the coffee shop downstairs at 8am. And we had an accidental get to know you before the meeting. And all he talked about were the people, the culture, you know, what it’s like to work there, what it’s like to work in our industry, the reputation they have. And that’s the same thing we were trying to do on a different scale, you know, coming from Sweden and Europe into the US versus coming from Austin and heading east. So we hit it off as people and human beings first. And then with business strategy and culture, it felt like this would easily be one plus one equals three. All the stuff they were focused on, I think if we looked in the mirror, we could get better at. And all the stuff they were thinking about building for the future, we had been building for a few years. So we sort of like, man, he could really accelerate our hypothesis here together. Matt, we’ve never talked about it, but that’s how I felt. Yeah.
Matt Cisneros: I absolutely agree. Through this whole process, it was not wanting to exit something as much as it was to continue to build. And what Acast had in place was just so fitting for what we were trying to do. And so, as Greg said, this was not just a, okay, we now have an inventory and move on. There’s culture, there’s people, there’s just complementary skill sets on both sides that are going to allow us to really build faster.
SS: So let’s take a step back. What is Backyard Ventures?
MC: I would say the same way that Zappo says they are not a place to buy shoes, they are a customer service destination - that is what we are for our clients. So creators first, it is always thinking about what is best for them and ultimately revenue will follow. And so that started with just podcasts: two podcasts in 2019 with the goal of just doing that as well as I could with a background in media sales. And so as that progressed, we got into other avenues. YouTube, newsletter, social media. Some of that was within my background and skill set, and some of it was dependent upon demand. And when that demand came, once again, it’s creator first. And so we did not want them to go elsewhere. We wanted to have the solution for them. Fast forward to today, fully operating business that now fits into ACAST with the model of creator first service relationship management and ensuring that we’re doing what’s best for our clients.
SS: Would you define yourself then as a creator portal? Would you prior to the acquisition by Acast has considered your competitors to be Substack, Supercast? Who was your competitor in the main?
MC: So I think you can look at it a couple ways. Anybody who’s selling media, I guess, is technically a competitor. Anybody in the podcast space that’s looking for advertising dollars or partnerships, that’s competition. But I truly didn’t see it that way. I thought there’s plenty to go around, and if we do it really well, I think we gravitate toward success and others will see that. And so as Greg mentioned earlier, the culture and the people and just generally the direction that we were going, I never looked up and said, what are other people doing as much as I said, how do we continue to scale in the manner that we see fit? And ultimately all the chips fell correctly and it worked out. So could have failed, no doubt. But I think just having the vision of success as to what we saw was advantageous for the industry and our clients is what ultimately made us win.
SS: I’m gonna ask an entrepreneur’s question of you now. You were doing 16 million in revenue and you were acquired for 20 million. Normally it’s 5x, 6x acquisition numbers of your revenue. So how come? How come 20 million only?
MC: I’d say that a couple things. One, without tech, you’re not necessarily getting the multiples that you mentioned. And second to that, I’m sure you’ve read most of the articles, there’s a good stock component with that number, right? And so I truly believe in this stock and our ability to continue to grow there. And so, you know, I’m not departing after this interview and never in this industry again. I’m in this to build and continue to grow. And that’s just in an expedited fashion now. So money is great and all, but I’m 41 years old and I’m not complacent, right? I want to continue to grow. And so more is gonna come, right? If we continue to do the plan that we have in place, with success, money comes.
GG: Can I add to that? I think, first of all, for any of my investors listening, I hope you listen to Sam’s questions. We got a great deal. So we believe that. But also, in fair, Matt really did the calculus for Matt, and this was really important to me. He wasn’t doing the math on what’s the biggest outcome in summer of 2026. He was doing that plus what’s the brightest future for Matt and his team and the people. And again, I think he has zero turnover since founding the company. Like people start there and stay. So Matt’s looking for what’s next and how do we do this together? And I think taking four or five years to build a company and sign 200 shows, that was a lot of work. So, you know, we’re kind of like mocking arms and moving forward together in this. And we’re not having Matt set sail after the transition. It’s really important that he and his team stick around.
MC: There’s 18 of us divided up across sales, ops, finance accounting. So it’s not a huge team. As Greg and the Acast team have told me, they’re like, man, you guys do so many jobs. But that’s kind of the only way we know how to function, right? Whether anybody wants to say they’re an expert in this industry or not, it is still new. There’s nothing that is just defined in stone from 50 years ago. And so as we were grinding along and seeing everything ahead of us, it was do we have to hire 20 more people to get to double, triple the revenue, or can we integrate? And so that’s where the integration came.
You can watch the full interview on YouTube.