oday's story is not a pure-play ETA story because our guest didn't buy his business.

Nick Keegan founded his software business, based on an idea he was enamored with.

Unfortunately the business limped along for years, barely surviving.

Eventually they pivoted the business model, which helped a lot. But it still wasn't going to yield very interesting growth.

It was an acquisition after that business model pivot that was the real inflection point.

It had taken Mail Metrics 7 years to crack one million euros in annual revenue.

It took them just 5 more to crack 200 million euros in revenue, largely thanks to acquisitions that kept increasing in size.

So, while acquisition didn't get Nick into his business, as it does for most of my guests, it did transform Mail Metrics into what it is today — an aggressive acquirer with a line of sight to a billion euros per year.

Please enjoy this fascinating ride with Nick Keegan, founder of Mail Metrics.