Today, I am happy to announce that we have agreed to sell Wize.com to
Nextag.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/
I can't say enough about how excited we are to join Jeff Katz, Scott Simmons, Claire Hough, Craig Stern and then entire Nextag Team.. As many of you know Nextag has been a leader in online shopping for many years and we are energized to join forces into a new future vision for Nextag..
It seemed like only yesterday, Rajesh Chandran (my co-founder) and I met in a starbucks across the street from Nextag.. Looking back on this time, it's truly amazing how much I've learned over the last 4 years...particularly about myself. Life is so short. I feel that the true currency is the insight you create by challenging yourself both personally and professionally. It would not be possible without the relationships you build with people along that journey of understanding.. I have met so many amazing people along the way that have helped Wize.com move towards it's dream of becoming the "Consumer Reports of the Future and for that I am eternally blessed.
So a few thank you's:
I am blessed to have partnered with Rajesh, who has continued to be the engine behind Wize. I am so proud of the team we have assembled to do something that has never been done before on the Web. Michael Shilman, Jay Raman, Joe Foo, Lucas Wiman, Wayne Wight, Ethan Smith, Himanshu Shah are resilient and talented and most importantly winners..
I want to thank our advisors Yaniv Bensadon, Keith Rabois, Chris Michel, Rob Goldman, Kevin Lattery, Ramano Rao and Peter Zandan for all the time they have spent on Wize and also want to thank them honoring me with their friendships.
I want to also thank Jeff Glueck for joining as our board member and providing a lot of value to us in the short amount of time we worked with him.
I also wanted to thank Ezra Roizen of Ackrell Capital who represented Wize in the transaction.. Ezra has been a true partner and friend to Wize and myself through this entire M&A process.
We at Wize are also extremely grateful to Raj Kapoor and the entire family at the Mayfield Fund. Raj and Mayfield's enduring support for Wize and me will never be forgotten and certainly speaks volumes of their reputation as being a real entrepreneurs venture firm..
I wanted to also thank Al Dobron from Providence Equity who connected me with Nextag in the first place.. Al is a great friend and we hope to be able to return the favor by building some great value with Nextag.
There are many, many others that have meant a lot to Wize that I haven't had time to thank....Particularly, I wanted to share a deep thank you to all of you that I have spent time with in my personal life that I have met over the last 4 years(you know who you are).. Whether it was surfing, talking about technology and business or just spending time talking about how the mind works and the meaning of life, it has meant the world to me and I thank you for our time together before and for the future..
All the Best,
Tom
President of Wize.com
Nextag Inc
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/
I can't say enough about how excited we are to join Jeff Katz, Scott Simmons, Claire Hough, Craig Stern and then entire Nextag Team.. As many of you know Nextag has been a leader in online shopping for many years and we are energized to join forces into a new future vision for Nextag..
It seemed like only yesterday, Rajesh Chandran (my co-founder) and I met in a starbucks across the street from Nextag.. Looking back on this time, it's truly amazing how much I've learned over the last 4 years...particularly about myself. Life is so short. I feel that the true currency is the insight you create by challenging yourself both personally and professionally. It would not be possible without the relationships you build with people along that journey of understanding.. I have met so many amazing people along the way that have helped Wize.com move towards it's dream of becoming the "Consumer Reports of the Future and for that I am eternally blessed.
So a few thank you's:
I am blessed to have partnered with Rajesh, who has continued to be the engine behind Wize. I am so proud of the team we have assembled to do something that has never been done before on the Web. Michael Shilman, Jay Raman, Joe Foo, Lucas Wiman, Wayne Wight, Ethan Smith, Himanshu Shah are resilient and talented and most importantly winners..
I want to thank our advisors Yaniv Bensadon, Keith Rabois, Chris Michel, Rob Goldman, Kevin Lattery, Ramano Rao and Peter Zandan for all the time they have spent on Wize and also want to thank them honoring me with their friendships.
I want to also thank Jeff Glueck for joining as our board member and providing a lot of value to us in the short amount of time we worked with him.
I also wanted to thank Ezra Roizen of Ackrell Capital who represented Wize in the transaction.. Ezra has been a true partner and friend to Wize and myself through this entire M&A process.
We at Wize are also extremely grateful to Raj Kapoor and the entire family at the Mayfield Fund. Raj and Mayfield's enduring support for Wize and me will never be forgotten and certainly speaks volumes of their reputation as being a real entrepreneurs venture firm..
I wanted to also thank Al Dobron from Providence Equity who connected me with Nextag in the first place.. Al is a great friend and we hope to be able to return the favor by building some great value with Nextag.
There are many, many others that have meant a lot to Wize that I haven't had time to thank....Particularly, I wanted to share a deep thank you to all of you that I have spent time with in my personal life that I have met over the last 4 years(you know who you are).. Whether it was surfing, talking about technology and business or just spending time talking about how the mind works and the meaning of life, it has meant the world to me and I thank you for our time together before and for the future..
All the Best,
Tom
President of Wize.com
Nextag Inc
Hey Tom,
I'm Raghavendra, and was hired by MarketTools in Hyderabad to look after the survey programming ops, supporting the New Jersey operations. Well, I learned and unlearned a lot there. but I always remember the drive that you used to enthuse the team with, whenever you were in Hyd. I'm happy that Wize has joined the NexTag fold and your hardwork has borne fruit. I have moved over from MT into other companies and currently working with a Phoenix, Arizona based startup Blueocean Market Intelligence, www.blueoceanmi.com. As I moved from one company to other I was always trying to give words to few thoughts -I feel that the true currency is the insight you create by challenging yourself both personally and professionally - Yes. Thats what you finally "make" at the end of the day. Great day Tom.
Posted by: Raghavendra B | March 22, 2011 at 05:59 AM
Tom - Please contact me regarding Wize.com.
Marcia Morgan, Minneapolis, MN
Posted by: Marcia Morgan | October 20, 2011 at 01:24 PM