Be like Mike!

Google announced yet another acquisition yesterday buying travel startup Ruba. For those who’ve been following this  represents Mike Cassidy‘s 4th time leading a VC-backed startup and 4th successful exit. I first encountered Mike when he  was CEO of XFire. David Lawee, my 1st ever VC, was part of that company, which was sold to Viacom in 2006 for $102  million.

In addition to selling Ruba and XFire, Mike founded Stylus Innovation (sold 2 years after launch for $13M) and Direct Hit (sold 500 days after launch for $500M).

If you’re a startup founder or CEO, there’s probably a lot you can learn from Mike. Start by checking out this presentation from him on speed as the primary advantage.