Over the past 45 days I’ve been working hard on a special deal, codenamed Project Duke, and I’m thrilled to reveal it today: Atlanta’s Pardot Acquired by ExactTarget for Almost $100M. Seeing the headline is still surreal to me, as is the whole experience and journey.
The Pardot team has the most amazing people and I’ve been honored, blessed, and humbled by the opportunity to work with them, especially my co-founder Adam Blitzer. Corporate culture comes first and Pardot lives it everyday. Walking around the halls I see people who are positive, self-starting, and supportive — exactly our goal. We believe that in providing the best place to work and the best place to be a customer everything else takes care of itself. It really is that simple.
ExactTarget, of which I’ve written about many times (Notes from the ExactTarget S-1 Filing, A Theory on the Amazing ExactTarget Success Story, etc) is unlike any 1,000+ person company I’ve ever worked with. The Orange Culture is as pervasive and strong as any culture I’ve seen. And, with 1,400 employees, they’ve scaled it to a massive level. ExactTarget is the only company I’ve ever read about that listed their corporate culture as a competitive advantage in their filings with the SEC — it’s an unbelievably good company.
Most acquisitions fail for one simple reason: lack of corporate culture alignment. With ExactTarget and Pardot, the corporate cultures couldn’t be more aligned and the growth opportunities more dramatic. People like to talk about complementary technologies, gaps in product portfolios, etc when it really comes down to the simplest thing — people.
The future is bright and I couldn’t be more thrilled that ExactTarget and Pardot have joined forces.
David Cummings on Startups 
First to comment! As a former employee, I can definitely vouch for DC’s dedication to fostering a strong corporate culture, so I have no doubt that ExactTarget will be a good fit in that regard! I couldn’t be happier for David, Adam, or the current Pardot employees. This is proof that nice guys can finish first 🙂
Congratulations!
Congrats, my friend, to you and the whole Pardot team! Your discipline and focus have paid off. Can’t wait to see the next chapter of the story!
Congratulations David. As an EO Atlanta guy and blog follower I found your insights extremely valuable to my business and appreciate your candidness. EO Atlanta is super proud of you and it could not have happened to a nicer guy!!!
Holy Smokes! David, that is awesome! You and your team are an example of the way it should be done. Thanks for sharing your wisdom, and please continue to do so.
Congratulations, David!
Congrats David. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy and team. Both Pardot’s performance a little Karma is at play here with all the good you do for the Atlanta Technology community. Congrats agin.
Huge Congratulations! Great work.
I continue to admire your execution. I love your quote in the ATDC article:
“With eyes on the future, Cummings said Pardot will continue to strive to be the ‘best place to work and the best place to be a customer.’
‘It seems simple, but by getting those two things right, everything else takes care of itself,’ he said.”
Congratulations David. It has been a pleasure and a benefit to read your blog and learn what makes a great company.
Congratulations to you guys! It’s great to see a strategy genuinely focused on employees and corporate culture excel. Truly a model for current and future entrepreneurs. I’m happy for you all!
That is amazing news. Congratulations to all involved.
i recently got familiar to exact target! it was interesting to read about this aquisition. Congratulations!