Primer on SPACs with Kevin Hartz and Troy Steckenrider of A* and AONE

We dive into everything you need to know about SPACs — what they are, why they're a compelling alternative to IPO/DPOs, and how they might play an even more important role in startup financing going forward — with two of the very best people to teach us: Kevin Hartz and Troy "SPAC Professor" Steckenrider of the newly-minted $200m SPAC, AONE.

Sponsors:

• Vanta

TLDR:

• SPACs are an alternative path for companies to go public, however until recently they were mostly obscure and little-known/used.
• Meanwhile, the traditional IPO process has become onerous and broken: it takes 9+ months of company time, yet investors get only 15 minutes of management access and must make a decision in

Links:

• A* and ONE: https://www.a-star.co
• John Luttig's great Medium piece on SPACs: https://luttig.substack.com/p/spac-attack-everything-a-founder
• Bill Gurley on SPACs as an attractive alternative to IPOs/DPOs (posted after recording):  https://abovethecrowd.com/2020/08/23/going-public-circa-2020-door-3-the-spac/

What is ACQ2 by Acquired?

ACQ2 is Ben and David's conversations with expert founders and investors. Acquired the stories of great companies — and ACQ2 dives deeper into the lessons we can learn from them, often with the protagonists themselves.