On May 31, 2016, Vista Equity Partners acquired Marketo for $1.79 billion. Many were puzzled about the acquisition and several questions popped out asking what it actually meant.
Following this event, Forrester published a report called “Marketo Goes Private To Create A New Marketing Automation Platform Or To Take A Break From Wall Street?”, and answered many of these questions.
The report did an excellent job of outlining, detailing and explaining the reasons behind the company’s acquisition by a private equity firm, and presented two conflicting predictions:
The first is that Vista seeks to flip the company for the traditional 30% gain in stockholder value, and the second is that a new epoch in marketing software has just begun
Marketo’s Acquisition Impact
How does all of this affect you as a Marketo customer or as a Marketo staff?
Impact on Marketo Customers
According to Forrester, you should just keep calm and carry on. There will be no staggering change that’ll happen soon, except for the possible lack of support in case Marketo experiences high levels of staff attrition.
Forrester recommends looking for Marketo partner that can offer technical and operational support in order to shield you from any possible decline in Marketo-provided support services. Looking for a certified agency at the moment is probably a smart move.
Other things that you may want to consider, according to the report, are the following:
- For small and medium customers, you should secure your contract. Marketo may make three-year contracts a limited offering because it is considered as a de rigueur in the SaaS (service as a software) world
- For medium and large customers, you should get firm commitments on Marketo’s functional enhancements outlined at its recent summit. The outlined “roadmap” contains functional enhancements that will take your marketing program to the next level. But these features might be delayed, especially when making tough funding choices. Forrester advises negotiating some concessions for functionality slips
- Large, global businesses should start experimenting “cloud marketing” options. Forrester states that, “in the future, enterprises will need to make some strategic vendor bets to achieve customer-centric engagement”, and investing in a marketing technology solution can be a good idea.
For Marketo Staff
As for Marketo staff, you shouldn’t be worried about a big changes in the near furture. Marketo will still remain as a standalone, independent, best-of-breed marketing automation company.
By getting acquired by a tech-focused private equity firm, the company may be able to further develop its software products that could be the next big thing in the world of marketing technology. This will allow you, as a Marketo employee, to become a part of a company that unveiled the “new trend” in the marketing technology field.
If you want an in-depth and detailed explanation about this acquisition, I encourage you to get Forrester’s full report here (requires subscription): https://www.forrester.com/report/Brief+Marketo+Goes+Private/-/E-RES118057 or feel free to message me.
