Chris Wright's vision for his startup, Whystle, never included retooling the business model 12 months into the fight through a pandemic or selling the company after just two years.
But as every founder eventually comes to understand, plans change. In this case, it was the best outcome Wright couldn't have planned for.
CEO and founder Wright announced Whystle's acquisition in an email Wednesday afternoon. In it, he wrote that the decision was made as a team.
"We collectively decided this was the best move to enable Whystle to continue to grow exponentially long into the future," he said in the email. "As of this month, the Whystle acquisition is officially closed and transitioned."
Wright declined to disclose the name of the acquiring company, saying they asked to remain anonymous for the time being. Financial information on the acquisition was also unavailable.
When Whystle was founded in 2019, Wright said the goal was to give customers a fast, headache-free way to schedule and manage home cleaning appointments via a mobile app. The services are available for apartments, single-family homes and short-term rentals in the greater Charlotte area. The company was forced to make adjustments last March, however, as the pandemic threatened to cut off its revenue stream. Whystle pivoted quickly to cleaning and disinfecting commercial spaces.
Wright said it was the successful pivot and the eventual recovery of Whystle's residential operations that led to the decision to sell.
"At the beginning of this year, we were approached by someone who was interested in acquiring the company," he said. "I reached out to some others who I knew in my network and out of my network to see if this was something worth doing ... Based on those conversations, we ended up with multiple offers and a bit of a bidding war on the business."
And while selling so soon wasn't part of Wright's original plan, it ended up being the right choice for his company and his team.
"I made the decision based on what the (acquiring company's) impact to the team would be, which was really important to me, and what their vision for the business would be going forward," he said. "I look at the acquisition as a boost pad for Whystle ... It's still going to provide the same high-level quality of service. The company won't change materially, but it'll continue to improve."
More importantly, Wright said, is that the company's staff on both the residential and commercial side will remain on board.
"The team we have in place is top-notch, and they know how to run the majority of the day-to-day operations," he said. "That leaves (the acquiring company) to work on strategy and implementation of new things."
As for Wright's next move? In addition to staying on in an advisory role, he said he plans to take some time off to spend with his wife and dog before diving into his next startup venture.
"On the one hand, I'm ecstatic. This is huge for the team and I," he said. "On the other hand, my identity was tied up in Whystle, and the decoupling will take some time. I'm intentionally taking time to sit with that feeling and reconcile that it's OK to not do something else right away."
