Michael Chasen had a pretty wild run in late 2016.
The Blackboard co-founder saw his mapping technology company SocialRadar get acquired by Verizon and rolled into the company's MapQuest technology. Then, he took on a gig with Raleigh-based drone technology company PrecisionHawk as its CEO. So, you know, he's technically left the D.C. tech scene, although he's just commuting to and from Raleigh and Bethesda now. Chasen had been in D.C. Tech since at least the 1990s when he was in college, though, so although it's just a commute change, he's found himself immersing in a totally different tech community.
"I don't think I'm going to miss anything," Chasen told DC Inno about leaving the D.C. tech scene. "I'm looking forward to getting very involved in this tech scene and meeting a whole new group of tech leaders and tech companies."
Chasen can be seen as the quintessential serial entrepreneur in D.C. Tech. He started Blackboard with three others in 1997 a few years after getting his MBA from Georgetown, and he saw the edtech company go public in 2004. Once Blackboard was sold in 2011 for $1.7 billion to Providence Equity Partners, he started his own company, SocialRadar. A former D.C. startup darling, SocialRadar emerged on the scene with lavish launch parties in both Philadelphia and D.C.
But life wasn't always smooth while running SocialRadar, of course. When it launched, it marketed itself as a consumer tech app, but later it pivoted to be a software development kit. Then layoffs and staff turnovers hit. Software engineers of Gridskippr all joined SocialRadar together after being acquired by the company and then left together to start their own company, Parkour Method, shortly after that in summer 2015. Shana Glenzer, a name synonymous with D.C.'s tech community, departed the company for Aquicore, too. However, along the way, SocialRadar raised a $12.75 million seed round in June 2013 led by Growth Tech Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.
"Any company that raises money from investors eventually has to return the capital—whether that means you go public or get bought. Those are all nice options, but I don't think you set out to do any one of those," Chasen said about the decision to sell SocialRadar to Verizon. "To me, you just set out to build a great company, and at the end of the day, if you do build a great company, you end up going public or someone comes along and says they want to acquire you. You don't plan for any of those."
Yet, Chasen might have one characteristic that sets him a part from the typical D.C. entrepreneur stereotype: he doesn't care if he had the original idea for the startup. He just cares about whether or not he gets to build it. Chasen says his expertise lies in growing a company. That's what he did with Blackboard anyway—one of his co-founders had the original ideas, and he built it from there.
"To me, my background is in building the infrastructure, hiring the right people and developing the strategy," Chasen said. "I don't feel like I need to come up with the idea. I just need to be excited about the industry."
That's why he opted to join already established PrecisionHawk as its CEO in January, after SocialRadar's acquisition, instead of starting his own company again.
I don't feel like I need to come up with the idea. I just need to be excited about the industry.
"I remember our very first venture capital investor [for Blackboard] called us up, and he said 'I've talked to all of these schools, and they've never used it,'" Chasen said. "But that was fine because the market hadn't even started yet. We knew that all schools were going to start using the technology.
"And similarly with PrecisionHawk, up until three, four years ago, companies couldn't even use drones. The chance to be not just at one company, which was Blackboard, and see it from the beginning and see a whole market grow into a billion dollar global industry, but the chance to see it again is an amazing opportunity. The reason I joined PrecisionHawk is because the industry just got started this year."
Chasen says, looking back at all of the companies he's help build, a lot of the same mistakes repeat themselves—whether they're in hiring or establishing a culture or setting a technical strategy—no matter the company size. So Chasen says he always tries to learn from his mistakes because they're going to happen no matter what.
"All those same things, whether you're a small company or a large company, whether it's a company I'm starting or a company I'm just joining, they're all very similar," he said. "They just repeat themselves over and over again."
In the coming months, he's focusing on PrecisionHawk's strategic strategy, hiring new talent for the drone tech company and immersing himself in the Research Triangle Park's growing tech scene. "This tech scene is remarkably similar to the D.C. tech scene. You're surrounded by a good number of schools, good technologists, startups are growing," Chasen said of the RTP. "Maybe it's a little bit smaller, right now, but at the end of the day it could be an even larger technology scene than the Washington, D.C. area."
Looking back, Chasen just has one piece of advice for entrepreneurs at any stage:
"You have to pick an area that you're passionate in. It's not a 9-to-5 job. It's not even a 9-to-midnight job. Starting a company and being an entrepreneur, it is something that you're doing all the time, so you better pick something that you're passionate about."
Image courtesy of PrecisionHawk
Note: A previous version of this story misstated how much Blackboard was sold for. It was sold for $1.7 billion, not $7.1 billion. The story has been updated to reflect those changes.
