Couple who lost Rs 21 lakh in failed startup bounce back, sell it for Rs 209 crore
Couple who lost Rs 21 lakh in failed startup bounce back, sell it for Rs 209 crore
Mike and Kass Lazerow’s journey from financial ruin to a multimillion-dollar exit is a lesson in resilience and entrepreneurial grit.
Entrepreneurship is often romanticized, but for Mike and Kass Lazerow, it began with a devastating failure. In 2000, the newly married couple lost their entire life savings of $25,000 (about Rs 21 lakh) when their first venture, Golf.com, went bankrupt after its acquirer collapsed. Six years later, they rewrote their story, selling the very same company for $24 million (about Rs 209 crore).
The couple had initially sold Golf.com to Chipshot, a fast-growing e-commerce firm, in a cash-and-stock deal. But when Chipshot’s funding round fell through, it went bankrupt, taking Golf.com down with it. “We had sold the business. So we had employees who weren’t going to get paid,” recalled Mike, now 51.
Not only did the Lazerows lose their savings, but also the money they had raised from friends and family. “What really sucked was having to tell people their money was gone,” said Kass, now 54.
Refusing to accept defeat, the couple raised $500,000 (about Rs 4.3 crore) within three months to buy back Golf.com. For two years, the revived startup struggled, shrinking to just four employees at one stage. But as Tiger Woods’s Masters wins in 2001 and 2002 reignited global interest in golf, advertisers flocked to their platform.
The breakthrough deal
By 2006, Golf.com had gained significant traction, attracting the attention of Time Inc. The media giant, which also published Golf Magazine, acquired Golf.com for $24 million. Each of the three co-founders including Mike and Kass, took home $1.8 million (about Rs 15.7 crore).
Reflecting on the journey, Mike said success in entrepreneurship is less about avoiding problems and more about learning to endure them: “The best founders learn to love the misery, the suffering.” Kass added that starting over gave her “a strength I hadn’t realized I had,” while also warning that fundraising especially from friends and family can be emotionally risky.
The Lazerows went on to build Buddy Media, a social marketing software company, which they sold to Salesforce in 2012 for $745 million (about Rs 6,508 crore).
From losing Rs 21 lakh to making Rs 209 crore in six years, their story stands as a reminder that failure, while painful, can be the foundation for spectacular comebacks.
