[HTML2]One of the most surprising and successful startups of 2008 2009 (apparently I’m still struggling with that whole “new year” thing) had to be Bac’n. I can’t tell you how many times I heard founders Scott Kveton, Jason Glaspey, and Michael Richardson utter the phrase, “Yeah. We sell bacon. On the Internet.” And every time, they got a kind of weird scrunched-up face look from the audience.
But they did sell bacon on the Internet. And they did it really well. With an incredibly beautiful and technically functional site. They did it so well, in fact, that Bac’n became almost an immediate target for acquisition. And now, after weighing their offers, they’ve found a company appropriate to gobble up Bac’n, Bacon Freak.
While monetary terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, this is still a big win, all around. And I’m not just saying that because I predicted there would be a number of acquisitions in 2010. Or maybe I am. But still.
I mean, crazy Portland-based bacon lovers follow their passion and build a low-cost but highly effective site with a great URL. More crazy bacon lovers find them and buy their bacon. And their shirts. Food A complete freak about bacon buys Bac’n.
All in under a year. That’s pretty impressive. For anyone. I don’t care what you’re selling on the Interwebs. That’s a highly laudable turn time and return on investment.
We launched Bacn.com just under a year ago and since then we have had an amazing time building this great site and the community that has built up around it. We can’t thank everyone enough but we have to give a few shout outs:
- Pete Grillo for telling us to follow our pork … err dreams
- Holly Glaspey for whipping up the most fantastic branding on-a-whim ever
- For everyone that came out for MasterBacon one year ago to help kick off the Bac’n craze
- Phantom Chicken for keeping our threads looking amazing over the last year
- All of our amazing suppliers from Beeler’s, Broadbent, Scott’s Hams, Mountain Products Smokehouse to Western Boxed Meats
- Darin Richardson and the Refresh Media crew for making our site look amazing
- Belinda Strange for coming up with the idea for the Bac’n Babe of the Month
- Akasha Becker for taking it over the finish line in the past few months doing fulfillment for us
And I’d like to personally thank the Bac’n team for all of their help with 30 hour day. Not the least of which included sharing some of their fine product with the whole crew during the morning segment.
This acquisition also makes a fitting last chapter for the team, figuratively—and literally.
You see, both Kveton and Glaspey are in the midst of writing a book about their experience creating Bac’n. It was a concept that originally took three weeks—using off-the-shelf products stitched together to keep costs and time-to-market down—and then continued to morph and grow, spawning everything from the Masterbacon bacon fest to a Bac’n apparel line.
Word around the campfire is that—in true Bac’n fashion—they’ve also got a really interesting way that they’re composing the book. So stay tuned for more on that.
Until then, it’s with a bit of sadness that I bid a fond farewell to Bac’n. But what a great success story—and example—for the Portland startup scene.
For more information or to buy some bacon for yourself, visit Bac’n. For more on the team’s latest pursuits, visit Kveton’s and Richardson’s current startup, Urban Airship, or Glaspey’s Paleo Plan.
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What were their revenues for the year? Any guess on the terms of the deal?