How They Built a $745M Company Together and Stay Married
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this compelling episode of Moneywise, husband-and-wife co-founders Cass and Mike Lazaro share their extraordinary journey from near-bankruptcy to a $745 million exit with Salesforce. (02:56) The duo built Buddy Media, a social media marketing platform that became one of the fastest-growing software companies of all time, reaching $50 million in annual recurring revenue in just three years after multiple pivots. (04:01) Their story challenges the conventional wisdom that mixing business with marriage is a recipe for disaster, demonstrating instead how shared trust, complementary skills, and radical transparency can create unstoppable entrepreneurial partnerships.
- Main theme: How married co-founders can leverage their unique advantages to build billion-dollar businesses while maintaining both professional success and personal relationships
Speakers
Cass Lazaro
Cass is a seasoned entrepreneur who started her first business in 1996, building websites for law firms as one of the first marketing services companies to do so. She co-founded golf.com and later Buddy Media, which sold to Salesforce for $745 million. Known for her operational expertise and direct communication style, Cass brings a rule-following, process-oriented approach that perfectly complements her husband's creative vision.
Mike Lazaro
Mike began his entrepreneurial journey at Northwestern University with University Wire, a student news service. He co-founded golf.com and Buddy Media, serving as the creative and sales-focused partner in their successful ventures. Mike is known for generating numerous business ideas daily and his ability to spot market opportunities, though he admits his biggest business mistake was pursuing a separate venture without his wife as co-founder.
Key Takeaways
Trust Your Partner's Judgment Completely
The most valuable lesson from the Lazaros' journey is the importance of implicit trust between co-founders. (16:02) As Cass explains, "There was no one else we were gonna bet on. Like if I said back then, do this, it was like done." This level of trust eliminates the micromanagement that destroys many partnerships. Mike's biggest regret was ignoring Cass's advice about Shape Matrix, which led to a costly failure. (36:09) When you have a co-founder whose judgment you trust implicitly, listen to them - especially when they're expressing concerns about a new venture.
Radical Transparency Builds Stronger Teams
The Lazaros practiced radical transparency with their employees, which created unusual loyalty and trust within their organization. (23:48) As Cass describes, when major investors visited or big changes were happening, instead of keeping employees in the dark, she would proactively communicate: "I heard some of you guys were curious, this is what's happening." This approach prevented office politics and speculation while building genuine trust. Employees even nicknamed them "mom and dad" because of their transparent, caring leadership style.
Define Clear Lanes and Stick to Them
Success requires each partner to own distinct areas of expertise without overlap or interference. (25:09) Mike handled sales, fundraising, and partnerships, while Cass managed all operations. As Cass explains, "We made it clear that you came to me for anything with operations... there was no kind of going around me and there's no kind of going around Mike when it came to his areas of expertise." This prevents the common co-founder problem of stepping on each other's toes and creates accountability for results in each domain.
Address Conflicts Immediately and Directly
The Lazaros developed a system for handling disagreements that prevents resentment from building up over time. (20:42) Their approach: "Let's just get it all out right now and figure it out... you got to heal things when they happen or the books stack up." Cass describes herself as "aggressive aggressive" rather than passive aggressive, believing that brutal honesty, while sometimes painful, prevents small issues from becoming relationship-ending problems. This direct communication style carries over into both their business and personal relationships.
Maintain Individual Identity Within the Partnership
Even the strongest partnerships require space for individual interests and growth. (28:22) Mike has attended over 200 Fish concerts without Cass, representing thousands of hours of individual pursuit. As he explains, "Where you get in trouble is when one of the parties to the relationship gets totally consumed by the relationship and loses the me." Successful co-founders, whether married or not, must nurture both the "we" and the "me" to prevent codependency and maintain the individual strengths that made them valuable partners in the first place.
Statistics & Facts
- Buddy Media reached $50 million in annual recurring revenue in just 3 years after pivoting to a SaaS model, making them one of the fastest-growing software companies of all time. (04:01) This growth was fueled by the seismic shift from traditional advertising to social media marketing across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
- The company sold to Salesforce for $745 million in 2012, with additional restricted stock in Salesforce when it was valued at $16 billion (now worth nearly $300 billion). (02:56) This represented a nine-figure exit after just six years of building the business.
- Their first company, golf.com, sold to Time Warner for $25 million after nearly going bankrupt during the dot-com crash, providing them with $3 million before taxes - the most money they thought they'd ever make at the time. (13:05)
