Thank you, Yext

15/06/2017

By Jules Maltz

There are certain moments that shape your future. For me, one of them was walking through Central Park at dusk in September 2009 waiting for a phone call. I had joined IVP a year before and was working on my second investment. I had been introduced to a small New York startup called Yext six months earlier by Ed Zimmerman, a lawyer, and Yext angel investor, and had spent the last week frantically trying to convince the company that we should lead their Series B.

The phone rings.

Dennis Phelps, a partner at IVP, and I were told that we needed to come to Yext's office right away. The voice on the other end sounded serious. It didn't feel like good news.

Thirty minutes later we walked into a cramped conference room to find the entire Yext executive team waiting for us. On the table in front of them was a signed term sheet and shot glasses. My heart leaped!

The Visionary

Howard Lerman, Yext's CEO, has always had a flair for the dramatic. He prefers live demos to stale presentations. In 2009, he snuck into TechCrunch 50, an early-stage pitch competition, to launch a new product and announced to the audience that he was going to do $20 million in revenue that year. It left everyone speechless. For years, he delivered a weekly manifesto speech to all employees, reminding his team why Yext needed to exist in the world. Board meetings were equally entertaining. We had a war-themed meeting complete with camouflage outfits, a wireless beacon demonstration, and Howard even brought in a 30-year-old Voltron toy to illustrate a particular point about teamwork. Howard was (and is) the ultimate visionary and everything was going well for Yext .until it wasn't.

The Pivot

A year after our investment, Yext's rapid expansion started showing signs of strain. The company's original pay-per-call advertising product for small businesses wasn't growing efficiently. Churn and acquisition costs were too high, and new verticals weren't as profitable as existing ones. Yext faced a choice of trying to fix these challenges or sell the entire business. Instead, Howard and his team picked an ambitious, but risky, third option. Cut the core business to profitability and invest heavily in building an entirely new startup within Yext. Launching Yext Tags in early 2011, the company pivoted to a subscription software product to help large and small companies manage their digital information. The next year, Yext sold its original business, renamed Felix, to IAC to focus 100% on its rapidly-growing software product.

The Team

With the new product working, Howard and his co-founder, Brian Distelburger, turned their attention to building out a world-class team to scale the business. They looked for executives who had operated at larger companies and could handle the challenges of rapid growth. Bringing on Wendi Sturgis, Steve Cakebread, Jeff Rohrs, Jonathan Cherins, Marc Ferrentino, Skip Schipper, Ho Shin, and, recently, Jim Steele, helped propel Yext to new heights, reaching over $124 million of revenues in the company's most recent fiscal year.

The IPO

Last month, Yext went public on the New York Stock Exchange with a closing market cap of over $1 billion. It's been an incredible journey from rapid growth to major challenges to rebirth to rapid growth again - all in the span of less than 8 years.

I'm so grateful that Yext selected IVP as a partner in 2009 - and gave me the chance to grow as a venture capitalist and learn that startups are more like roller coasters than escalators. I'm deeply appreciative of the many early Yext employees (Brian, Brent, Alok, Tom, Sean, Bryan, Temy, Rob, and others), who rose to the challenge when times were tough and fought to make Yext successful today. And, I'm most thankful for Howard, who taught me to always dream bigger, never give up and of course, that ENTP is the best Myers-Briggs personality type

The journey continues, and the Yext IPO is only another milestone on an exciting path far into the future.

As Howard would say:

Onward!

Jules Maltz is a General Partner at IVP, a later-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, CA.

LINK:	https://www.ivp.com/news/blog/thank-you-yext/...
	See more stories from ivp

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

18/03/2026

Net Insight Names Larissa GrnerMeeus CPO

Newly named chief product officer (CPO), Larissa G rner Meeus will return to Net Insight on May 4. Larissa G rner Meeus will become CPO of Net Insight on May 4...

18/03/2026

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026 explored how the sports broadcasting i...

18/03/2026

SVG's SportsTech@NABShow Blog Goes Live as Countdown to Vegas Heats Up

The 2026 NAB Show kicks off one month from today and SVG is once again set to cover the show from every angle. SVG's SportsTech@NAB Show Blog is now live - ...

18/03/2026

The Premiere of Dead Lover Showcases Grave Robbing and Sex With a Giant Finger

(L-R) The cast and crew of Dead Lover at The Ray Theater for its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundan...

18/03/2026

Music Row Piano from Wiltone Productions

Yamaha C7 captured in Nashville Wiltone Productions have announced the release of Music Row Piano, a deeply sampled Yamaha C7 piano library that's been ...

18/03/2026

Techivation introduce T-Warmer Mk2

Bass-enhancement plug-in upgraded Along with a steady stream of new releases, Techivation have recently been revisiting some of the older plug-ins in their ...

18/03/2026

Tonal Balance Control 3 from iZotope

Mix-reference plug-in overhauled iZotope's powerful mix-referencing plug-in has just reached its third major version, and now boasts a new capture proce...

18/03/2026

Toontrack Transistor Organ EKX

Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...

18/03/2026

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture 18 March, 2026 Media releases New SBS Audio podcast For The Culture, hosted ...

18/03/2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz at NAB 2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz...

18/03/2026

LCTWS 2026

London Calling - When The Industry Convened to Help Streaming Find its MoJo In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World...

18/03/2026

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, a...

18/03/2026

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments LED wall virtual production blends 12K open gate acquisition w...

18/03/2026