Dollar Shave Club
It was acquired in the same manner too, after Unilever gave it a deal that was too "f---ing great" to pass up, said Woody Marshall, a partner at Technology Crossover Ventures and Dollar Shave Club board member.
"They appreciate the power of this brand and they appreciate the power of Michael [Dubin] and the team that he's built," Marshall told Business Insider. "This is a guy that was, when I first met him, it was a little $20 million company. That business has scaled well over 20 times."
Fortune broke the news of the deal Tuesday night and pegged the sale value at $1 billion. Marshall wouldn't comment on the sale value, but said the price was attractive to Dollar Shave Club. The company couldn't pass it up, but a deal like this is bittersweet for the investor who loved working with Dubin the past two years.
"The thing about Michael is he is the brand. Here's a guy who has remained authentic to his consumer, who has continued to build a great product, and has shown that he is a great leader of people and team-builder," Marshall said. "And when you look at all those things, a transaction like this is bittersweet in many ways because you don't necessarily run into entrepreneurs like Michael all the time."
Marshall's highlight of working with Dubin wasn't from a board meeting or an office visit, but when Dubin joined Marshall and his son for drinks in Aspen.
The pair were in the middle of a conversation when Marshall's 12-year-old son interrupted with a question. Instead of blowing him off, Dubin turned to Marshall's son and explained a complicated business concept in the most thoughtful and non-condescending way possible, Marshall recounted. What struck him was how genuine Dubin's actions were.
"I get teary eyed thinking about it because this is the kind of guy you want back," Marshall said. "In this day and age, when a lot of the articles we read are about bad behavior, about people who are not great culture-carriers, I think Michael stands out in a material way. I think it's why he's been successful and why he'll be successful going forward."