When a successful startup gets bought out how can you go about marketing ownership change so that the “sellout” label is avoided? By embracing it Vinomofo style!

Vinomofo, a daily wine deals startup from Adelaide was in this situation recently. They were bought out by a larger fish, Catchoftheday (COTD). It’s a great success story, something the founders can be very proud of. To give some context, I have taken some quotes from an AFR article that helps paint the scene:

They started out five years ago, driving a van around South Australia’s wine regions and filming their tasting experiences. That led to an award-winning online forum, qwoff.

They needed to come up with an idea to commercialise their work, and a wine daily deals concept was born:

When Mr Dry, 34, came up with the idea of an online daily deals site in early 2011, Mr Eikmeier was initially doubtful. Continue reading →