Who this is
Tim Stracke built Chrono24, the globally used marketplace for luxury watches based in Karlsruhe, together with two co-founders. It was his third company: the first, a marketplace for gifts, failed, the second was sold. The founders bought the nucleus of Chrono24, the brand and the domain, from two operators in Bad Homburg and turned the classifieds site into a transactional marketplace that today serves 9 to 10 million people a month and handles more than a billion in transaction volume. Tim ran the company for 15 years, led every funding round himself and raised more than 200 million, with a cumulative burn rate of less than 10 million euros. Today he sits on Chrono24's board, invests as a business angel with a preference for marketplaces, and talks about the watch market roughly once a month on the Tomorrow Watches podcast.
Episodes
Numbers from the episode
FAQ
What is Chrono24 and how big is the platform today?
Chrono24 is a global marketplace for luxury watches based in Karlsruhe. In the episode Tim Stracke cites 9 to 10 million unique users per month, a transaction volume well above one billion (over two billion including purchases completed off-platform) and a Virtual Vault that holds around 8 percent of all watches in the world by value, more than 60 billion euros. The US is the biggest market; only 12 to 13 percent of users come from Germany. The business model: a transaction fee plus a monthly subscription for dealers. To the episode →
How did Tim Stracke buy Chrono24?
The founders had the idea of a watch marketplace to compete with eBay and came across Chrono24 during their research; two operators in Bad Homburg ran it as a side business. Tim cold-called them, was handed eleven printed slides, and the price on the last slide was six to seven times higher than estimated. One of the sellers was an M&A advisor by trade. After nine months of negotiation they paid almost the asking price. Chrono24 has never disclosed the amount. To the episode →
How much money has Chrono24 raised, and what for?
More than 200 million, with a cumulative burn rate of less than 10 million euros. More than half went into secondaries, i.e. buying shares from existing shareholders. A larger sum was raised onto the balance sheet for an M&A strategy that was never executed. In 2013 the founders also bought out a shareholder using debt, after which they owned almost 90 percent of the company again. To the episode →
What is Tim Stracke's fundraising playbook?
Never raise under pressure. Start talking, very casually, to the investors who will be relevant in two to three years, without a pitch deck and only with actual numbers, so that over time they see a film rather than a snapshot. Collect soft commitments for three times what you need, approach investors in later stages through contacts rather than directly, and in the end don't take the highest valuation but the investor with the strongest brand. Chrono24 ran every round itself, without a bank. To the episode →
Which deal did Tim Stracke call off?
An acquisition for 300 million dollars. Insight Partners, the largest shareholder, clearly backed the deal in the board and wanted to hand the due diligence to investment banks. Tim insisted on running the diligence himself and ultimately decided against it. He calls it the most important and biggest decision of his time as a founder, because the deal would have put the company at risk. The episode does not reveal which company it was. To the episode →
Quotes
„Drei Jahre will ich noch. Und das habe ich am Ende 15 Jahre lang gemacht.““Three more years, I'd say. And in the end I did that for 15 years.”
„… das Wichtigste ist, dass du idealerweise das Fundraising zu einem Zeitpunkt machst, wo du nicht dringend das Geld brauchst.““The most important thing is that, ideally, you raise at a time when you don't urgently need the money.”
„… zeigt den Investoren nicht nur ein Bild von dir, sondern zeig ihnen einen Film.““Don't just show investors a snapshot of you, show them a film.”
„Und das, finde ich, unterschätzen auch viele die Strahlkraft von starken Marken im Captable.““And I think many people underestimate the pull of strong brands on the cap table.”
„… dass das die wichtigste und größte Entscheidung meiner Zeit als Gründer war, diese Transaktion nicht zu machen …““That was the most important and biggest decision of my time as a founder: not doing that transaction.”