We’ve sold Voice123 and our feelings are mixed
By Tania Zapata and Alexander Torrenegra
It’s unlikely we’ll ever forget the stillness of that late summer morning in August; the everyday hum of the Zapata/Torrenegra household in Napa, California rarely quietens down. We were in the throes of wrapping up a video conference — and we’d just sold Voice123 to Backstage and TA Associates (Backstage is one of the largest freelance marketplaces for creators and TA Associates is one of the largest growth private equity firms).
The silence between us cradled that realization as a moment of absolute truth. There was no turning back.
Years before, we’d learned that Wences Casares, an entrepreneur who sold numerous tech companies for more than a combined $1 billion, thinks that having sold his companies is an embarrassment. He considered it a sign of failure that he couldn’t take his companies further.
Back then, we had no idea what he was talking about. But today, we do.
Of course, the sale of the company we founded in 2003 had been preceded by countless hours of conversations and discussions with everyone involved. There’d been meetings, deliberations, and weeks of negotiations. But the business of doing business is one thing. As very active entrepreneurs and investors, doing business is now practically intuitive for the two of us. Finally admitting to both ourselves and one another what we’d done in this particular instance, however, was something entirely different.
It felt akin to a betrayal and saying it aloud, almost an admission of guilt.
Together, we founded Voice123 in a tiny studio apartment in Queens, New York. It was built on the wings of hope, happenstance, and the glimmer of opportunity — not unlike a first attempt one of us had made at entrepreneurship back in Bogotá, Colombia in what now felt like a lifetime ago.
Little did we know shortly after the turn of the millennium as pretty-broke newlyweds that Voice123 would go on to impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. We bootstrapped our efforts to millions of dollars in projects. And after 18 years of constant growth, we’d decided to let it go.
Voice123 taught us the value of innovative tech, network effects, remote teams, innovative business models, and, more importantly, the value of creating businesses with a real purpose. We had envisioned a platform that would provide all aspiring and established voice actors with the opportunity to grow their professional careers.
Today, Voice123 is the world’s largest and most popular open marketplace for voice actors. Over 200,000 are registered on the platform. It has processed millions of auditions. Thousands of artists have started and grown their careers in over 100 countries. Voice123 has connected them with clients of all sizes, including huge ones such as Pixar, History Channel, Electronic Arts, and Pandora.
Voice123 not only changed the voice over industry, but it changed us, too. Our company’s success allowed us to dream bigger, to become bolder, to be contrarian, and to be persistent. We created a startup studio called Emma. We co-founded several tech companies including Bunny Studio, Torre, Tribe, and Akily. We became angel investors ourselves — and one of us, a shark in Shark Tank Latin America!
Why did we sell Voice123, then?
Actually, we’d learned about Backstage right after moving to New York City. We first became aware of the magazine after seeing it everywhere. We learned that Backstage, founded in 1960, was the primary way for performing artists to connect with auditions and employment. Eventually, after attending several fairs over time, we realized what an iconic brand Backstage truly is. In many ways, Backstage served as inspiration for the creation of Voice123; we also wanted to build a brand that would last for more than half a century.
Years later, we met Mike and Josh who lead Backstage today. Over lunch in a small diner on the Lower East Side, they told us about their plans for the company and how they wanted to grow Backstage’s impact and footprint. We trusted them because we’ve watched them do it. By the same token, Mike and Josh were very appreciative of Voice123 and what we, as a widely diverse and global team, had been able to build. Wouldn’t we be able to do so much more together?
The seeds were sown.
We spoke about our potential combined impact at length with Voice123’s CEO, Rolf Veldman. It became more and more clear to the three of us that Backstage would be capable of nurturing Voice123 and realizing its true potential. The time had come to think beyond ourselves –to step back and consider the future. Once again, it was time to allow the combination of hope, happenstance, and the glimmer of opportunity to prompt the way forward. We’d done as much as we could.
It’s a bittersweet moment for us, though. We never created Voice123 with the goal of selling it. Nevertheless, we know it’s the right decision for everyone involved. Backstage recognizes that the price they are paying for Voice123 includes a premium for the goodwill that has been created through our great relationships with the community. So they are keen to protect that value by working hard to keep the community happy and ensuring a smooth transition.
The Voice123 team supports the sale and is positive about the future. Rolf will continue as CEO and we couldn’t be happier. Together with Backstage, future growth and next-level success await.
Had Voice123 been a child, it would have been an invigorated and enthused 18-year-old and Rolf a great foster parent. He’s assembled a great global team. The child has grown up. It’s time for it to leave our home. It’s time to set it free so it can go out into the world and become the very best it can be.
From the depths of our hearts, we want to thank the tens of thousands of voice actors who continue to embrace the platform and entrust Voice123 with their lives and livelihoods.
We want to thank the tens of thousands of producers, casting directors, and other clients who come to us to seek out the word-perfect voices they need for their recording projects.
We want to thank every Voice123 team member, past and present. It has been a huge honor to work with each and every one of them; they shared our vision and grew the company as much as we did.
May you soar into your future, Voice123. You’re in the best possible hands and we’re immensely proud of you!
P.S. What’s next for us? Tania co-founded Akily, an app that provides highly personalized and fun developmental activities for parents, nannies, and daycares to do with their children. Alexander founded Torre, a matching network for work that makes the process of finding jobs and candidates both transparent and automated. You can reach out to us by writing us at tania@akily.co or a@torre.co, respectively.
