In 2020, as the CFO of a multi-billion-dollar private AI company SmartNews, Kanishka saw a big opportunity unfold in front of his eyes. The SPAC market was rapidly changing the way companies approached going public. But SPACs seemed to follow one of two sub-optimized strategies: either two rich retired guys with a checkbook looking to make a quick buck, or a financial investor-led SPAC looking for easy financial arbitrage. Neither provided much value to the Company in the long run. Kanishka believed there was a way to build a better SPAC. And in addition to his operating experience, his views were shaped by his former life as the Global Head of Tech M&A Origination at Morgan Stanley. As a former investment banker, Kanishka was acutely aware of how inefficient and inaccessible IPOs had become. He knew there had to be a better way for promising private companies to tap into public capital, partner them with highly curated long-term-aligned investors, and tell a 5-10 year story with forward projections. A new type of SPAC platform was needed with more tangible value-add, and better-aligned economic outcomes for the long run.

Kanishka teamed up with Mike because they were both attracted to the idea of building a SPAC franchise of top-tier operators, united by a common set of values learned in the trenches. From his experience as the CFO of three generational Tech companies – Gusto, Doordash, and Docusign, Mike knew the value of operational value add, the right kind of investors and truly aligned long-term incentives. Mike immediately loved the idea of a SPAC platform focused on delivering more than just financial arbitrage. It just made so much sense. With his operational background, Mike focused on another critical element of innovation for a SPAC platform: creating a private equity-like operational playbook to help companies accelerate growth in the public markets. This Accelerating Through The Bell playbook would be made up of short, medium and long-term plays developed by proven operational executives. Partner companies would be paired with executives with proven functional success to provide support in 12 critical areas ranging from sales acceleration to investor relations to M&A to branding and communications and preserving your culture while scaling.

The final piece of the puzzle came when the two collaborated with Ursula Burns, who separately was also evaluating the potential to build a large, long-lasting SPAC platform. Increasing public-markets access to promising private companies in an efficient and long-term value-enhancing way, spoke to her personal motives and journey as well. Ursula brought not only incredible connectivity to the Plum team, but strong leadership experience and hard-won operational knowledge that would be invaluable for potential partner companies. All three bonded over their operating experiences and the importance of developing a concrete playbook that would be executed by successful executives with substantial personal investments in Plum to align interests, and to help their eventual partner company make the most of its public listing and accelerate growth once it is public.