When Itamar Novick joined Life360, it wasn’t the family safety app we know today. The team was small. The product was rough. The future? Uncertain. Then came the moment that would define everything: 👉 The company was out of cash. 👉 Investors were skeptical. 👉 Itamar had a choice — walk away or double down. He chose to bet his entire net worth on the company. That all-in moment eventually led to one of the most unique IPO journeys in tech — first in Australia, then on the NASDAQ. The risk paid off. Life360 became an $8B household name. In our new $100M Exits episode, Itamar shares: What it really takes to bet on yourself at scale How he managed acquisitions and integration while prepping for IPO Why the hardest part of raising $200M wasn’t the money For founders thinking about scaling beyond survival, this story hits hard. Here’s what you’re in for: 01:41 From employee to cofounder and the leap that changed everything 05:37 Raising capital when everyone says no 06:21 Why big risky swings are the only way to win 08:21 Scaling Life360 from idea to household name 22:17 Acquiring startups and merging top talent 37:48 Behind the IPO curtain and the tough calls nobody talks about 40:41 Taking the leap to go public 43:06 Why they chose Australia for the IPO 44:47 Making the move to NASDAQ 48:18 Founding Recursive Ventures and the next chapter 52:02 Investing in the future with AI and founder-first thinking 59:52 Hard-earned wisdom every founder should hear 01:01:15 Getting funded with Recursive Ventures 01:07:14 Final reflections and where to connect Looking for capital or to sell your company? Get a list of vetted & relevant Investors for FREE here: https://web.thunder.vc/list-of-investors-vcs-for-founders?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Episode94&utm_id=%24100M++Exits Get the latest fundraising insights, news, and tips: https://blog.thunder.vc/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Episode94&utm_id=%24100M++Exits ABOUT ITAMAR NOVICK Itamar Novick is the founder and solo GP of Recursive Ventures, a pre-seed fund backing startups in fintech, AI, and emerging tech. With experience as a founder, operator, institutional VC, and angel investor, he’s seen the startup journey from every angle. Itamar has invested in and supported 50+ successful startups, including Deel, Honeybook, Placer, Credible (IPO), MileIQ (acquired by Microsoft), Automatic Labs (acquired by SiriusXM), Tile (acquired by Life360), SafeGraph, and Armory. He was named one of Business Insider’s Top 100 global seed investors. As an operator, Itamar helped scale Life360 from Seed to IPO, growing revenue to over $250M. Earlier, he was a founding team member and Head of Product at Gigya (acquired by SAP). LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itamarnovick/ Website: https://www.itamarnovick.com/ ABOUT JASON KIRBY Jason Kirby is the co-founder of Thunder, a tech-enabled investment bank helping founders reach their ideal target outcomes through capital strategy and M&A. He is a serial entrepreneur with four exits and decades of experience in fundraising, M&A, and business building. In his career, he has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs on fundraising, investing, capital strategy, M&A, and business development. He’s transacted over $135M and his firm Thunder has transacted over $200M+ You can reach out to Jason through: Email: jason@thunder.vc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonrkirby/ ABOUT $100M EXITS My goal is simple: to equip founders with the knowledge, inspiration, and guidance to navigate the labyrinthine world of capital strategy to take your company where you ultimately want it, by interviewing founders and investors who have already done it. For most, it’s a dream to sell for $100M+, but for others it’s too cash flow or IPO. Founders doing over $5M in revenue will benefit the most from this podcast. Be sure to subscribe and let me know who you want me to interview next.
