I spoke with David Samuel, Grouper co-president and co-founder, this week to discuss his company's $65 million sale to Sony. At times, he sounded like Jack Welch, repeatedly talking about winning. At other times, he sounded like a reality-show contestant by referring to Sony as Grouper's 'Big Brother'.

But, if you're curious about how an online video sharing site that launched only nine months ago convinced a media giant to buy it for $65 million while competing with 200 me-too companies, there's some good stuff in here: (Note: I've edited out some of the interview and since I was typing, and not recording, the discussion, there may be some slight inaccuracies):

Q: Why are you selling to Sony?
A: [Grouper co-founder and co-president] Josh [Felser] and I want to win. It's a competitive space. We believe in partnerships. We started discussions with Sony about a business development relationship and as we had more and more discussions it made sense to join together. They are a big brother that can help Grouper to grow within the user generated video space.

Q: How many business development deals have you struck in the past few years?
A: 20-40 different business development deals with companies in past two years.

Q: So why did this one out of 20 or 40 result in a sale?
A: Personalities, timing, product vision. Josh and I had the ability to raise money and go on as a private company. We looked at that versus the decision to be acquired by Sony and we decided to have a Big Brother to continue to win in this space. We continue to meet with management of Sony Pictures Entertainment and continue to see eye to eye with them. It's amazing how much time the younger generation spends online...

Q: What metrics were used in determining the $65 million valuation?
A: It's difficult to answer that in much detail. We had a term sheet to raise money and continue as a private company. We weighed that decision.

Q: How quickly did this deal come about?
We had initial talks about business development relationships 45-60 days ago. We talked with the camera manufacturers within Sony. We then talked to content people within Sony Pictures Entertainment. The meetings escalated to senior managemenet of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The decision to marry occurred somewhere three to four weeks ago. We want to get marriage consummated so we can continue to focus on building the business,

Q: How does Grouper differentiate itself from the 200 other online video sharing sites?
A: Our biggest differentiator is two prong. We offer device neutrality, which allows users to download content to a PSP or an iPod. That sets us apart from many players. Also, we offer a peer to peer delivery mechanism. Sony was excited about it with acquiring Grouper because it allows people to deliver content with Grouper via its peer to peer network. As media continues to be distributed across internet, peer to peer is the way to deliver content. Those are the two main things that differentiate us from an extremely crowded space. Our API and ability to partner with companies is very strategic for us. Sony is excited about us becoming a part of the team. The cameras, PCs, PSPs, PS3s, hardware within the company and the notion they can all tie into a software platform

Q: Could you distribute music on the Grouper platform?
A: I continue to love that space. As a startup, Grouper focused on a vertical; video. Now that we have a Big Brother, we have the ability to expand our horizons a little bit and see what the future holds.

Q: Despite the impressive sale price, your traffic is nowhere near YouTube's. How do you think you stack up with them?
A: As a competitor they are a very viable competitor. They have a great service and web site. We are heads down focused on building our business here. They’ve been at it longer than we have. They launched in May 2005.

Q: That's right. Grouper started as a file sharing company and only recently focused on video. That's incredible that that one strategic decision to focus exclusively on video allowed you to get to this result today.
A: We didn’t do video until December 2005. A lot of that adjustment and decision was under the suggestion that came from Josh [Felser]. And we did adjust the company. We had built a peer to peer infrastructure. And we continue to leverage that peer to peer infrastructure. We turned it 90 degrees on its head by focusing on the video vertical."

Tags: grouper, web2.0, david+samuel, m&a,sony, youtube, vc, venture+capital.