Podcasts by Built to Sell Radio

Ep 396 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer with ASG’s CEO, Steve Reardon from 2023-06-30T05:00

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Ep 395 How to Avoid Post-Sale Regrets: A Conversation with Dr. Sherry Walling from 2023-06-23T05:00

This week on Built to Sell Radio, we're excited to feature a special episode with clinical psychologist, speaker, and author, Dr. Sherry Walling. Dr. Walling is renowned for he...

Ep 394 5 Lessons on Building to Sell Mark Wright Learned from Billionaire Alan Sugar from 2023-06-16T05:00

In 2014, Mark Wright, who won BBC's The Apprentice, used ...

Ep 393 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer with Valtech’s Randy Woods from 2023-06-09T04:59

After a 23-year journey building Non-Linear Creations into a marketing giant with more than 120 employees, Randy Woods sold it in 2017 to Valte...

Ep 392 Inside Fidelity's $80 Million Acquisition of SkySlope with Tyler Smith from 2023-06-02T05:00

In 2011, Tyler Smith,...

Ep 391 Riding the Wave of an Industry Roll Up with Miles Faulkner from 2023-05-26T05:00

In 2017, Miles Faulkner partnered with Martin Cleaver to establish...

Ep 390 Josh Abramson, founder of Vimeo, CollegeHumour.com and TeePublic on growing a fanatical following, avoiding an earn-out, mastering SEO, accelerating acquisitions and his $41 million exit from 2023-05-19T05:00

Josh Abramson has an impressive track record of building valuable companies. In 1999 Abramson started CollegeHumor.com and before he could even graduate, Abramson had received ...

Ep 389 How to Create Sticky Customers with Lori Morton - Leverage strategic partnerships, sell to industry giants, position your company to attract acquirers, choosing the right acquirer from 2023-05-12T05:00

In 1998, Lori Morton founded AerieHub, a customizable mobile app that helps facility managers efficiently control building information and operations, including compliance reco...

Ep 388 How to Create Repeat Customers Automatically with Gamal Codner - Increase the LTV of a customer, use reviews to drive value, systemizing your business, building a e-commerce brand, find your natural acquirers. from 2023-05-05T05:00

In 2017, Gamal Codner established Fresh Heritage, an e-commerce company that created grooming products specifically for men of color.

Codner grew Fresh...

Ep 387 Selling a Service Business Without an Earn-Out with Brandon Lazar: Selling a service business without an earn-out; how squishy timelines kill deals, negotiating with sophisticated acquirers vs. first-time buyers, alternative ways to find the money from 2023-04-28T05:00

In 2008, Brandon Lazar started A+ Gutter & Windo...

Ep 386 Understanding Your Acquirers BATNA with Susanne Klepsch - Know if you’re building a product or company, incite a bidding war, approach potential acquirers, structuring a winning earn-out, use market research to grow your business, mitigate your r from 2023-04-21T05:00

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Ep 385 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer with Kevin McArdle: Holding company vs. PE, prepare to be acquired, prevent deterring an acquirer, enhance acquirer talks, counter PE discount tactics, decode valuation metrics from 2023-04-14T11:00

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Ep 384 The Inside Story Behind P&G’s Acquisition of TULA Skincare: Uncover fresh opportunities, safeguard your idea, finance your startup, choose the right acquirer, the role partners play when selling, the downside of excessive growth. from 2023-04-07T05:00

In 2013, Dan Reich and his partners founded TULA, a digitally native, probiotics-infused s...

Ep 383 How to Avoid Getting Trapped in a Low Valuation Industry: How Swag.com Founder Jeremy Parker Positioned His $30M Business as a Technology Company to Attract Industry Leader Custom Ink. Acquire a 7-figure domain for free, leverage blue chip clients, from 2023-03-31T05:00

In 2016, Jeremy Parker co-founded Swag.com to offer branded promotional products for businesses. Parker and his team developed a powerful onlin...

Ep 382 How to Attract a Strategic Acquirer for Your Business: 5 Proven Strategies. How Stephanie Breedlove got 6 times revenue, insides Hubspot’s rationale for acquiring The Hustle, why Home Depot bought Blinds.com, why ContentSquare paid a truckload fo from 2023-03-24T05:00

Microsoft's recent announcement about integrating OpenAI's features into Microsoft 365 serves as a prime example of how finding a strategic acq...

Ep 381 How to Know When to Sell our Business: Inside Nasdaq’s Acquisition of Quandl. Lessons on Timing and Negotiation for Entrepreneurs with Tammer Kamel - Risks of taking VC money, compete with an industry giant, negotiate with a competitor, knowing w from 2023-03-17T05:00

In 2011, Tammer Kamel launched Quandl, a company that provided investors with data designed to...

Ep 380 How to Use Affiliate Marketing to Spike the Value of Your Business: How Kyle Scott Went From a Broke Philadelphia Sports Blogger Into a $12 Million Payday. Affiliate marketing, monetizing your audience, SEO vs. readability, merging with a competito from 2023-03-10T06:00

Kyle Scott launched Crossing Broad, a Philadelphia sports blog, in 2009. His irreverent and edgy writing...

Ep 379 Market Value vs. Personal Value with Mac Lackey - FC Barcelona, piggyback on someone else’s brand equity, unorthodox negotiation techniques, shady tactic used by acquirers. from 2023-03-03T06:00

In 2013 Mac Lackey licensed the FC Barcelona nam...

Ep 378 How to Keep More Equity by Getting Customers to Fund Your Growth with Premonition Founder, Brad Lorge - ARR vs. ACV, finding strategic acquirers, negotiation tips, fast-tracking an acquisition, considerations when rolling equity. from 2023-02-24T06:00

In 2015, Brad Lorge founded Premonition, a technology company that offers logistics s...

Ep 377 From Startup to Acquihire: One Founder's Journey with Rachel Elsts Downey from 2023-02-17T06:00

Rachel Elsts Downey is the founder of Share Your Genius, a podcast production company that has been helping businesses increase their brand visibility since 2017. Over the year...

Ep 376 How to Get Your Employees to Act Like Owners with the Founder of Two Maids&a Mop, Ron Holt from 2023-02-10T06:00

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Ep 375 Inside HubSpot's Surprising Acquisition of the Hustle with Founder, Sam Parr from 2023-02-03T13:00

Sam Parr founded the Hustle, a media company that delivers business and tech news to millennials in an engaging and relatable way, in 2015. The business was an instant hit with readers, generati...

Ep 374 How Tabarnapp Grew Its Value Ten-Fold in 24 Months with Derek Morin from 2023-01-27T13:00

In 2016, Derek Morin founded Tabarnapp to create after-market sales applications for Shopify website owners. The company was an instant hit generating more than 1,000 paid customers in its first...

Ep 373 Revolutionizing the Way We Plan Our Careers: Discover the Impact of Sokanu with the Founder, Spencer Thompson from 2023-01-20T13:00

In 2012, Spencer Thompson founded Sokanu, a career assessment platform aimed at replacing the outdated assessments that existed at the time. Sokanu’s “Career Explorer” quickly became one of Nort...

Ep 372 Brighter Vision’s Niche Strategy Leads to $17.5 Million Acquisition with Perry Rosenbloom from 2023-01-13T13:00

In 2011, Perry Rosenbloom started the web development company, Brighter Vision. After a few years of jumping from project to project, Rosenbloom had a breakthrough. Instead of doing web design f...

Ep 371 From Dragon's Den Investment to $16.8 Million Acquisition – The Story of truLOCAL with Founder, Marc Lafleur from 2023-01-06T13:00

In 2016, Marc Lafleur started truLOCAL, a subscription business allowing people to buy locally-raised meats online. 

To ignite sales, Lafleur and his co-founder pitched the company on the...

Ep 370 Scaling Your Business through Strategic Partnerships with Simon Penson from 2022-12-30T13:00

In 2009 Simon Penson founded Zazzle Media, one of the first content marketing agencies in the U.K. Although the company was successful, Penson had difficulties winning large customer contracts d...

Ep 369 End of the Year Special: Top 10 Strategies for Building the Valuable of Your Company, Punching Above Your Weight in a Negotiation to Sell, and Feeling Happy After You Leave from 2022-12-23T13:00

This week on Built to Sell Radio, we highlight the top strategies from the 10 most popular shows of 2022.

Ep 368 How This Service Business Sold for Over 4-Times Revenue with Kelby Zorgdrager from 2022-12-16T13:00

In 2006 Kelby Zorgdrager started DevelopIntelligence, an outsourced training provider that helps programmers develop new skills and adapt to ever-changing technologies.

The business snowb...

Ep 367 Libsyn’s Acquisition of AdvertiseCast: The Tell-All with Trevr Smithlin and Dave Hanley from 2022-12-09T13:00

In 2016 Trevr Smithlin and Dave Hanley founded AdvertiseCast, a marketplace connecting podcasters with advertisers. The company experienced tremendous growth, doubling revenue year-over-year unt...

Ep 366 The Inside Story of Stripe’s Acquisition of Indie Hackers with Co-Founder Channing Allen from 2022-12-02T13:00

In 2016 Channing Allen and his brother Courtland founded Indie Hackers, a blog and forum that encourages founders to transparently share their ideas and stories. 

After only eight months,...

Ep 365 The Hidden Cost of Being a Hands-on Boss With Create&Cultivate Founder, Jaclyn Johnson from 2022-11-25T13:00

In 2012, Jaclyn Johnson founded Create & Cultivate, a media company that educates and inspires women to succeed in business.

By 2018, Johnson had grown Create & Cultivate to eight employe...

Ep 364 Is Your Best Customer Hurting Your Company’s Value? With Medpoint Founder, Chuck Crumpton from 2022-11-18T13:00

In 2002 Chuck Crumpton started Medpoint to help businesses bring medical devices and pharmaceuticals to market. The company quickly took off after Crumpton landed a prominent blue-chip client.  ...

Ep 363 How to Get Your Employees to Care as Much as You - With Postmark Founder, Natalie Nagele from 2022-11-11T13:00

In 2009 Natalie Nagele and her husband, Chris, launched Postmark to help businesses deliver emails to their customers quickly.

A decade in, Nagele had grown the company to around 40 emplo...

Ep 362 A Behind the Scenes Look at a Mini Roll Up - Joseph Marchell from 2022-11-04T12:00

In 2020 veterinarian Dr. Joseph Marchell started Old Brown Dog Veterinary Partners (OBDVP) after identifying a unique opportunity to do a rollup of family-owned animal hospitals. 

Marchel...

Ep 361 Hacking Your Way to a $22 Million Exit – Nick Santora from 2022-10-28T12:00

In 2015 Nick Santora founded Curricula, a cyber security awareness training program that helps companies defend themselves against hackers. Santora created fun, cartoon training videos in contra...

Ep 360 Looking Smaller to Make Your Company Bigger - With Sendible Founder, Gavin Hammar from 2022-10-21T12:00

In 2008, Gavin Hammar started Sendible, a platform that allows companies to manage all their social media accounts from one place. 

The company grew steadily until 2016, when Hammar hit a...

Ep 359 Inside the Mind of An Acquirer – Nathan Winch from 2022-10-14T12:00

U.K.-based Nathan Winch started his career as a private equity investor after selling his first company, Winch Pharma, in 2017.

Since then, Winch has acquired over 20 businesses, with a f...

Ep 358 Why Candy Banners Sold for a Mint – Tim Grassin from 2022-10-07T12:00

In 2014 Tim Grassin founded Candy Banners, which designs ads that show up along the top, bottom, and sides of a website.  

Grassin built a remote team in the Philippines to minimize his c...

Ep 357 How Mike Winnet Sold His E-learning Company for Around 4-Times Revenue from 2022-09-30T12:00

In 2015 Mike Winnet started U.K.-based Learning Heroes after recognizing that most e-learning programs were long and boring. Winnet saw an opportunity to transform the industry by creating short...

Ep 356 A Regrettable Deal - Jason Bagley from 2022-09-23T12:00

In 2013 South African entrepreneur Jason Bagley started Firing Squad, a lead generation company specializing in cold emails. 

In 2020 Firing Squad signed an agreement to be acquired by So...

Ep 355 Bootstrapping to a $200 Million Exit - With ProfitWell Founder, Patrick Campbell from 2022-09-16T12:00

In 2012, Patrick Campbell founded ProfitWell to help SaaS companies increase revenue and reduce churn by managing their data in a single place. 

After bootstrapping the business to 8-figu...

Ep 354 One Company, Two 8-Figure Exits - With Peerfit Founder, Ed Buckley from 2022-09-09T12:00

Ed Buckley started Peerfit, which allows companies to offer fitness classes as part of their employee benefits package. The company grew to more than 150 employees before receiving an acquisitio...

Ep 353 Selling Your Business vs. Getting Acquired - With Avail Founder, Ryan Coon from 2022-09-02T12:00

In 2012, Ryan Coon started Rentalutions, a platform to help landlords manage and communicate with their tenants more effectively. 

The business showed steady growth, but Coon was...

Ep 352 How to Get Your Business to Run Without You - Jodie Cook from 2022-08-26T11:00

When Jodie Cook started her social media agency, nothing happened without her involvement.

Desperate to free herself up from the minutia of running her company, Cook started to systematiz...

Ep 351 The Surprising Reason Ryan Kulp Sold Fomo from 2022-08-19T12:00

In 2016, Ryan Kulp launched Fomo because he saw marketers using aggressive popups on their websites.

Kulp reasoned that if he could show other people were shopping and interacting with a ...

Ep 350 How to Time Your Exit in Any Economy from 2022-08-12T12:00

The economy has been a roller-coaster over the last quarter.

In this special episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow reveals the downside of trying to time the market and shares fo...

Ep 349 How to Avoid Seller’s Remorse - Rory Fatt from 2022-08-05T12:00

Rory Fatt began his entrepreneurial journey running marketing seminars for restauranteurs. After several owners approached Fatt to do their marketing for them, he decided to launch Royalty Rewar...

Ep 348 Selling Your Side Hustle - Jeremy Nagel from 2022-07-29T11:00

Jeremy Nagel started his entrepreneurial career teaching clients how to get the most out of Zoho, a popular CRM platform. Nagel began cultivating a small following on YouTube by sharing his advi...

Ep 347 6 Things to Know Before Approaching an Acquirer - Touraj Parang from 2022-07-22T12:00

Touraj Parang has experienced the highs and lows of selling a company. 

In 2009, Parang sold his first company, Jaxtr, for pennies on the dollar. He took the lessons he learned and joined...

Ep 346 How this Service Business Sold for 3X Revenue - Timothy Armoo from 2022-07-15T11:00

Ten years ago, Timo Armoo was on a flight from his home country of Ghana on his way to live in a council flat in one of the U.K.'s poorest neighborhoods.

Motivated to live a better life, ...

Ep 345 Up in Smoke - Lorenzo de Plano from 2022-07-08T11:00

In 2015, Lorenzo de Plano co-founded Solace Technologies, one of the first vape manufacturers in the United States. The goal of the business was to create a discreet vape pen that customers coul...

Ep 344 How to Make Your Email List Worth 7-Figures - Laura Roeder from 2022-07-01T12:00

In 2007, Laura Roeder started selling online courses on how to market through social media. Her courses gained popularity, resulting in Roeder growing an email list of around 70,000 people. Insp...

Ep 343 One Bold Decision That Led to a 20X Growth in Revenue - Raman Sehgal from 2022-06-24T12:00

In 2009, Raman Sehgal started a small marketing company called ramarketing. In 2015, frustrated with the company’s progress, Sehgal decided to analyze his business.

That’s when he discove...

Ep 342 The Unicorn Exit - Haroon Mokhtarzada from 2022-06-17T12:00

In 2001, Haroon Mokhtarzada and his brothers started Webs.com, which allowed anyone to build a professional website. Eager to grow the company, they decided to raise money from a venture capital...

Ep 341 Selling to a Publicly Traded Company - Tony Falkenstein from 2022-06-10T12:00

In 1988, Tony Falkenstein started Just Life Group, one of the first water-cooler companies in New Zealand.

In 2016, Falkenstein identified the need to diversify into new service offerings...

Ep 340 Selling for a Truckload - Josh Davis from 2022-06-03T12:00

In 2015 Josh Davis and a friend, Darryl Ee, decided to start Speedee Transport, a trucking company specializing in shipping products that need to be refrigerated. 

Within three years of s...

Ep 339 The Lifeboat Exit - John Whiting from 2022-05-27T12:00

In 2017, John Whiting started Digital Kryptonite with the goal to provide business owners with more leads. Helping his clients mine LinkedIn, Whiting quickly grew his company from zero to seven ...

Ep 338 How This Service Business Got Almost 20 X EBITDA - Jonathan Shroyer from 2022-05-20T12:00

In 2019, Jonathan Shroyer, alongside his Co-Founder Scott McCabe, started Officium Labs with the goal to help clients turn contact centers into profit centers.

After two years of seeing i...

Could What Happened With Twitter&Elon Musk Happen To You? from 2022-05-13T16:00

What every owner should take away from Elon Musk's decision to press pause.

Enjoy this special edition of Built To Sell Radio. 

Ep 337 Eddie Whittingham - Saying No To 7 Times Revenue from 2022-05-13T12:00

Eddie Whittingham started a company called The Defense Works in 2016. His idea was to provide companies with information on how to avoid getting hacked. Whittingham created a series of animated ...

Ep 336 James Ashford - The Inside Story Behind Sage’s 8 Figure Acquisition of a 12 Employee Company from 2022-05-06T12:00

In 2016, James Ashford took what little was left after his business failed and invested £4,000 in developing proposal software for accountants which he named GoProposal. By 2020, GoProposal was ...

Ep 335 James Ashford - How to Sell A 12 Employee Company for 8-Figures from 2022-04-29T14:23:58

James Ashford had a burning drive to become an entrepreneur and start a successful business. After a failed attempt to grow a marketing agency, Ashford knew that to build the business he had alw...

Ep 334 Paul Nielsen - From Product-Driven to Purpose-Driven from 2022-04-22T12:00

Paul Nielsen built HomeTech, a company focused on creating healthier homes by installing skylights for natural lighting and advanced systems for better air quality. The business was generating a...

Ep 333 Built to Sell Intel - How to Turn Beta Users into Customers Plus 3 Other Stories from 2022-04-15T12:00

This week, we’re featuring four recent guests and highlighting transferrable lessons they shared about exiting their company.

Ep 332 James Benham - The Clean Exit: 7X Revenue, No Earn-Out from 2022-04-08T15:52:47

After graduating from business school, James Benham interned at one of the large accounting firms. Benham quickly realized corporate life was not for him. Instead, Benham started a business and ...

Ep 331 Ben Tossell - Maker vs. Manager from 2022-04-01T21:54:24

In 2019, Ben Tossell was a frustrated entrepreneur, launching products nobody bought. His contacts showed little interest in his concepts but were curious about how he built his online offerings...

Ep 330 Anna Maste - Bootstrapping a 2-Sided Market to a 7-Figure Exit from 2022-03-25T22:38:11

Anna Maste built Boondockers Welcome, a kind of Airbnb for RVers, to $100,000 in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) when she received an offer of 3.9 times ARR. Maste was about to accept the offer w...

Ep 329 Sue Bryce&Craig Swanson - The 8-figure Expert from 2022-03-19T02:12:30

Imagine turning your expertise into an 8-figure exit. That’s exactly what Sue Bryce did. Bryce built a $1 million photography studio in an industry where owners are often limited to low six-figu...

Ep 328 Built to Sell Intel - 4 Big Takeaways on Building the Value of Your Company from 2022-03-12T02:39:26

This week, we're back with the latest Intel edition of Built to Sell Radio.

We feature four recent guests and dissect what made their companies built to sell.

Ep 327 Calvin Johnson - Selling for Parts from 2022-03-04T21:48:09

Calvin Johnson built Lykki, an office supply company, to more than $7 million in annual revenue.

Johnson had two divisions, one had office kitchen supplies (e.g., coffee), and the other s...

Ep 326 Robert Glazer - Inside the Mind of an Acquirer from 2022-02-26T04:50:30

Robert Glazer started an affiliate marketing agency called Acceleration Partners in 2007. Glazer never took outside capital and grew Acceleration to almost $28 million in sales before he sold a ...

Ep 325 Robert Glazer - Why Robert Glazer Sold His $28 Million Agency from 2022-02-19T04:47:51

Robert Glazer started an affiliate marketing agency called Acceleration Partners in 2007. Glazer never took outside capital and grew Acceleration to almost $28 million in sales before he sold a ...

Ep 324 Sandy Hansen-Wolff - The Unexpected Exit from 2022-02-12T03:18:31

Sandy Hansen-Wolff was a newlywed when her husband of only a few months, Randy Hansen, was diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors told Randy that one in four patients in his position succumbed to ...

Ep 323 Melissa Kwan - How to Know When Your Idea Has Legs from 2022-02-04T19:26:36

Melissa Kwan and her co-founder built Spacio, a company that helped real estate agents win and manage leads that come from hosting open houses.

Kwan built the company to roughly 100,000 a...

Ep 322 Kate Field - What You Should Know Before You Pitch Your Company on Shark Tank (or Anywhere) from 2022-01-29T01:31:15

In 2013, Kate Field started The Kombucha Shop offering home-brew kits that people can use to make kombucha.

By 2018, the kombucha craze was in full swing and Field was invited to pitch he...

Ep 321 David Darmanin - Built to Sell vs. Planning to Sell from 2022-01-22T02:55:23

David Darmanin co-founded Hotjar, a software company that helps website developers and owners understand how their users interact with the sites they build.
Darmanin and his partners boots...

Ep 320 David Perry - $380 Million for Knowledge Curated at the School of Hard Knocks from 2022-01-14T21:12:44

David Perry co-founded Gaikai, a video game company that enables popular games like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty to be played on just about any device.

Perry raised $50 million thro...

Ep 319 Anthony Fracchia - How to Attract the Acquirer You Crave from 2022-01-07T21:51:57

Anthony Fracchia built Altruis Benefit Consulting to $2.5 million in revenue when he started to get unsolicited calls from potential buyers. He initiated conversations with an acquirer only to l...

Ep 318 Rafael Zimberoff - How to Sell a 12 Employee Company for $17 Million from 2021-12-31T22:34:51

Rafael Zimberoff built ShipRush, an application that helps businesses streamline their technology, to 12 full-time employees when he sold it to Descartes for $14 million, plus a $3 million earn-...

Ep 317 Built to Sell Intel - How to Create a Bidding War Plus Three Other Lessons from 2021-12-17T18:39:10

This week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio is the Intel edition. We focus on four recent guests and highlight the strategies that made their companies built to sell.

Ep 316 Jon Claydon - 3 Ways to Play an Industry Roll-Up from 2021-12-11T01:41:55

In 2013, Jon Claydon started Streamline Marketing to help brands manage their affiliate programs. Claydon bootstrapped his business to around 30 employees but avoided hiring for some senior role...

Ep 315 Prantik Mazumdar - The Happy Exit from 2021-12-04T02:18:14

Prantik Mazumdar and his business partner Rachit Dayal built Happy Marketer, a digital marketing agency, to more than $10 million in annual revenue before they decided to sell to Dentsu Aegis Ne...

Ep 314 Josh Delaney - The $26 Million Dollar Man from 2021-11-27T04:00:42

Josh Delaney started FAB CBD, a CBD e-tailer, in 2017. Delaney's Mom was his first customer, but his sales quickly went beyond family members. By 2020, through a combination of savvy marketing a...

Ep 313 Ben Kellie - From Elon Musk to Exit of His Own from 2021-11-20T02:51:52

Ben Kellie got his start in the aerospace industry, helping Elon Musk figure out how to get his rockets to land on a floating barge without blowing up.

In 2015, Kellie left SpaceX to star...

Ep 312 Kevin Waldron - How to Build Your Company to Sell (Even if You Have No Plans To) from 2021-11-13T04:12:47

Kevin Waldron built Olympic Restoration, a disaster recovery business, to $24 million in annual sales before he decided to sell. Helping homeowners clean up from a fire or a flood was a good bus...

Ep 311 Nick Leighton - Getting Around Your Non-compete from 2021-11-06T01:05:43

Nick Leighton started a marketing agency called NettResults with the idea of helping technology companies access consumers in the Middle East. Based in Dubai, Leighton built NettResults to aroun...

Ep 310 Leona Watson - 3 Things to Consider Before Shopping Your Business from 2021-10-29T04:00

Leona Watson started Cheeky Food Events, where they offered companies cooking lessons as a team-building activity.

Over 17 years, Watson produced 3,000 events for more than 85,000 people....

Ep 309 Built to Sell Intel - The Biggest Mistake Co-Founders Make, and 3 Other Lessons from 2021-10-23T03:26:31

With Built to Sell Radio, you’ve grown accustomed to hearing entrepreneur exit stories from A to Z, but this week’s episode is a little different. We tease out four transferrable lessons from th...

Ep 308 Arleen&Ted Taveras - One Strategy Took Them From 12.5 to 16 times EBITDA from 2021-10-16T03:47:15

Arleen & Ted Taveras had been growing their insurance consultancy for twenty years when they received an unsolicited acquisition offer for 12.5 times EBITDA.

It was a tempting offer from ...

Ep 307 Pete Ingram-Cauchi - How iD Tech Went From the Verge of Extinction to a $200 Million Acquisition in 12 Months from 2021-10-08T23:23:44

Back in 1998, siblings Pete and Alexa Ingram-Cauchi started iD Tech to offer summer camps for kids who wanted to learn about computers.

The business grew each year and by 2019, was genera...

Ep 306 Jay Gould - Once Bitten, Twice Shy: The (Real) Reason Jay Gould Sold Yashi for $33M from 2021-10-02T01:57:43

Jay Gould co-founded Yashi, a platform that helped advertisers buy ads on video content. Yashi grew to more than $25 million in revenue and more than $5 million in EBITDA when Gould received an ...

Ep 305 Andy Cabasso - Inside Uptime's 7-Figure Acquisition of JurisPage from 2021-09-25T02:00:33

Andy Cabasso co-founded JurisPage, a marketing agency specializing in helping law firms in 2013.

Three years later, JurisPage had service contracts with more than 200 law firms when they ...

Ep 304 Mehul Sheth - Punching Above Your Weight When It's Time to Sell from 2021-09-18T00:54:29

Mehul Sheth started VMS Aircraft in 1995 with a plan to sell spare parts to airlines. Sheth had just $25,000 to invest in inventory, so VMS got off to a modest start. However, by 2016 Sheth had ...

Ep 303 Paul Farrell - From Zero to $1.2 Million ARR Exit In 2 Years from 2021-09-10T16:17:07

Paul J. Farrell built Nehemiah Security, a software company that helped organizations understand and calculate the risks associated with a cyber-attack.

In just two years, the business gr...

Ep 302 Michael Kaplan - The Shotgun Breakup from 2021-09-04T01:47:25

Back in 2006, Michael Kaplan and his partners bought into a Zerorez Carpet and Living Surfaces Care franchise. The business was generating $300,000 in revenue and losing $40,000 a year. 

...

Ep 301 Justin Adams - From Broke to Big Time Exit in Just 2 Years from 2021-08-27T20:39:43

In 2017, Justin Adams co-founded Digitize.AI to help hospitals get paid. They used artificial intelligence to get medical treatments pre-approved by insurance companies ensuring their patients c...

Ep 300 Cheryl Contee - Cheryl Contee on Selling Attentive.ly from 2021-08-20T20:29:32

Cheryl Contee co-founded Attentive.ly along with Rosalyn Lemieux. Together, the partners offered a Software as a Service (SaaS) app that helped non-for-profit organizations perform “social liste...

Ep 299 Built to Sell Intel - Turning the Tables on John from 2021-08-13T20:30:45

By now, you're accustomed to hearing John Warrillow ask the tough questions.

Every month, we turn the tables and grill J...

Ep 298 Michèle Hecken - Why “Off-Boarding” Is an Essential Ingredient in Building to Sell from 2021-08-06T18:17:48

Michèle Hecken built Alpha Translations up to $4.4 Million (USD) in revenue and almost a million dollars in EBITDA before she sold it in 2019 for $6 million cash (6.7 x normalized EBITDA).

Ep 297 Robert Hartline - The $4 Million Haircut from 2021-07-30T19:26:13

In 1994, Robert Hartline started selling phones in the back of his car. By 2019, he had built Absolute Wireless into a chain of 56 wireless stores and 350 employees.

Hartline was able to ...

Ep 296 Ben&Ariel Zvaifler - The Inside Story of Petco’s Acquisition of Shark Tank-Featured PupBox from 2021-07-23T17:24:03

Like many young couples, Ben & Ariel Zvaifler got a puppy and found themselves trying to figure out how to train it. They wondered what toys were safe and what kind of food to give to their bran...

Ep 295 Nick Huber - Sweat Equity from 2021-07-16T17:18:27

Nick Huber was a track star at Cornell when he fielded a call from a parent that would change his life. A fellow student needed to store their stuff over the summer, and Huber was offered money ...

Built to Sell Intel - July 2021 from 2021-07-15T22:58:36

On this month's episode of Built to Sell Intel, John will be sharing key insights from the latest group of entrepreneurs interviewed on Built to Sell Radio.

John recaps his favorite anecd...

Ep 294 Cary Moretti - The Carve-Out Exit from 2021-07-09T18:14:58

Cary Moretti is the founder of NewSportMedia, an IT consulting company that does work with sports leagues. Along the way, Moretti created a software application called LeagueStat. The app helped...

Ep 293 Dr. Kristin Kahle - How One Founder Moved Her Multiple From 2 to 8 Times EBITDA from 2021-07-02T18:25:02

Dr. Kristin Kahle helps businesses pick a benefits program for their employees.

She started three insurance agencies and the first two were service businesses that sold for a modest 1.5-2...

Ep 292 Jodie Cook - How to Sell a Service Business Without an Earn-Out from 2021-06-25T18:52:53

In 2011, Jodie Cook started an eponymously named social media agency, JC Social Media. Over the next nine years, Cook built the business up to 16 employees. Then, she decided to sell at the end ...

Ep 291 Sebastian Johnston - The Humble Yogi Sells His Business from 2021-06-18T16:58:44

Along with three friends, Sebastian Johnston co-founded TheAmazeApp in 2014. The idea was based on a simple idea. Social media influencers could upload a picture of what they were wearing and ta...

Ep 290 Eytan Wiener - How to Turn a Distribution Company Into a Valuable Business from 2021-06-11T19:38:39

Eytan Wiener started Quantum Networks as a simple Amazon Reseller of technology gadgets. The business model was basic. Resell a semi-known brand’s product on Amazon, or source a device people wa...

Special Edition - Built to Sell Intel - June 2021 from 2021-06-08T17:00:51

This past month, we've interviewed four riveting guests on Built to Sell Radio.

John shares the transferable lessons on Built to Sell Intel, a monthly live webinar hosted for our listener...

Ep 289 Dave&Carrie Kerpen - The Bait&Switch from 2021-06-04T18:29:31

Carrie and Dave Kerpen started Likeable Media, a social media agency, in 2006.

The business grew to more than 50 employees when the couple met for their annual partner's retreat. The Kerp...

Ep 288 Shawn Finder - Finding the Middle Ground With an Acquirer from 2021-05-28T18:44:07

Shawn Finder built email marketing platform Autoklose to $1 million in revenue when a chance encounter at a conference led to an acquisition conversation with VanillaSoft. Finder thought his com...

Ep 287 Mike Agugliaro - The Turnaround from 2021-05-21T18:08:54

Mike Agugliaro is an electrician by trade and over 12 years built Gold Medal Service to around $700,000 in revenue with his partner Rob Zadotti.

The days were long, which was one reason Z...

Ep 286 Marc Elkman - The Good, the Bad (and the Ugly) Of Selling to Private Equity from 2021-05-14T16:57:47

Marc Elkman built Fresh Meal Plan, a meal delivery service for healthy eaters, from an idea to $20 million in annual revenue in just three years.

Still in his twenties, Elkman earned a # ...

Special Edition - Built to Sell Intel from 2021-05-10T15:53:52

Over the last month, we've interviewed four fascinating guests on Built to Sell Radio.

John Warrillow shares the transferable lessons with you on Built to Sell Intel, a monthly live webin...

Ep 285 Wes Mathews - Double an Offer, Without Turning off an Acquirer from 2021-05-07T18:13:05

Wes Mathews built High Level Marketing, a digital advertising agency, to $6.5 million in annual revenue. The business was thriving, but when COVID hit, Mathews started to question the risk he wa...

Ep 284 - Built to Sell Radio Q&A Feature from 2021-04-30T19:06:53

This week on the show, we tried something a little different.

Instead of interviewing an owner about their exit, we canvassed founders for their questions about building to sell and asked...

Ep 283 Ben Leonard - How Amazon Became a Blessing and a Curse for Beast Gear from 2021-04-23T15:35:27

Ben Leonard is a fitness enthusiast who found himself in bed with a heart problem in his early 20's (he's fit and healthy now). His doctors told him to rest. Said not to go to the gym, he cleare...

Ep 282 James Prebble - A Rembrandt in the Attic from 2021-04-16T15:09:23

James Prebble co-founded Palladium Digital, a consultancy helping companies think about their digital strategy.

The company experimented with various business models until they landed on ...

Ep 281 Andrew Gazdecki - How a Cold Email to Apple’s Tim Cook Led to an 8-Figure Win from 2021-04-09T15:12:15

Andrew Gazdecki was born in Detroit and lost his father as a young boy. He and his Mom grew up using food stamps. In College, Gazdecki created an online marketplace for freelancers (think a tiny...

Ep 280 Darrell Lerner - The Surprising Story Behind PetSmart’s Acquisition of AllPaws from 2021-04-01T18:55:33

Back in 2013, on the heels of building a successful online dating application, Darrell Lerner decided to apply his experience in the dating industry to pet adoption. He built a website and mobil...

Ep 279 Jim Estill- 10 Things Most Celebrity Entrepreneurs Won't Tell You About Building a Business from 2021-03-26T18:23:43

Jim Estill is one of the most successful entrepreneurs you've probably never heard of. 

In 1975, Estill started EMJ Data, a technology distribution company, from the trunk of his car and ...

Ep 278 Matt McGowan - One Bold Move That Can Make Your Company More Valuable from 2021-03-19T12:26:57

Henry Hyder-Smith and Steve Denner started UK-based Adestra in 2004. Adestra is a digital marketing software that helps big companies handle email campaigns, among other things.

The compa...

Ep 277 Frank Cianciulli - A $30 Million Bird in Hand from 2021-03-12T19:17:26

Before Zoom, when you wanted to meet with a group of people remotely, you used a teleconferencing service. If you lived in Canada during the early 2000s, you probably used one of Frank Cianciull...

Ep 276 Jason Flick - The Story Behind Jason Flick's $100 Million Sale to WarnerMedia from 2021-03-05T17:53:08

These days, you're just as likely to watch a football game on a mobile phone as you are on an old-school TV. The technology that enables you to watch your favorite show on whatever device you ha...

Ep 275 Adii Pienaar - How a Simple Strategy Led to a 35% Higher Valuation for Conversio from 2021-02-26T15:17:03

In 2014, Adii Pienaar started an email marketing platform for retailers, which became Conversio. By 2019, Pienaar had $2 million in revenue and 14 employees. 

Ep 274 Cesar Quintero - How to Sell When Everything Is Broken from 2021-02-19T16:31:31

In 2004, Cesar Quintero started Fit2Go, a meal delivery service in Miami. The business delivered healthy meals to office workers in South Florida, and by 2017, Fit2Go was earning 12% profit on $...

Ep 273 Mike Malatesta - Re-Occurring Revenue vs. Recurring Revenue from 2021-02-12T16:01:44

Mike Malatesta built Advanced Waste Services, a company that helped businesses dispose of their industrial waste, to $45 million in annual sales before a fateful lunch changed his life forever. ...

Ep 272 Jon Morris - 6 Lessons From Selling Your Company to a Growth Equity Investor from 2021-02-05T16:15:12

Despite starting with just $10,000 in 2004, Jon Morris built Rise Interactive, a digital marketing agency, to more than 100 employees before deciding to sell part of the business to Quad, a glob...

Ep 271 Greg Alexander - How to Sell a 30-Person Consultancy for $162 Million from 2021-01-29T17:32:55

At age 36, Greg Alexander decided to start Sales Benchmark Index (SBI), a sales consultancy. Over the next eleven years, Alexander built the business to 30 employees who collectively generated a...

Ep 270 Pete Martin - How to Sell a Consulting Business for 12 X EBITDA (Without an Earn-Out) from 2021-01-22T16:54:11

Pete Martin built EntryPoint Consulting to 34 employees when he sold it to KPMG for a staggering 12 times earnings — without an earn-out. 

Ep 269 Jack Rivlin - 11 Hard-Earned Lessons From Selling a Struggling Business from 2021-01-15T17:30:08

Jack Rivlin co-founded The Tab, a U.K. based media company that published digital campus newspapers across the U.K.

After ten years, The Tab had earned almost 6 million unique visitors an...

Ep 268 Ryan Daniel Moran - 6 Lessons Ryan Moran Learned From a Seven Figure Loss from 2021-01-08T15:10:38

Ryan Daniel Moran built Sheer Strength, a supplements business, up to a run rate of around $10 million per year when he decided it was time to sell. 

Ep 267 Saud Juman - Why Policy Medical Got 7.2 x Revenue from 2020-12-23T19:24:26

Saud Juman built PolicyMedical, a company enabling hospitals to document their procedures and policies, into a software company growing 100% a year when he sold it for 7.2 times revenue. It was ...

Ep 266 Tyler Jefcoat - What to Do When Your Partner Is Not Ready to Sell from 2020-12-18T14:49:26

Tyler Jefcoat co-founded Care to Continue, which provides in-home care for seniors, in 2012. Jefcoat built the company to more than 100 employees when he got an offer from a private equity group...

Ep 265 Todd Kaufman - How To Overcome Owner's Guilt from 2020-12-10T17:09:45

Todd Kaufman and his partner Justin Searls started Test Double, a custom software development company, in 2011. The business was a success from the start and grew more than 25% a year. By 2019, ...

Ep 264 Lee Richter - How to Get 10x EBITDA in an Industry That Trades at 5 from 2020-12-04T14:39:57

In 2002, Lee Richter and her husband bought Montclair Veterinary Hospital in Northern California. Californians were embracing alternative medicine, and the Richter’s wondered if their affluent c...

Ep 263 Mark Timm - The Kevin Harrington Way to Structure the Sale of Your Business from 2020-11-27T17:55

Mark Timm built Cottage Garden, a company selling decorative music boxes, to $8 million in revenue and around $1 million in EBITDA when he decided to sell it. 

Listen

Ep 262 - Michael Dash - How to Sell a Struggling Company from 2020-11-20T15:41:18

If you're feeling exhausted from running your company, you can take a little solace from Michael G. Dash. Dash built Parallel HR Solutions, a staffing company, up to around $5 million in revenue...

Ep 261 Rob Walling - Play Hard to Get, Without Risking Your Deal from 2020-11-13T14:43:05

Rob Walling started an email service provider named Drip back in 2012. Walling bootstrapped his growth to almost $2 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) when, in 2015, Clay Collins, the fou...

Ep 260 Stephen V. Smith - The 50% Bump from 2020-11-06T14:42:33

Stephen V. Smith built WordSouth, a marketing communication agency to 30 employees before a rare condition landed him in the Intensive Care Unit of his local hospital for seven weeks. Close to d...

Ep 259 Nathan Hirsch - How to Handle an Acquisition Offer from a Customer from 2020-10-30T14:44:47

In 2015, Nathan Hirsch and his partner started FreeUp.com, an online marketplace of virtual assistants. Four years later, Hirsch and his partner were billing more than $12 million when they rece...

Ep 258 Adam Torres - The Freedom Point from 2020-10-23T16:01:50

In 2001, Adam Torres started Team Dynamix, a software used by colleges and universities to keep their IT department organized. 

Ep 257 David Jondreau - How to Double Your Take From a Sale Without Being a Jerk from 2020-10-16T14:41:38

David Jondreau built American Sign Language, a company that supplied interpreters on contract, to $2 million in annual revenue when he decided it was time to sell.

Ep 256 Tom Farinacci II - When The Hunter Becomes The Hunted from 2020-10-09T13:57:27

Tom Farinacci built Houston Green Leaf up to 35 employees when he solid it to Grounds Control, a national landscaping company, for around four times EBITDA.

Ep 255 Kim Walsh-Phillips: Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary on How to Structure Your Earn-out from 2020-10-02T15:13:02

Kim Walsh-Phillips founded Elite Digital Group, a marketing agency for clients looking to leverage social media. Walsh-Phillips built her firm to $3.2 million in revenue, but she got stuck when ...

Ep 254 Gary Nealon – How To Quadruple An Offer For Your Business from 2020-09-25T14:14:50

Gary Nealon started selling ready-to-assemble kitchen cabinets under the RTA Cabinet Store brand. It was around the time HGTV was taking off on a steady diet of home improvement shows. Nealon wa...

Ep 253 Peter Carlin - How to Punch Above Your Weight Class With Acquirers from 2020-09-18T13:34:12

Peter Carlin started Logicearth to improve how companies teach their employees online. They built e-learning courses that were almost as good as being there in person. They caught the attention ...

Ep 252 Alex Rink - How to Sell Your Business To A Competitor from 2020-09-11T15:03:38

Alex Rink built 360pi, a software application that provided online retailers with competitive pricing information.

360pi grew into a multi-million-dollar company with 40 employees when Ri...

Ep 251 Jonathan Evans - Sociopaths&Imposters: How To Sell Your Baby To A Giant from 2020-09-04T14:24:34

Jonathan Evans was an air ambulance helicopter pilot when he started to think about how drones could safely navigate the sky around him. Commercial pilots had rules of the sky, but there were no...

Ep 250 - What 250 Owners Have to Say About Selling Your Business from 2020-08-28T15:11:20

It’s a big week at Built to Sell Radio as we celebrate our 250th episode. That’s 250 entrepreneurs, founders, CEOs, and owners who have shared their stories and their time over the last 5 years....

Ep 249 Aric Bandy - 9 Lessons From An Acquisition Offer Gone Wrong from 2020-08-21T15:00:32

Back in 2007, Aric Bandy saw Google investing heavily to compete with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and so decided to pivot his company, Agosto. Instead of offering general IT consulting, Bandy focu...

Ep 248 David Yaffe - 5 Lessons from growing a startup to a 9-figure exit in 2 years from 2020-08-14T14:43:13

David Yaffe was working at Google when he spotted an opportunity to connect advertisers with smaller publishers competing for online advertising dollars. He and two friends started Arbor, raised...

Built to Sell: Intel from 2020-08-07T17:23:28

The format for Built to Sell Radio typically features our host, John Warrillow, interviewing an owner who has recently sold their business. This week, we’re going to try something different. Tod...

Ep 247 Matt Schmeltz - Turning a $2M Business Into a 9-figure Windfall in 3 Years from 2020-07-31T15:31:52

When Matt Schmeltz and his partners acquired CloudCraze, it was a simple software application helping businesses that use Salesfo...

Ep 246 Ashok Vasudevan - Exit Like a Tycoon Without Losing Your Soul from 2020-07-24T14:23:13

In 1995, with just $5,000 in start-up capital, Ashok Vasudevan launched Tasty Bite offering ready-to-eat Indian entrees to American consumers.

Twenty-five years later, Tasty Bite is Ameri...

Ep 245 Peter Demangos - The Tech Start-Up vs. The Bootstrap Lifestyle from 2020-07-17T15:26:23

Peter Demangos has started two businesses in the Human Resources sector. One was a bootstrapped insurance brokerage where they sold employee benefits programs to large clients. The other was an ...

Ep 244 Debbie King - 3 Ways to Untangle Yourself from Your Business from 2020-07-10T15:44:03

Debbie King was running on a treadmill so familiar to service company owners. Her company, Association Analytics, helped associations make sense of their member data, and she was wasting time on...

Ep 243 Lee Gregory - The 8 Figure Trigger from 2020-07-03T14:29:45

Lee Gregory built Sir Lines-A-Lot, a company that paints lines on highways, to 40 employees. It was blue-collar work, so when Gregory learned his company could be worth north of eight figures, h...

Ep 242 Josh Davis - Walking Away from an 8 Figure Exit from 2020-06-26T15:29:45

Josh Davis started Spirit of Women, a marketing agency selling content about women's health to hospitals. Davis built the company up to almost $10 million in annual revenue when he kicked off a ...

Ep 241 David Lekach- The Backstory Behind Dream Water's $34.5M Exit from 2020-06-19T18:52:32

David Lekach started Dream Water; a natural sleep aid bottled in a 5 oz shot similar to the famous 5-Hour Energy Drink.

Lekach built Dream Water up to almost $10 million in annual revenue...

240 David Amigo - Getting Acquired Doesn't Have To Be A Blood Sport from 2020-06-12T15:23:44

This week's episode of Built to Sell Radio features David Amigo. He co-founded Carolina Country Homes, a modular home dealer. Amigo grew his company to $10 million in annual revenue but never lo...

Ep 239 Ana Chaud - How the Fine Print in an Acquisition Offer Can Leave You Penniless from 2020-06-05T19:19:23

Before the pandemic, fancy salad bars were popping up in major cities across the US, making the category one of the fastest-growing sectors of the restaurant industry. Despite their popularity i...

Ep 238 How to Hire a CEO Without Losing Your Company from 2020-05-29T13:35:06

When we discover a vaccine or reliable treatment regime for COVID-19, there will inevitably be an unscrupulous gang of counterfeiters trying to make a quick buck by selling fake remedies.

Ep 237 How to Package Your Service Into a Product from 2020-05-22T18:23:01

Michael Spinosa and Scott Greenwell started a digital marketing agency called Unleashed Technologies at the start of the 2007 financial crisis. Spinosa believes the recession helped Unleashed ge...

Ep 236 How to Structure Your Earn-out in Uncertain Times from 2020-05-15T16:11:38

Anson Sowby started Battery, a creative advertising agency in 2013. Battery quickly won assignments from companies lik...

Ep 235 How To Increase An Acquisition Offer Without Appearing Greedy from 2020-05-08T18:09:33

In 2012, Gabriela Isturiz co-founded Bellefield Systems, a company offering a timekeeping application for lawyers. Over the next seven years, Bellefield grew to 45 employees when Isturiz decided...

Ep 234 How To Maintain Your Leverage After You Sign An LOI from 2020-05-01T16:07:50

Ganesh Ramakrishna and Mike Watson built Opex Analytics to 140 employees before they sold it to PE-backed LLamasoft in the fall of last year.

Ep 233 How To Get Acquired By A Partner from 2020-04-24T16:18:48

Adam Ochstein started an HR software company called StratEx in the depths of the 2008 recession. CEOs were asking HR managers to do more with less and Ochstein's software promised to help HR man...

Ep 232 Building to Sell Through a Crisis from 2020-04-17T13:39:41

Nashville-based Bryan Clayton was running Peachtree, a landscaping business, when the financial crisis of 2008 hit hard. Customers stopped spending money overnight. Clayton gathered his employee...

Ep 231 Tips, Hacks And Countermeasures For Negotiating With A Giant from 2020-04-09T13:48:45

If you're working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, you've probably received a few packages from Amazon. As more people order essentials to deal with "shelter at home" restrictions, Amazon h...

Ep 230 How To Rethink Your Business Like A Lobster from 2020-04-03T16:02:43

It's ironic that Joshua Dick lives in Italy, one of the country's worst hit by COVID-19 deaths. He moved to Italy with...

Ep 210 Start-up To Exit In 186 Days from 2020-04-03T16:00

Staffing-industry veteran Will Gilbert co-founded Socium – a U.K.-based company supplying workers to companies that needed them – in early 2019. Within six months, Socium was generating more tha...

Ep 229 How To Do Less While Making More from 2020-03-27T17:59:12

Aater Suleman co-founded an IT services company called Flux7 in 2013, built it to 70 employees and sold it in 2019 to NTT DATA, the Fortune 500 IT giant. 

Ep 228 3 Reasons Bollé Sunglasses Acquired SPY Optics from 2020-03-20T14:54:25

The action sports business is fuelled by big brands which is why, when SPY Optics built a style popular with irreverent teens, eyewear bemouth Bollé decided they had to own them.

Ep 227 Why Cracker Barrel Paid $36 Million For Maple Street Biscuit Company from 2020-03-13T17:18:26

When Scott Moore's job as a VP at Winn-Dixie was eliminated in 2012, he decided to start a restaurant with his friend Gus Evans in Jacksonville, Florida. They called it The Maple Street Biscuit ...

Ep. 226 The Inside Story Of Elsevier’s $50.6 Million Acquisition Of 3D4Medical.com from 2020-03-06T08:00

Back in 2004, John Moore started 3D4Medical.com, a company that created three-dimensional models of the human body, photographed them and licensed the images to textbook publishers. When the Gre...

Ep 225 How To Scratch Your Itch from 2020-02-27T19:58:13

Arvid Kahl and Danielle Simpson were living together in Berlin when Kahl noticed his partner struggling to complete feedback reports about the students to whom she was teaching English as a seco...

Ep 224 Inside Shutterstock's $65 Million Acquisition of FlashStock from 2020-02-21T15:19:16

Grant Munro started FlashStock in 2013 to help big companies produce content (photos, videos) for advertising campaigns. In 2015, Instagram exploded, and online marketers became desperate for mo...

Ep 223 Built to Sell News Pura Vida Acquired For $75 Million ++ from 2020-02-14T15:16:52

Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman, two Southern California friends traveling through Costa Rica on a post-college graduation trip in 2010, crossed paths with two bracelet artisans, Jorge and Joaqui...

Ep 222 How Nick Gray Sold Museum Hack from 2020-02-07T14:43:05

Nick Gray built Museum Hack, a company that offers fun museum tours in major cities, to almost 3 million dollars in annual revenue when he had an idea.

Ep 221 When To Bring In Someone To Run Your Company from 2020-01-31T17:35:25

Pathfinder Health offered software to therapists helping patients with Autism. The company founder was creative, but the company had reached a plateau. 

Ep 220 3 Ways To Immunize Yourself From The Dangers Ahead.mp3 from 2020-01-24T18:32:07

In the last two weeks, we’ve seen a passenger jet shot out of the sky. A super-bug has emerged in Asia. A bun fight in the democratic primaries which will look like a schoolyard tussle compared ...

Ep 219 How To Make Peace With Your Decision To Sell from 2020-01-10T16:31:04

When Scott Raymond started buying real estate, he looked for a property management company to maintain his buildings. He couldn't find anyone to care as much as he did, so Raymond decided to sta...

Ep 218 Walking Away From An 8 Figure Deal from 2020-01-03T16:48:40

Wes Winham was a co-founder and shareholder in PolicyStat, a software company that helps hospitals keep track of their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), including everything from dress codes...

Ep 217 How To Package Your Expertise Into A Subscription from 2019-12-20T14:44:47

Marc-Andre Seguin launched JazzGuitarLessons.net in 2009 to share his knowledge as a guitar teacher.

Ep 216 How To Find A $100 Million Idea from 2019-12-06T14:49:27

Dr. David Bach is a Harvard-trained scientist, physician, and serial entrepreneur.

Ep 215 Start-Up To Ferrari In Five Years from 2019-12-06T14:35:35

Zain Hasan started an insurance agency called National Insurance Consulting Group (NICG), in 2014.

Ep 214 Avoiding The Commoditization Rat Race To The Bottom from 2019-11-29T14:46:33

Jean-Eric Plamondon was in the scrap metal business where the stereotypical operator is a shady character buying metal by the ton with a blow torch in one hand and a wad of cash in the other. 

Ep 213 The Backstory Behind E&J Gallo’s Acquisition of Barefoot Cellars from 2019-11-22T18:47:33

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey built Barefoot Cellars to sales of more than 600,000 cases of wine per year when they got the attention of R&J Gallo, America’s largest winemaker. 

Ep 212 WP Curve Get Acquired By Go Daddy from 2019-11-15T17:47:42

In 2013, Alex McClafferty co-founded WP Curve, a company that provided IT support for people with a WordPress site. 

Ep 211 The Snag Of Selling To Private Equity from 2019-11-08T18:42:48

Starting from humble beginnings, Sherry Deutschmann built LetterLogic into a $40 million juggernaut which she sold recently for more than seven times EBITDA.

Ep 209 The Hidden Secret That Made This Company Worth A Ton from 2019-10-25T16:00

Ian Silverberg was considering acquiring a health club when he discovered a surprising lease that all but guaranteed his acquisition would be a winner.

Ep 208 How To Avoid Getting Diluted from 2019-10-18T13:55:33

Luxer One went from around $1 million in sales in their first year to an incredible $37 million in 2018 without suffering the dilution of accepting a round of venture capital in part by charging...

Ep 207 When Tragedy Strikes A Founder from 2019-10-11T14:31:24

Tom Pisello built Alinean, a consulting company which offered a set of tools to help salespeople express the value of picking their solution. The business was cruising with about half of its rev...

Ep 206 From Billion Dollar Startup To Bankruptcy And Back Again from 2019-10-04T16:00:47

Sunny Vanderbeck was growing Data Return 40% every quarter when he took the company public in 1999 on the way to a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. Until the bubble burst.

Ep 205 How A Patent Sways The Value Of Your Business from 2019-09-27T14:22:24

O’Neil-Dunne was able to patent his technology and create a competitive advantage by learning the “patois” of his industry. Here’s how.

Ep 204 Deciding When To Sell from 2019-09-20T13:40:32

In 1999, Peter Kelly was at Stanford business school when he and two partners spotted an opportunity to remake an industry – used cars.

Ep 203 How To Place A Value On Your Sales Team from 2019-09-13T15:28:52

Mark Deutschmann started Village Real Estate in 1996 and by 2018 he had grown it to 350 salespeople. Then six of his agents decided to compete with him. Anyone would be upset, but you’ll be surp...

Ep 202 Multiple Of Earnings Vs. Revenue from 2019-09-06T18:13:06

Glenn Grant always assumed he would sell his company for a multiple of EBITDA… until private equity firms started talking multiples of revenue. He decided to learn more.

Ep 201 How To You-Proof Your Business from 2019-08-29T14:53:15

After falling ill, Nation Leagues owner, David Heimlich, needed to sell his business – but to his surprise, it was worthless. He learned the hard way why you can’t be the center of the business....

Ep 200 How Re-Modelling A Swimming Pool Business Led To A 7-Figure Exit from 2019-08-23T15:43:45

When Tommy Berretz had his successful swimming pool company valued, he had just one (big) problem: he didn’t like what he found out.

Ep 199 Finding Your Subscription Model from 2019-08-16T14:26:24

John MacInnes pulled his business out of a rut by evolving into a subscription-based model. Here’s how he did it.

Ep 198 A $471 Million Exit From The Online Travel Industry from 2019-08-09T15:07:10

From a standing start, Dinesh Dhamija grew European online travel agency eBookers to more than one billion in sales in just five years.

Ep 197 Wisdom From Wall Street: How To Buy, Then Sell from 2019-08-02T14:19:13

Matt Slaine used his wisdom from Wall Street to buy the perfect company, and later sell it for a perfect price.

EP 196 Was The Inc. 500 The Reason For This Founder’s Exit? from 2019-07-26T15:55:05

James Roman grew iVelocity’s revenue by a whopping 1000% - was the stress that ensued worth it?

Ep 195 When It Makes Sense To Accept Equity Instead Of Cash from 2019-07-19T17:30:05

Matt Darby was burnt out and wanted to sell the business – even if it wasn’t for cash.

Ep. 194 How To Structure Your Earn Out (Without Getting Burned) from 2019-07-12T14:40:32

Kristin Delwo co-founded Stacks, a software used by librarians. Though the software was still early in its life, Delwo wanted to scale quickly and decided to look for a deep-pocketed acquirer.

Ep. 193 The ‘Inside’ Deal: How To Sell Your Company Internally from 2019-07-05T17:45:58

Sometimes you don’t have to look far to find the perfect buyer – but you do have to be flexible.

Ep. 192 How To Sell A 22-Employee Company For $125 Million from 2019-06-28T13:59:54

Altia systems has just crested 20 employees and was fine tuning the latest version of its camera system. So how on earth did it sell for $125 million?

Ep. 191 When To Hire A President To Run Things.mp3 from 2019-06-21T19:51:12

Want to bring in a President to run your company day-to-day? Here’s how to get it right.

Ep. 190 The Other Half Of The Equation from 2019-06-14T20:11:12

So, your business is ready to sell. But are you? Here’s the other side of the ledger you may have forgotten to consider.

Ep. 189 What To Do When Something New Attracts Your Attention from 2019-06-07T16:01:30

We talk a lot about how you sell a business, but the real satisfaction comes when exit and expectations match.

Ep. 188 Herding Cats Towards The Exit from 2019-05-31T14:30:03

If too many cooks spoil the broth, can too many owners derail a sale?

Ep. 187 How To Avoid The Hodgepodge Discount from 2019-05-24T14:41:17

How does an event with thousands of attendees, millions of dollars in revenue, and keynote speakers like Richard Branson give its founder nightmares?

Ep. 186 The True Value Of Sticky Customers from 2019-05-17T15:56:33

CJ Whelan and his co-founder evolved a typically “free service” into something that customers were more than willing to pay for – and remain loyal.

Ep. 185 From 10 Employees to 10X Revenue from 2019-05-10T13:39:17

Alex Bates’s company used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict the future, but even he couldn’t have anticipated a 10X payday when he sold his business.

Ep. 184 Sixth Time’s a Charm For This Restaurant Owner from 2019-05-03T14:15:51

Andrew Lamppa wanted to sell his restaurant within two years of buying it, but it would take another twelve before he had something an acquirer wanted to buy.

Ep. 183 How One Consulting Company Used The ‘Netflix Model’ To Transform from 2019-04-26T12:28:33

Kogentix’s product and service offerings may be complex, but their huge growth resulted in an ending that’s easy to understand—an acquisition by the biggest digital marketing agency in the world...

Ep. 182 How One Bad Boy [Clause] Landed an 8-Figure Deal from 2019-04-12T15:07:50

Find out how Erik Van Horn went from running a business for only two hours a week to making an eight-figure exit.

Ep. 181 How To Avoid The Idiot Tax from 2019-04-05T14:00:39

Kenan Hopkins spent 7 years paying what he calls “the idiot tax”, until he learned the more efficient way to run a business.

Ep. 180 3 Strategic Reasons Big Companies Buy Small Ones from 2019-03-29T15:00:57

Strategic acquirers will pay more for your company—here’s how to make your business irresistible to them.

Ep. 179 Disrupted By Airbnb, Acquired By Expedia from 2019-03-22T13:51:34

From the acquirer to the seller, Ross Buhrdorf bought more than 25 companies at HomeAway, then sold his business to Expedia for a whopping $3.9 billion. Now, he’s sharing his secrets – from both...

Ep. 178 Buying a Business to Sell It from 2019-03-15T15:25:03

Connie Fenyo went all in, risking everything to purchase Dye & Durham. And when buyers came knocking, her gamble paid off.

Ep. 177 Startup to Exit in 18 Months from 2019-03-08T15:31:28

Building a sellable business doesn’t have to take years. Drew Kraemer received his first acquisition offer nine months after he started Marketplace Strategy.

Ep. 176 How Two Co-Founders Stopped One Thing To Change Everything from 2019-03-01T14:44:56

The two founders of Stelligent were burnt out running their consulting business until they agreed to stop doing one thing that changed just about everything.

Ep. 175 How to Get One Million More from PwC from 2019-02-22T14:58:25

From an agile SMB to the big, corporate environment of one of the Big Four auditors – this business owner learned negotiating a price is only half the battle.

Ep. 174 Warren Buffett’s Advice On Creating A Valuable Business from 2019-02-15T09:00

Turning business down can be tough for an entrepreneur, but Mitch Durfee learned the hard way that saying ‘yes’ can lead to disaster.

Ep. 173 Fortune 500 Companies Helped This Founder Exit from 2019-02-08T15:05:45

From raising $28 million to dealing with a less-than-friendly departure of a partner, find out how Mitchell Reichgut built Jun Group to sell.

Ep. 171 How to Lose $200 Million from 2019-02-04T15:48:02

Procrastinating the sale of your business? One entrepreneur shares a cautionary tale that reveals the best time to sell your company may be when someone’s willing to buy it.

Ep. 172 Inside the Mind of a Private Equity Acquirer from 2019-02-01T13:55:54

There are two sides to every success – the business owner, and the buyer. This week, we’re putting on new shoes and looking from the buyer’s Point-of-View.

Ep. 170 How To Break Up With Your Business Partner from 2019-01-18T18:23:06

How do you place a fair valuation on your company when one partner wants out while the other is ready to continue?

Ep. 169 The ‘Sell Your Business Before It Starts’ Mindset from 2019-01-11T16:19:47

When is the best time to start thinking about an acquirer? For one company, they had it on their agenda since day one.

Ep. 168 How To Handle A Low-Ball Offer from 2019-01-04T09:00

You’re excited to get an offer for your company, but it’s not what you had hoped for. You’re tempted to react with righteous indignation – but is that really the best way to maximize an acquisit...

Ep. 167 The Single Biggest Mistake Owners Make from 2018-12-14T09:00

Philip Williams’ environmental consulting company was going to be sold to one of the biggest players in the oil industry. But just as the check was about to be signed, the deal took a strange tu...

Ep. 166 What’s Lurking In Your Company’s ‘Attic’? from 2018-12-07T16:07:27

Washington state’s legalization of recreational marijuana sounded like an entrepreneur’s dream, but the reality had Brandon Neth looking for an exit after only 5 years.

Ep. 165 A Small Giant Makes a Great Exit from 2018-11-30T16:37:42

Tyler Tringas maintained his independence from beginning to end, starting with boo...

Ep. 164 Built to Flip from 2018-11-23T09:00

Buying a business in 48 hours is a risky move, but Carl Allen did exactly that and turned his purchase around for a tidy sale in just three years.

Ep. 163 10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Business: Part 2 from 2018-11-16T09:00

John Warrillow is back with answers to five more questions from Built to Sell Radio listeners that will help you build your business to sell.

Ep. 162 10 Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Business: Part 1 from 2018-11-11T22:17:12

What are the top 10 questions every entrepreneur has when selling their company? It’s John Warrillow’s turn in the hot seat this week, and he’s got answers.

Ep. 161 4 Big Exits, 1 Smart Entrepreneur from 2018-11-02T13:00:19

Steve Murch’s BigOven sale is his latest in a series of successful multi-million-dollar exits. Find out how he did it.

Ep. 160 How To Keep Competing Offers In Play from 2018-10-26T08:00

Backing out of a deal is never easy, so when Keith Weigand discovered his acquirer was going to buy his company and terminate his employees, he had a tough decision to make.

Ep. 159 How Hawking Pool Chemicals On Subscription Led To An Offer From An Industry Giant from 2018-10-19T08:00

ConnectedYard took an old idea and brought it into the 21st century. When they started looking for new funding, they found a buyer instead.

Ep. 158 An 18-Month Roller Coaster Leads to a Rock-Bottom Sale from 2018-10-12T08:00

The story of Tiny Devotions is a cautionary tale about the importance of getting out while you’re ahead.

Ep. 157 When NIKE Wants To Buy Your Company from 2018-10-05T12:12:31

Data analytics provider Zodiac was preparing to raise an A investment round for its customer lifetime value software when NIKE decided they wanted to buy the company. 

Ep. 156 From Technological Obsolescence to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit from 2018-09-28T07:00

From a service no one wanted anymore to a growing business and a strategic buyer, find out how AMI was rebuilt to sell.

Why A NYSE-listed Giant Bought This $2M Business from 2018-09-21T12:47:33

Angela Mader started selling her fitbook through retail giants like CVS, Target and Walgreens. Little did she know, Mader was also attracting the attention of one of the world largest acquirers....

Ep. 154 - Jim Remsik's Adorable Exit Was Just Right from 2018-09-14T18:51:41

When a health scare sent Jim Remsik looking for a buyer for his company, he had to decide whether to sacrifice a high-multiple exit for his personal priorities.

Ep. 153 How Matchmaking By Microsoft Led To One Of 2018’s Biggest Technology Deals from 2018-09-07T13:29:11

Mergers can be painful. But when Mitchell Feldman was approached by Microsoft about merging with another company, the result was a match not even HP could resist.

Ep. 152 This Grasshopper Learned Well from 2018-08-17T15:37:28

David Hauser’s Grasshopper is a masterclass in building a business to sell. With no venture funding and fewer than 40 staff, Grasshopper was acquired 12 years after its founding for $165 million...

Ep. 151 What To Do When Getting Out Means Staying On from 2018-08-10T08:00

A service-based company can be a tough sell, so Eric Enge found a buyer while his best asset was still on the table: himself.

Ep. 150 Cracking the Amazon e-Commerce Code from 2018-08-03T08:00

Sophie Howard built and sold a 7 figure Amazon e-Commerce business in less than two years. Here’s how she did it.

Ep. 149 How Indian Motorcycle&Chris-Craft Were Built to Sell from 2018-07-27T08:00

Stephen Heese buys fallen iconic brands and brings them back to life. Find out how he turns big personal risk into great rewards.

Ep. 148 Getting Out Quick And Clean from 2018-07-20T08:00

Nathaniel Broughton grew Spread Effect to a $4 million company in only four years -- so why would he sell for a rock bottom multiple?

A Good Acquisition Offer Goes Horribly Wrong from 2018-07-13T08:00

Ross Hoek built Impres Engineering into a $2.5 million company and got a fair acquisition offer. Little did he know, it was too good to be true.

Ep. 146 Niche Down To Jack Up Your Value from 2018-07-06T08:00

It can be tempting to expand your niche to grow your business, but the broader the market you serve, the less valuable you may be to an acquirer.

Salsa Maker Gets Contract With Whole Foods On Her Way To A Surprising Exit from 2018-06-29T08:00

Despite having distribution at Whole Foods, Kroger, and Safeway, salsa-maker Julie Nirvelli found herself on the brink of bankruptcy. She sent a last-ditch email to four potential acquirers – an...

Ep. 144 How Jennifer Aniston And Reese Witherspoon Helped Viviscal Exit For 15 x EBITDA from 2018-06-15T08:00

With celebrity endorsements like Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, Viviscal hit €50 million in revenue…so, why would the CEO want to sell it?

Ep. 142 From $15 In His Pocket To A $3.2M Exit from 2018-05-25T08:00

Chemco Industries’ customers included Walmart, eBay, and Amazon, which is one reason they were so irresistible to an acquirer.

How To Sell Your Family’s Business from 2018-05-18T08:00

Ross Organic was a family business so when Stephanie Leshney took over from her father, she knew she had to make some changes if it was going to grow into a more valuable company.

Ep. 140 The Acquisition Of FPD: 4 Offers, 1 Big Regret from 2018-05-11T08:00

Tom Hannon’s publishing company grew rapidly, and he received 4 offers.  So why does he wish he handled his exit differently?

Ep. 139 Influencer Marketing Pioneer Acquired By Fullscreen from 2018-05-04T08:00

Pete Borum practically invented the term “influencer marketing.” So how did Borum raise $15 million dollars and attract multiple acquisition offers in an industry that didn’t exist before he sho...

Ep. 138 With Clients Like Starbucks And NIKE, Blast Radius Was Irresistible To Acquirers from 2018-04-27T08:00

Digital marketing agency Blast Radius went from 10 people to more than 400 in less that 10 years, ultimately attracting the attention of WPP who acquired them in 2007. Here’s how they did it. 

Ep. 137 From Broke To A $1B Sale from 2018-04-20T08:00

Gorny built his first business- and lost it. He was determined not to let that happen again.

Ep. 136 How A Baby-Sitting Job Turned Into 100+ Franchises In A Few Short Years from 2018-04-13T08:00

What started as a part-time job to get through college turned into over 100 franchises.

Ep. 135 How One Key Hire Helped Dimple Up Their Value By 500% in 2.5 Years from 2018-04-06T08:00

Teetering on the brink of liquidation, a key hire at Dimple led to a dramatic turnaround that resulted in a $13.4M exit.

Ep. 134 3 x EBITDA To 13 x EBITDA In Just 2.5 Years from 2018-04-04T08:00

Embanet broke just about every rule there is for running a company and still sold for $200M.

Ep. 133 From Paper Sketches To $441M Sale from 2018-03-23T08:00

Oribe sold in early 2018 for $441M, but in 2008 they were just a few sketches of shampoo bottles on a piece of paper. Tev Finger shares the surprising tactics they used to drive revenue.

Ep. 132 How Much Are Your Employees Worth To An Acquirer? from 2018-03-21T08:00

Impact LABS had no hard assets and little intellectual property, so why would ContextLabs want to acquire them for millions?

Ep. 131 Finding An Investor Vs. An Acquirer from 2018-03-09T09:00

Finding an acquirer for your business feels a lot like searching for an investor, but as Moritz Plassnig found out, there is one crucial difference.

Ep. 130 Why LinkedIn Acquired This Dorm Room Startup from 2018-03-02T09:00

Harpaul Sambhi’s company was 8 days away from bankruptcy. So why would LinkedIn want to buy it for millions?

Ep. 129 From Food Stamps To A Seven-figure Exit from 2018-02-23T09:00

While Michael Pedone survived off of food stamps as a kid, he dreamed of living a lifestyle where money wasn’t scarce. Fast-forward a few decades, and Pedone sold his first company for $1.2MM.

Ep. 128 Third Time's A Charm: From False Starts To Finishing Big from 2018-02-16T17:00

Scott Miller knew that telling his employees he wanted to sell his $3M company, Miller Restoration, could get messy. But he wasn’t prepared for what actually happened. 

Ep. 127 How Forecasting The Future Led To A $100M Sale from 2018-02-09T09:00

Back when mobile phones had green screens with black dots on them, Andy Nulman founded Airborne Mobile. In one year, the company went from $2M in revenue to $20M, driven by the explosion in the ...

Ep. 126 Getting A Second Bite Of The Apple from 2018-02-02T09:00

Richard Manders co-founded iAutomation and built it up to $12M before deciding it was time to recapitalize. Manders sold 75% of his company for almost 8 times EBITDA to a Private Equity (PE) and...

Ep. 125 Built to Flip: From Start Up To Sell Out In Just 2 Years from 2018-01-26T09:00

After a motorcycle accident shattered Jon Read’s collar bone into 6 pieces, he wasn’t able to follow-through on his post-surgical rehabilitation appointments because of his busy travel schedule....

Ep. 124 How To Recover (and thrive) After Splitting From Your Co-Founder from 2018-01-12T16:00

Four years ago Nexalogy CEO Claude Théoret was counting the employees he had to lay off. His company had burned through their $600,000 seed round of investment and he was running out of cash. An...

Ep. 123 Why VEEV Vodka Went for More Than 7 Times Revenue from 2018-01-05T09:00

Courtney Reum left Goldman Sachs in 2007 to start a Vodka business. He built VEEV up to more than $10 million in annual sales before he sold the company for more than seven times Listen