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Built to Sell Radio

Built to Sell Radio is a weekly podcast for business owners. Each week, we ask a recently cashed out entrepreneur why they decided to sell, what they did right and what mistakes they made through the process of exiting their business. Built to Sell Radio is the ultimate insider's guide to approaching the most important financial transaction of your life.
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Now displaying: August, 2016
Aug 24, 2016

In 1999, Andrew Weinreich sold Six Degrees, a social networking site based on the same idea that sparked the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook, for $125 million. In the following years, he went on to sell three other companies including one to IBM and another to Match.com.

Most founders are lucky to have one successful exit, but Weinreich has already had four. In this interview, you’ll learn:

  • The common denominator among all four of Weinreich’s exits.
  • Where to find the company with the highest probability of acquiring you.
  • How to hire an M&A professional for a “Dual Track” mandate.
  • The mistake most entrepreneurs make when they assemble a board.
  • The simple technique Weinreich used to let buyers know he was interested in being acquired (without sounding desperate).
Aug 17, 2016

Intellectually, you know you need recurring revenue, but how do you build an annuity stream in an industry where subscription billing is not the standard?

Take a look at the example of Laura Steward, the founder of Guardian Angel Computer Services. She was in the business of fixing her clients’ computer problems when a valuation specialist told her that Guardian Angel was worth less than 50% of one year’s revenue. Determined to get more for her business, she underwent a makeover focusing on her Angel Watch subscription program.

Steward went on to sell her business two years later for four times what the valuation consultant thought it was worth. In this interview you’ll learn how to:

  • Switch customers from hourly to subscription billing.
  • Overcome the objections hourly customers have for making the switch.
  • Ensure customers stop asking for your personal attention on their job through one simple idea.
  • Maximize the value of your contracts in the eyes of an acquirer.
Aug 10, 2016

Rod Drury is the founder and CEO of Xero, a cloud-based accounting platform that competes head on with Intuit’s QuickBooks.

Started in 2006, Xero now boasts 700,000 subscribers and a market capitalization of almost $3 billion. Xero was picked by Forbes as the World’s Most Innovative Growth Company in 2014 and 2015.

Drury got the capital to start Xero from selling another software company, AfterMail, for $15 million plus another $30 million in a potential earn-out—not bad for a company with a little more than $2 million in revenue.

Drury offers all kinds of insight in this interview including:

 

  • How to avoid the mistake he made in structuring his earn-out, which ended up costing him $30 million.
  • The definition of R&D by acquisition.
  • How to use public company arbitrage to increase the value of your company.
  • How to transition from offering a service to a product.
  • How to get an acquirer to come to you.
  • How to exhibit at a trade show if your goal is to get acquired by someone in your industry.
Aug 3, 2016

Have you ever stayed in a fancy hotel and wondered how much they pay Aveda for those little bottles of shampoo? Turns out, there is a company called Pacific Direct that acts as a middleman between the hotel chain and the company supplying the shampoo.

U.K.-based Pacific Direct was earning £3.3 million when founder Lara Morgan decided to sell. She got multiple offers for her company and ultimately sold it to a private equity group for £20 million. During our interview, Morgan shared her wisdom on how to sell your company, including:

  • What to do if your acquisition falls apart at the last minute.
  • How to reward your employees when you sell.
  • How a “drag and tag” clause in a sale to a private equity acquisition works.
  • How to evaluate multiple offers to buy your business.
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