Luke Peters started off by reselling everyday appliances like bar fridges online. Eventually he built a brand and shifted to selling his products on big e-commerce retailers. Peters grew NewAir to $80 million in revenue before selling it for a lifechanging windfall in 2022.
Matt Ebert’s path to founding Crash Champions didn’t start with a grand plan—it began with a car wreck. At 16, he found himself needing to fix his own car, sparking an unexpected passion that led to building one of the largest collision repair companies in the United States.
Aaron Levenstadt built Pedestal Search into a business worth selling by mastering one thing: SEO. While clients tempted him to offer other services, Aaron knew the real value lay in doing one thing better than anyone else. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Aaron shares how focusing on one service helped him stand out in a crowded market and achieve a successful exit.
Jessica DeLuca co-founded Cult Beauty in 2008, creating one of the UK’s leading online beauty retailers. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Jessica reveals the path that led her to selling the business for £275 million to The Hut Group (THG).
DeLuca’s background in tech shaped the business, with her love for data and precision leading to a meticulously curated platform. Frustrated by the lack of unbiased information in the beauty industry, she built a database of expert advice, allowing customers to search products tailored to their needs—an approach that set Cult Beauty apart from the competition.
Alex Bean sold his company, Divvy, for $2.5 billion. But after reaching this monumental milestone, why didn’t the sale bring him the happiness he expected? In this episode, Alex shares his journey and the lessons he learned about life after a business exit.
On this week’s Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow talks to Tim Schumacher, co-founder of SaaS Group, about the mindset of an acquirer.
Tim shares Peter Thiel’s “zero to one” versus “one to ten” concept and how knowing which one you are can shape your business.
n this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Jim Sebenius, the founder of the Negotiation Unit at Harvard Business School, shares his advanced negotiation strategies for selling a privately held business.
Jim's extensive experience includes his time at the Blackstone Group, where he negotiated on behalf of one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers with more than $1 trillion under management. He is also a frequent speaker to YPO and a consultant for privately held companies, helping them navigate complex negotiations.
Jim's insights are backed by his in-depth research, including first-hand interviews with former U.S. Secretaries of State such as Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton, and Rex Tillerson. These interviews have provided him with unique perspectives on negotiation from some of the world’s most experienced dealmakers, making his advice invaluable for anyone looking to sell their company for maximum value.
Matt Matros built Protein Bar from a single smoothie shop into a fast-growing chain. In 2012, private equity firm L Catterton came knocking with a deal valuing his company at $44 million. Matt decided to roll 40% of his equity, expecting it to grow even more.
This week on Built to Sell Radio, William Brown shares his remarkable journey from selling a $50 Word document offering trading advice to building a multi-million dollar online education business that attracted serious interest from acquirers. Based in Dubai, William's story is a testament to how a simple, bootstrapped start can evolve into a highly valuable and sellable business.
Corporate buyers are notoriously secretive and rarely reveal their inner workings. This is why our latest episode of Built to Sell Radio is so valuable: It provides a rare look into the secretive world of corporate M&A.
Our guest is Christopher Vollmond-Carstens, Chief M&A Officer at Ntiva, where they help businesses keep their technology running smoothly, from managing their computer systems to protecting them from cyber threats. Christopher has bought fifteen companies in the last few years, and this week we take a walk inside his mind to understand how he thinks about buying companies.
This episode, part of our Inside the Mind of an Acquirer series, offers unique insights into the corporate development division of a big company.
Most people hear about spectacular acquisitions made by strategic acquirers or giant private equity groups. But the reality is, you’re likely to sell your company to a small business in your sector that nobody outside your industry has ever heard of.
In our latest episode of Built to Sell Radio, part of our Inside the Mind of an Acquirer series, we get inside the head of Kristi Herold. Kristi is the founder of Jam, a company based in Toronto that connects people through adult recreational sports leagues and corporate team-building events.
Kristi has successfully completed 11 acquisitions, making her a prime example of how small businesses buy other small companies.
Jeff Archibald founded Paper Leaf, a company specializing in developing websites, mobile apps and custom software. By offering a narrow scope of services to a variety of verticals, Paper Leaf built a reputation for handling challenging projects that generalist agencies couldn't. Jeff's commitment to simplicity and effective forecasting played a significant role in Paper Leaf's success. He used fixed payment contracts to ensure steady cash flow and offered a limited number of technologies, allowing his team to become experts. These practices stabilized the business and made it attractive for acquisition.
Nicole Osmer is the founder and president of Health+Commerce, a public relations and marketing agency for companies in medtech, biotech, and digital health. Nicole grew Health+Commerce from $1M to $10M in annual revenue over seven years.
Along the way, Nicole received an acquisition offer that seemed too good to be true. It turned out it was, and the deal fell apart. Nicole picked up the pieces, and in March 2024, Health+Commerce was acquired by Trinity Hunt-backed Supreme Group.
In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow interviews Michael Lynch, the creator of TinyPilot, a hardware device that allows users to remotely control their computers without installing any software.
Like most small companies, TinyPilot was a Main Street business with around $1 million in revenue and roughly $250,000 in profit, so Michael’s story is a revealing snapshot of a typical exit for the majority of small businesses
In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow interviews Kiri Masters, founder of Bobsled Marketing. Kiri’s marketing agency specialized in helping companies merchandise their products on sites like Amazon.com and Walmart.com.
Kiri successfully transformed a significant social media following into a valuable company.
In this week’s Built to Sell Radio episode, John Warrillow interviews David Sinkinson, co-founder of AppArmor. David and his brother Chris created a mobile app that allows students to alert campus security by pressing a single button on their phones. Their journey from developing AppArmor to selling their company for $40 million is packed with insight.
During the interview, you’ll discover how answering a simple question posed by an acquirer almost cost the Sinkinson brothers $20 million. Learn how they navigated this near-disastrous moment and what steps they took to recover and close the deal successfully.
Have you considered the psychological toll of building your business?
In this week’s Built to Sell Radio episode, John Warrillow sits down with Bill Hudenko, a psychologist, Dartmouth professor, and serial entrepreneur, to discuss the psychological impact of building and exiting a business. Bill shares his personal journey through multiple exits and offers insights into the mental health challenges that come with selling your life’s work.
As someone who has experienced these challenges firsthand, and as a professional with access to extensive data, Bill provides practical advice on how to avoid the common mental health pitfalls associated with selling your business.
In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, we are joined by Tom Deans, a renowned expert on family business transitions and the author of the trilogy, Every Family's Business, Willing Wisdom, and The Happy Inheritor. Drawing from his extensive experience, Tom shares invaluable strategies to help you navigate the complexities of selling a family business.
This week on Built to Sell Radio, we feature Connor Tomkies, founder of Support Ninja, who shares his story of transforming an outsourcing firm into an industry leader. Support Ninja provides outsourced customer support services, handling tasks such as customer experience, social media management, and technical support.
In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, we are joined by Ilya Strebulaev, a leading expert on venture capital and private equity and author of The Venture Mindset. Drawing from his extensive research and teaching at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Strebulaev shares strategies to help you think like a venture capitalist and make smarter business decisions.
Today’s episode of Built to Sell Radio features Anne Mahlum, a fearless entrepreneur who redefined the fitness industry. After wandering into a Pilates studio in L.A. and thinking, “I can do this better,” Anne threw all her savings—$175,000—into launching her own version of the company, founding [solidcore], a fitness powerhouse that she later sold for $100 million.
Anne shares her remarkable journey, detailing the strategies she used to transition leadership, navigate fundraising efforts, and build a company with enduring value.
This episode of Built to Sell Radio features Matt Dixon, author of the global bestseller, The Challenger Sale. Dixon became the de facto leader of the sales training world when Neil Rackham, author of "SPIN Selling," praised The Challenger Sale as "the most important advance in selling for many years.”
If you’re wondering how to get your people to sell as well as you do, this is your master class.
This episode of Built to Sell Radio, features Kevin O’Connor, a pioneer in digital advertising and founder of DoubleClick.
Kevin's vision transformed the online advertising industry, making DoubleClick a dominant force in digital marketing before its $3.1 billion acquisition by Google.
In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Seth Godin, a renowned entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker, shares insights gained from his experience, including selling his company, Yoyodyne, to Yahoo! He has authored 21 best-selling books, including notable titles like Permission Marketing, The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, This Is Marketing, and What to Do When It’s Your Turn (And It’s Always Your Turn).
Join us as Seth unpacks strategies to make your business more appealing to potential buyers and provides guidance for designing your successful exit.
In this week's episode of Built to Sell Radio, we are joined by William Ury, the co-founder of the Harvard Program on Negotiation and the International Negotiation Network with former President Jimmy Carter. Drawing from his extensive experience in high-stakes diplomatic negotiations, Ury shares invaluable strategies to help you punch above your weight in a negotiation to sell your business. From understanding buyer motivations to mastering negotiation processes, you will gain actionable insights from one of the world's foremost negotiation experts.