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.
Brian Dean has been called an SEO genius for his search engine optimization courses, so it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise when Semrush, a publicly traded SEO software company, came knocking.
What was surprising was that Semrush paid $5 million for Brian’s one-employee company.
This week we’re featuring an interview with John Rood, who built Next Step, a test prep business that helped students prepare for the medical school admissions test (MCAT). John Rood built Next Step to almost $10 million in revenue, with EBITDA margins ranging from 20–40% before selling to New Harbour Group, a private equity business doing a roll-up of test prep companies.
Although it was a financial windfall for John, his exit left him feeling empty inside. John drifted and ended up having a difficult time processing his newfound life, which led him to consider if other founders struggled with life post-exit. He began interviewing other entrepreneurs who had sold and is now putting the finishing touches on a book called Beyond the Exit, which will come out later this year.
This week we’re bringing you an extraordinary story of resilience and determination as we delve into the lives of Payam and Frank Zamani. Starting their American dream with a mere $75, the brothers embarked on a venture that led to the founding of Autoweb, a groundbreaking lead generation service in the auto industry.
Autoweb’s journey to success reached its zenith with an IPO that valued the company at an astonishing $1.2 billion, with shares peaking at $50. However, the narrative took a dramatic turn as investor demand for a new CEO led to a steep decline, plummeting the share price to a mere 18 cents.
Through the turbulence, Payam Zamani’s story unfolds as one of unwavering spirit and the relentless pursuit of a vision despite formidable challenges.
Tune in to hear how Payam navigated the highs and the heartbreaking lows of Autoweb’s saga as he offers a treasure trove of lessons for capitalists.
Ned MacPherson started helping clients optimize their websites back in 2016. Demand for Ned’s time quickly outpaced supply, so he started building a team. Within seven years, Ned had 70 employees, more than $2 million a year in EBITDA, and multiple acquisition offers.
Jordan van Schyndel grew his service business to more than 30 employees without having anyone quit. He credits his unique culture for the loyalty of his team. Ultimately it was that team that caught the attention of Spiria, which offered to acquire van Schyndel’s business.
In 2015, 25-year-old Alexx Leyva was traveling around Thailand when a shocking phone call brought him back to the United States to take over his father’s $3 million business. Over the next five years, Alexx and his brothers tripled the company and ended up selling it for more than $20 million.
When it comes to your endgame, what’s your highest priority? Do you want to maximize your personal wealth and walk away? Or do you want to de-risk but keep some chips on the table? Or is your highest priority protecting your culture, your employees, and the legacy you have built? If your goal is to protect your culture, then selling to an individual investor may be worth considering.
In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, you’ll hear from Carl Allen, a former guest and HP executive who was responsible for acquiring companies for the tech giant. These days, Carl teaches individual investors how to buy their first business. You’ll get inside the minds of the individual investors Carl coaches to understand how they structure acquisition offers, and you’ll discover the telltale signs that an individual investor is either going to honor or ruin your company’s legacy.
Anastasia Koroleva is an experienced entrepreneur and former technology company CEO. After her first nine-figure exit, she went on to start three more businesses. Today she is the host of the podcast, Exit Paradox, where she talks to some of the most remarkable founders in the world about the lessons they learned about life after selling a business. This episode will help you design your ideal life post-exit.
Michael Lieberman built Datastay, a software company that helped brake manufacturers and distributors catalog their models. The application proved sticky with parts manufacturers, which is why Autodesk made an acquisition offer for Datastay of more than ten times its revenue despite Datastay having just nine employees at the time of the acquisition.
Adam Coffey spent 21 years as a CEO of three national service companies backed by nine private equity sponsors. During that time, he completed 58 acquisitions and generated more than one billion dollars of value at exit.
Adam’s book, The Private Equity Playbook, is a bestseller, and on this episode of Built to Sell Radio’s “Inside the Mind of an Acquirer” series, Adam teaches a masterclass on how private equity works.
Jason Swenk sold his marketing agency in 2011. Since then, he’s transitioned to the role of an acquirer, purchasing nine agencies. With experience on both sides of the negotiating table, Jason reveals his unique perspective on how to sell your service business.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all the rage these days, but do you remember the cannabis craze? Basem Hanna sure does. He rode that wave to perfection, leaving his cannabis startup with a cool $25 million and shares that could be worth double that one day.
This week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio is a no-holds-barred chat (yep, expect some strong language) about making it big in the green rush.
Aaron Leibtag cofounded Pentavere Research Group, a digital health company that identifies patients not receiving the medications or interventions they should be receiving because critical data is buried in a patient’s electronic health record.
Despite having just 15 employees, they attracted an acquisition offer that valued Pentavere at $15 million
This week on Built to Sell Radio, we highlight the top strategies from the 10 most popular shows of 2023. In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
· Grow your email list.
· Compete with industry giants.
· Replace yourself inside your business.
· Implement a three part strategy for hiring high-potential employees.
· Get your customers to fund your growth.
· Use silence to help you get the upper hand when negotiating the sale of your business.
· Provoke a bidding war for your business.
· Use a surprising negotiating tactic to get an acquirer to increase their offer.
· Rebut a low-ball offer.
· Handle negotiation points that are non-starters for you.