Shows
Buy Grow SellEP99 5 Top Tips from Business Owners Who Sold Their BusinessesWe are reflecting on an extraordinary year of the Buy Grow Sell podcast, where we delved into the triumphs and tribulations of nearly 100 business owners from across the globe. To wrap up this season, we rounded up the top insights from our guests that every business owner needs to know.
Listen to our final episode of 2023 and leave with five integral tips to ensuring a successful business sale.
See you next year!
Connect with Simon Bedard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/
Website: https://buygrowsell.com/
Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/2023-12-1131 min
Buy Grow SellEP98 Breaking Up with Your Business PartnerIn episode 98 of the Buy Grow Sell Podcast, I sit down with Nick Fanto from Orbital Advisory and Joanna Oakey from Aspect Legal to discuss the complex challenges that arise when business partnerships go sour.
Nick shares personal experiences and valuable insights into the importance of planning for unforeseen circumstances, such as illness or injury, which may impact the key revenue-generating individuals in your business. Together, we discuss the critical role of key person insurance and the significant financial benefits it can provide in times of need.
We also address the crucial need for a well-documented Shareholder Agreement, which can...2023-10-231h 03
Buy Grow SellEP97 How a Label-Making Business Sold for $12 Million: Mabel’s LabelsFrom four frustrated moms crafting labels in a basement to a multi-million-dollar business model, Julie Cole and her co-founders navigated the challenges of co-founding a business while juggling parenthood and bootstrapping their startup.
Eventually, Mabel’s Labels moved from a basement to a bigger basement to a 20,000 square foot facility before finally selling for $12M back in 2016.
In this episode, Julie explores the ups and downs of having co-founders (especially when they are family) and the pivotal moments that lead to a successful exit.
Connect with Julie Cole
Website: https://mabelslabels.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-cole-llb-ma-3794671/
Facebook: ht...2023-09-2545 min
Buy Grow SellEP96 Overcoming Uncertainty & Selling Her Business to Bill GatesFrom growing her business to $1M then spending it all on a lawsuit, seeing her business fall apart on 9/11, having her father die six weeks later, and losing her house on the very same day as the funeral, Beate Chelette has faced her fair share of adversity. But she turned it around, rebuilding her business from scratch, and eventually selling it off to Bill Gates for 5x gross earnings.
In this episode, she unveils her path from a single parent drowning in debt to a multimillion-dollar deal with Bill Gates. Overcoming lawsuits, personal tragedies, and financial turmoil, Beate’s story pr...2023-09-111h 02
Buy Grow SellEP95 Nathan Hirsch: Scaling a Freelancer Marketplace to 8 Figures Before ExitIf you’re an entrepreneur eyeing the outsourcing realm, then you’re in for a treat.
Learn how Nathan Hirsch’s journey shifted from dollars to value, from e-commerce to building an empire of virtual assistants, to exiting and finding contentment in the freedom he gained after growing the business to eight figures.
His journey spans from street smarts to business brilliance, as Nathan shares his experiences and wisdom that’s more than just numbers – it’s about crafting a life on your terms.
Connect with Nathan Hirsch
Personal Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/
Facebook: https://www.facebook...2023-08-2853 min
Buy Grow SellEP94 How Swisse Wellness Group Got Acquired for $1.7B by an International BuyerAs one of Australia’s most successful businesspeople, Radek Sali blends over a decade in the service industry with a lifetime of health and wellness knowledge, and pairs it with a conscious business philosophy that puts people first.
Under his helm, he transformed Swisse Wellness Group into one of the largest wellness brands in the country before negotiating a $1.7B acquisition deal with a Hong Kong-based company.
He used the proceeds to continue on his path of bringing light to the world through several other business endeavours aimed at social and environmental causes.
Connect with Radek Sali
Website: https://lightwarrior.co...2023-08-1446 min
Buy Grow SellEP93 How Hampus Jakobsson Sold His Tech Startup for $150MHampus Jakobsson co-founded the company at the age of 21 with his university friends and sold it eight years later for $150 million to Blackberry. Over coffee.
While usually a 9-figure exit takes more than a year to complete, this acquisition took place in less than six weeks.
Why?
Because Hampus and his co-founders spent those eight years building the perfect product for the market, making it irresistible for Blackberry, and in turn securing an offer the team couldn’t say no to.
Connect with Hampus Jakobsson
Website: https://paleblue.vc/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hampusjakobsson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ha...2023-07-311h 06
Buy Grow SellEP92 Accelerate Your Business Growth: How Kurt Uhlir Executed 60+ TransactionsAs a self-described scaler, Kurt Uhlir has helped start and run businesses from start-up to hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, been a part of over 60 transactions, and built teams across almost every continent.
He came onto the Buy Grow Sell Podcast to share some of his stories about scaling, how to recruit the right people to grow fast and effectively, what he looks for in strategic acquisitions, and how he embeds his values into everything he does.
From starting a web hosting platform in college to leading almost a billion dollar IPO and participating in dozens of...2023-07-1753 min
Buy Grow SellEP91 Selling Amazon Businesses & Creating a Lifestyle Business with Sophie HowardSophie Howard, Founder of Aspiring Entrepreneurs, has started, scaled, and sold six and seven-figure online businesses. Sophie started online with an Amazon business in 2013, which she sold for over $1 million USD in 2015.
As well as launching over 1,000 products, she has built educational programs teaching thousands of students how to sell online. She is now focusing her efforts on buying other online businesses and teaching others how to build a portfolio of income-generating assets.
Learn her secrets on buying, growing, and selling e-commerce businesses in this episode.
Connect with Sophie Howard
Website: https://www.aspiringentrepreneurs.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...2023-07-0350 min
Buy Grow SellEP90 Unlocking the Secrets of Rapid Business Growth with Sunny VanderbeckImagine growth so fast, you needed to double your headcount every 120 days. How do you build a sustainable business this way? More importantly, how do you exit?
In the latest episode of the Buy Grow Sell podcast, Sunny Vanderbeck, a successful entrepreneur and investor, walks us through the start, rapid growth, then exit of his business Data Return. Over three years, it grew a staggering 40% every quarter before reaching a $3 billion market capitalisation. Sunny operated at the helm throughout this unique journey and shares his roadmap for business leaders who are looking to sell.
Connect with Sunny Vanderbeck
Get a...2023-06-1955 min
Buy Grow SellEP89 Start, Scale, Exit: Shruti Kapoor on Building Your Business’s WingmanGetting tips from a computer about how to act more human seems a little counterintuitive. But Shruti Kapoor’s software, Wingman, takes that role very seriously.
The application allows salespeople to get real time feedback on mannerisms, and when to pick up on social cues. The trio of founders include Shruti Kapoor, who speaks about how they developed the product, approached seeking capital, and how they went on to quickly sell to an enterprise software company.
Proof that a Wingman, is still your biggest asset no matter if you’re at the club, or behind the screen.
Connect with Shruti Kapo...2023-06-0550 min
Buy Grow SellEP88 Know The Market: The Perfect Time to Sell with Jeffrey DeckmanJeffrey Deckman is a serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped 2 multi-million-dollar companies, several non-profits, and multiple political organisations.
Despite his early dream of becoming a field operator in his dad’s industry, Jeffrey became a business owner and leader. However, after 15 years into his second business, Synet, he realised that it was time for him to exit.
He shares his journey of leaving the business, how he sold it to his partners, and how he found fulfilment again afterward.
Connect with Jeffrey Deckman
Website: https://jeffreydeckman.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-deckman/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JDeckman56
Twitter: https://tw...2023-05-2251 min
Buy Grow SellEP87 Buy, Grow, Sell: Tom Jackobs Secret to Thriving in the Fitness IndustryTom Jackobs went from being 40 pounds overweight to being at the helm of a very successful fitness centre within a decade. His transformation from cushy corporate to SME was both mental and physical as he learned what to do – and what not to do – as a small business owner.
After growing the business to $600k in annual revenue, Tom sold Body3 Personal Fitness to transform into the next stage of his life as the Impact Pilot. He now helps entrepreneurs generate more income through better sales strategy and using stories to sell.
Tune in and learn how Tom took his jour...2023-05-081h 02
Buy Grow SellEP86 From a Backyard Business Idea to Global OpportunityThe hardest job in business is being in middle management, according to this episode’s guest. With people above and below you, you’re stuck in a sandwich trying to create change.
For Mark Janes, he realised he was spending his career building great businesses for other people when he decided he should do it for himself.
As a company builder and highly successful entrepreneur, Mark has grown and exited three businesses, including ConnectedYard, which he grew to a value of 20x initial investment before exiting to a funder.
Now, he helps other business replicate his success through Exit Velocity.
Conn...2023-04-2449 min
Buy Grow SellEP85 Pivoting from B2C to B2B and Selling for 8-FiguresTo be successful in a business you must be passionate about the problem you’re solving.
This advice comes from 3-time serial SaaS/DaaS entrepreneur, CEO, Board Director, and tech executive, Alexander Rink.
His most recent exit was to the tune of 8-figures after coming on and pivoting 360pi from a consumer comparison platform (B2C) to a market intelligence platform for retailers (B2B). Along the way, Alex maintained a Net Promoter Score in the 40-60% range and an annual recurring revenue retention rate of around 90% before finally exiting to a competitor.
This episode imparts lessons learned about finding pa...2023-04-1055 min
Buy Grow SellEP84 4 Critical Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask ThemselvesThere are four questions an entrepreneur needs to ask themselves.
With more than 25 years of entrepreneurship and business management experience, Ian Silverberg boils down every business decision and every interaction with his clients to these four questions and considers them the throughlines between buying, growing, and selling a business.
In this episode, you’ll walk away with a four-question framework for defining your purpose, elevating your impact, and unlocking both personal and professional success.
Connect with Ian Silverberg
Website: https://silverlineventures.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-silverberg-62b22343/
Connect with Simon Bedard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sr...2023-03-2740 min
Buy Grow SellEP83 10xing Growth: Ryan Niddel on the Secrets of Scale & ExitRyan Niddel has the Midas Touch.
He’s the leading authority on improving revenue of companies by improving EBITDA through increased operational efficiency, lean manufacturing principles, and more. In fact, in one 2.5 year period, he successfully tripled the revenue of more than 5 companies, adding an extra $950M in valuations.
Ryan’s passion for growth is balanced by a natural curiosity and humility that allows him to create the processes necessary to proceed. Learn his top tips for scaling in the latest Buy Grow Sell podcast.
Connect with Ryan Niddel
Website: https://ryanniddel.com/
Website: https://mit45.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.link...2023-03-131h 03
Buy Grow SellEP82 Automation, AI, SaaS: Building, Scaling, and Exiting a Software BusinessInterested in trends shaping the B2B tech space? Not sure whether you should invest in video or in an AI-based content creation tool? Curious to see how ChatGPT is going to overthrow your current workflows?
Tune into this episode of the Buy Grow Sell podcast and learn from marketing technology expert, Josh Sweeney. As a digital disruptor, Josh Sweeney is a seasoned entrepreneur whose relentless drive has given him the platform to build big ideas, and even bigger companies.
You’ll learn how to harness current and upcoming tech in order to maximise the value of your business.
Connect wi...2023-02-2757 min
Buy Grow SellEP81 From Lawnmowing to Bootstrapping an 8-Figure Tech CompanyBryan Clayton went from mowing lawns to owning a lawnmowing business to owning a lawnmowing services app.
He started mowing lawns in high school before turning it into a 150+ person company that turned over $10M a year in annual revenue. After selling it, and finding himself emotionally adrift, Bryan decided to beat the Ubers and the Marketplaces of the world and build an app for his industry before someone else did.
The result was... a lot of hard work, but he shares some valuable lessons around bootstrapping and growing a small business.
Connect with Bryan Clayton
Website: https://www.yourgreenpal...2023-02-2056 min
Buy Grow SellEP80 48 Acquisitions in 2.5 Years: Strategic Acquisitions with Jonathan JayJonathan Jay has bought, grown, and sold businesses in publishing, digital marketing, adult education and coaching, and preschool education. His M.O.? Strategically acquire and then sell to strategic acquirers in turn.
Some of his highlights include:
Making 48 business acquisitions to create the 4th largest group in his sector in under three years
Buying a digital marketing business for £1 and selling it for £1.3M later
Purchasing a competitor in just five days
Tune in for a host of lessons on how to strategically acquire, integrate, and then exit your business.
Connect with Jonathan Jay
Website: https://dealmakers.co.uk/
LinkedIn: ht...2023-02-1357 min
Buy Grow SellEP79 Formula for Success: Gary Guseinov on Buying and Growing BusinessesGary Guseinov has spent his career successfully buying, growing, and selling businesses.
As the founder of CyberDefender and the CEO of RealDefense where he acquires other cybersecurity companies, Gary has a proven playbook of making profitable business decisions.
His experience on every side of the transaction process means he has a lot to share with entrepreneurs whether they’re building their first business or moving into acquisitions to accelerate their growth.
Tune in and learn his framework for vetting business ideas and scaling them to the next level.
Connect with Gary Guseinov
Website: https://www.realdefen.se/home/
LinkedIn: https://ww...2023-02-061h 09
Buy Grow SellEP78 Aaron Walker: Finding Happiness after a 7-Figure ExitMost entrepreneurs dream of selling to a Fortune 500 Company. However, how many entrepreneurs build a business that a Fortune 500 Company would want to buy?
Aaron Walker, at the ripe old age of 27, exited his pawn shop business to Cash America for 7 figures. After nine years of paying himself an $18,000 annual salary so he could pour the money back into the business, Aaron found himself on the other side of those once-in-a-lifetime exits most entrepreneurs seek.
But his story comes with a lesson (or several) about the importance of purpose and how to rebuild yourself post-exit.
Connect with Aaron Walker
Website...2023-01-3046 min
Buy Grow SellEP77 The Zain Hasan Model: Partner, Grow, and Sell to Private EquityFrom an early age, wherever Zain Hasan saw problems, he wondered how he could fix it. Entrepreneurship was in his DNA, from selling ready-made chicken sandwiches as a kid to growing three successful businesses – and disrupting the health insurance system in America along the way.
After a botched acquisition, Zain knew there was much to be improved in the world of mergers and acquisitions, so he set out to challenge the status quo. Through rapid growth and accolades, he led his firm through being acquired by a Private Equity backed platform with an “integrated” model that focused on partnerships rather than a...2023-01-2359 min
Buy Grow SellEP76 The Journey of an Entrepreneur: What It Takes to Get It DoneWhile the rest of her MBA class were starting projects they thought would change the world, Angela Mader was developing a fitness journal.
That journal, fitbook®, went on to challenge the status quo in the fitness industry with its strong branding around real people, realistic expectations, and healthy inspiration. What started out as a passion project ended up in over 16,000 retail stores around the world, became a national bestselling item in Target, catapulting a wellness business that developed over 50 other products, and earned Angela a 5x earnings exit 10 years later.
This is her story.
Connect with Angela Mader
Website: https://w...2023-01-161h 03
Buy Grow SellEP75 From a $400 start-up to $44M exit: Meet Stuart CraneStuart Crane spent 20 years developing his software company that digitised patient records for the healthcare industry. He and his business partner started out on floppy disks and ended up with $44M cash in their pockets twenty years later.
This episode explores how they developed a winning idea, grew market share, and built a profitable business model within its first year of operations. Tune in for the key ingredients that created a scalable SaaS business model that sold for 9x EBITDA.
Connect with Stuart Crane
Website: https://stuartcrane.com/
Website: https://www.shopsmaller.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-crane/
...2023-01-0951 min
Buy Grow SellEP74 SaaS Pioneer Ken Burke on Building a $100M CompanyKen Burke is a serial entrepreneur, thought leader, sought-after speaker, mentor, and author. He joins us on the Buy Grow Sell podcast to discuss the growth and exit of his ecommerce software platform, MarketLive.
Bootstrapped in 1995, Ken talks about how he pivoted to a fully operational SaaS business, managed challenging relationships with VC funders, and overcame all the usual roadblocks to become a market leader for 20+ years.
When Ken did sell, it was for a life-changing $100M. Learn all about it here in the latest episode.
Connect with Ken Burke
Website: https://kenburke.com/
Website: https://entrepreneurnow.com/
LinkedIn: https...2022-12-1246 min
Buy Grow SellEP73 From a Failed First Exit to a $40M AcquisitionNicky Senyard never ran a tech company before, had no experience generating new markets, and didn’t know how she would fare as a CEO. Yet she sold her house in Australia, moved to Canada, bootstrapped her affiliate marketing company, Income Access, and broke even in just 9 months.
From then, she grew her business from 3 employees to 90 over 14 years, servicing over 25,000 affiliates, and then secured a $40M exit in 2016.
Her story is an authentic look at what it takes to be a leader and how to succeed in a market, even if you might not enter it as the leader.
Co...2022-11-2851 min
Buy Grow SellEP72 How to Sell a Business then Buy 5 More (in 2 Years)JL Needham has bought, grown, and sold multiple businesses over the past few years with most of his career spent in big tech with Adobe, Google, and Amazon. From helping brands grow in Amazon’s marketplace ecosystem to renovating businesses he acquired to pass over to the next long-term owners, JL operates with a growth mindset.
His journey has taken him from one side of the negotiation table to the other as he grew and sold his business venture, Valence, then shifted over to acquiring, flipping, and selling others. Now, he implements his learnings throughout the transaction process to help hi...2022-11-2152 min
Buy Grow SellEP71 How to Scale with the Right Advisors & InvestorAnson Sowby’s hard work and business acumen had created a successful creative agency that was churning out award-winning work for some of the biggest brands in the world.
But the business hit a limit. He and his co-founder realised that in order to scale up to the next level and take on bigger clients with bigger budgets, they would need to access external capital.
When they started working with the right advisors who helped them position the business for investment and introduced a CFO, the business really accelerated. That process took over 12 months and for Anson, there were lots of...2022-11-1444 min
Buy Grow SellEP70 Scaling, Exiting, and Business Partner PitfallsA successful business doesn’t always have to be the flashiest one. Take Jean-Eric’s farm clean-up business, which nailed the simple need that farmers had in the Prairies of Canada.
They wanted scrap farm equipment off their property and Jean-Eric’s team was able to recycle it at scale. A true win-win for all parties involved.
But as the business grew, new challenges arose, including a partnership breakdown. The latest episode of the Buy Grow Sell podcast provides some fascinating insight into how a real-world serial entrepreneur came to realise that bringing in his business partner was a mistake – and one...2022-11-0758 min
Buy Grow SellEP69 Will a Strategic Acquirer Buy Your Business?Everyone will exit their business someday. While most business owners are looking to understand how to get the highest valuation and how to position themselves to get the best deal structure with the right buyer, Thomas Kereszti spent most of his career on the other side of those discussions, figuring out whether your business was worth the investment in the first place.
Hear directly from a corporate M&A buyer on what he looks for in acquisitions, how he structures deals, and what a strategic acquirer may find important that you might overlook. Tom talks through several business acquisitions, including...2022-10-3146 min
Buy Grow SellEP68 Building a Global Business, One Acquisition at a TimeThere are two options for growth – organic or through business acquisition. Each one comes with its own set of challenges, but for Wendy Pease, growth through acquisition made more sense. She didn’t have a ‘business-worthy’ idea and instead, bought a small, zero-employee translation service that turned over around $100K in revenue.
Eighteen years later, Wendy grew Rapport International to a global translation and marketing company that has $5M in revenue and around 10-15 employees.
This episode is great for potential business owners who want to enter the market by either starting or acquiring their first business rather than growing it from...2022-10-2459 min
Buy Grow SellEP67 Every Business Owner Has a Number. What’s Yours?After leaving successful, high-paying jobs in the corporate world, Michael Spinosa decided to strike out on his own by founding Unleashed Technologies, a digital marketing agency that specialised in application development. However, there was one problem: No one in his life thought he had what it took.
While he bootstrapped his business from the ground up, it was not all sunshine and lollipops. Michael struggled financially, and he also struggled to find his market fit to truly grow the business. This led him on a journey of self-discovery about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.
After several key shifts...2022-10-1755 min
Buy Grow SellEP66 What To Do When You Hit Your Business Valuation NumberGabriela Isturiz did the impossible. She built a high-growth SaaS company and sold it to a Fortune 500 company for a huge multiple…twice!
Her legal tech business, Bellefield Systems, grew to 45 employees over 7 years. Not to mention enjoyed 99% recurring revenue, 93% gross profit margins, an EBITDA margin of 38% as well as a whopping retention rate of 102%.
All that is to say is that Gaby built a very successful software company, and she lays out not just how she did it, but how you can too.
Connect with Gabriela Isturiz
Website: https://thefund.vc/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielaisturiz/
Twitter: ht...2022-10-1051 min
Buy Grow SellEP65 My Business Was My Passion Project I Never Thought I’d Sell ItNick Gray didn’t like museums.
That dislike spurned the birth of ‘Museum Hack.’ A new way of touring museums led by scientists, actors, and comedians in an engaging and interactive way. Starting the business predominantly for his friends, Nick was able to grow ‘Museum Hack’ to a $3 million a year business.
From a young age, he had the entrepreneurial drive after helping the family business in the avionics industry. That entrepreneurial nature helped him to create an extremely successful business where he eventually exited through a unique shared equity model and retained 15% of the company.
Nowadays, Nick is busily creating a...2022-10-0340 min
Buy Grow SellEP64 The Pitfalls of Being a Minority Shareholder in BusinessYour business is your baby, so what happens when you must let someone else make the decisions?
Whether you have a business partner or a range of investors, there is always going to be someone with a different opinion on what you should do with the business. The problem lies when you don’t hold enough clout and their opinions are what go ahead.
This is the trap of a minority shareholder, and something Erik Rind can speak in-depth about. Having been building software since before the dawn of the internet, Erik has found himself a few times in a mi...2022-09-2652 min
Buy Grow SellEP63 Tired Running the Business? Don’t Overlook This Exit OptionBusinesses with purpose can create much bigger opportunities.
This episode centres around an entrepreneur who managed to put community first, carve out a significant market differentiator, and because of this, grew his real estate business to $1B in annual turnover before selling to newer, younger agents for almost $10M dollars.
Mark Deutschmann is a real estate entrepreneur who operated in a scant one-mile radius in Nashville, Tennessee. His business, Village Real Estate could have gone national, but instead, they funnelled money back into the community and created a thriving place to live that attracted more people (and agents) to the...2022-09-1948 min
Buy Grow SellEP62 Selling Your Family Business: What Can Go Wrong?For Ryan Tansom, his professional life started at 19 when the family business came knocking. He put on a suit and hit the pavement to start selling, starting his 18-year journey of growing and eventually selling the business.
After navigating tricky situations in dealing with his father in the family business, Ryan grew the company to new levels before his father decided that he wanted out.
Selling the business to a competitor meant gutting all of things he had helped to implement, but it was a formative experience that provided Ryan with crucial know-how. This experience is what he now calls...2022-09-1257 min
Buy Grow SellEP61 Why Acquisition Over Organic Growth Can Help You Scale QuicklyLandscaping is a tough, not-so-glamourous business, but it’s one that Tom Farinacci cracked early on with his entrepreneurial drive and penchant for hard work.
After selling his first business, Tom completed a college degree, worked at national landscaping business with the sole purpose of learning their trade secrets, and then returned to what he does best. Building his own business and propelling its growth forward.
Focusing solely on strategic acquisitions from competitors in his area, Tom grew the business to achieve comfortable EBITDA margins of 15% a year.
Tune in to hear why he prioritised strategic acquisitions over organic growth, ho...2022-09-0550 min
Buy Grow SellEP60 When Is The Right Time To Sell Your Business? With Eric EngeAs most marketers will tell you, Search Engine Optimisation is a long game. It requires hard work, patience, and most of all, a keen eye for the changes in the industry. In fact, SEO is much like owning a business.
These parallels culminated in the journey of Eric Enge, a 20+ year veteran in Search Engine Marketing and a savvy business owner. Eric was the founder of the award-winning SEO agency, Stone Temple Consulting, and by 2018, the marketing services business had almost 70 employees, $9 million in annual revenue, and counted fifteen Fortune 500 level among its client base.
However, just like in SEO...2022-08-2952 min
Buy Grow SellEP59 Calling in the Big Gun CEO to Turnaround & Sell Your BusinessEveryone can start a business, but few can make it a successful one. And even fewer entrepreneurs know when it’s time to step aside to bring in the big guns. Tina Youngblood is that big gun.
With a PhD in accounting and over 20 years of experience in executive strategic leadership and results-oriented operational administration, Tina has developed a strategic approach to turning around businesses that has seen her succeed in various ventures across accounting, health, and SaaS.
If you’re a flagging founder who can’t seem to get to the next stage of growth, tune into this episode and le...2022-08-221h 06
Buy Grow SellEP58 The Accidental Entrepreneur: Jonathan Claydon Finding the Ideal AcquirerFor an accidental entrepreneur, Jonathan Claydon did everything right in his affiliate marketing company, Streamline.
Jon grew the business for 7 years from 1 employee to five to 35, servicing big names like Expedia, T-Mobile, and Microsoft right from the get-go. His industry expertise and market niche saw a client retention rate of 95%. This skyrocketed streamline to leaders in the industry, with Jon assessing over 20 Letters of Intent before finally accepting an offer from “frenemy” company, Acceleration Partners (who he now works for).
His top advice for entrepreneurs: Find the right buyer and everything else will fall into place.
Connect with Jonathan Claydon
Webs...2022-08-081h 00
Buy Grow SellEP57 Peter Fader: How to Sell Your Business to NikeFrom theory to application and beyond, marketing professor Peter Fader did what most academics fail to do: create a successful commercial business based on what you’re doing in the classroom.
His work on consumer decision making led him to start Zodiac, a company that looked at consumer buying data to accurately predict future purchasing decisions. His data was a gold mine for entrepreneurs, but the challenge was getting business owners to see the value and trust the forecasting.
After three years of side-of desk growth, Peter and his team were working hard on scaling and bringing in new and in...2022-08-0155 min
Buy Grow SellEP56 3x Acquired by Disney, Sony, and Atari: This is David PerryWhether it’s eCommerce or Influencer Marketing, David Perry has advice for all businesses on how to best acquire, engage, and retain customers.
A veteran of the gaming industry, he’s taking the lessons he learned creating #1 selling video and computer games, and translating them into successful business ventures.
David has built and sold businesses acquired by Sony, Disney, and Atari. Now, he’s shifted to eCommerce, blurring the lines between gaming and reality.
Connect with David Perry
Website: https://dperry.com/
Website: https://getcarro.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dperry/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getcarro/
Twitter: https...2022-07-251h 12
Buy Grow SellEP55 Selling a SaaS Business for 7X ARR & No Earn-OutSuccessful entrepreneur, technologist, speaker, podcast host, and pilot, James Benham is a man of many talents, but one of his greatest gifts is his ability to build bootstrapped businesses.
James took three years to develop enough cash flow to invest in building products he wanted to build, but the payoff was worth the wait. SmartBid, his construction bid management software, was first-to-market on most technology trends, staying well ahead of its venture-funded competitors. But after 12 years of funnelling all profits into the business, James came to a crossroad: He needed to scale, raise, or exit.
Learn how he built to...2022-07-1855 min
Buy Grow SellEP54 Starting up a SaaS Company and Selling for a 7-Figure SumAfter growing her bootstrapped and self-funded alternative camping SaaS business to $100,000 in Annual Recurring Revenue, Anna Maste received a very respectable offer of 3.9 times ARR.
Rather than accepting, Anna decided to focus on exponentially growing Boondockers Welcome, capitalising on a favourable market at the time.
Two years, 2,800 hosts and 12,000 annual guest members later, she more than quadrupled their revenue before accepting a mid-seven figure offer.
Connect with Anna Maste
Website: https://www.subscribesense.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-maste-9aab6315/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skulegirl
Connect with Simon Bedard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/
Website: https...2022-07-1137 min
Buy Grow SellEP53 From Near Bankruptcy to $8M: Changing the Game with Sandy Hansen-WolffAfter Sandy Hansen-Wolff’s husband suddenly died, she was thrust into running their regional agriculture business. Rather than balking at the task, she grew the company to $8M before selling 18 years later.
Sandy overcame a lot of challenges in this time period. From navigating her grief, to navigating being a woman in a male-dominated industry. She made a lot of mistakes along the way, but in the end, created a great business and secured a great exit.
Now, Sandy integrates these key insights as the platform for her work with high-level business leaders and entrepreneurs so that they too are em...2022-07-0459 min
Buy Grow SellEP52 Do You Have What It Takes to Start a SaaS Business?Three-time start-up entrepreneur, Melissa Kwan has one piece of advice for those who want to start a tech company: Don’t!
But jokes aside, Melissa’s advice is invaluable when it comes to the mindset you need to build a SaaS product, and she isn’t shy about sharing the cold hard truth.
Her real estate software, Spacio grew to the industry’s #1 open house sign-in solution by applying data analytics to open houses and helping agents automate lead capture and follow-up. When she sold to HomeSpotter in 2019, the deal terms were undisclosed, but were in the mid-seven figures.
Yet to get t...2022-06-2751 min
Buy Grow SellEP51 The Metronome Effect: Building Predictable Profits with Shannon SuskoShannon Susko started, scaled, and sold two high-growth technology companies in the financial services industry just six years apart.
This self-described ski bum from Whistler, Canada built a repeatable playbook that both she and her acquirers have used, as well as over 100 businesses worldwide.
In her second business, it resulted in a 60x top line sale.
If you’re looking to inject more predictable profit into your business, then tune in and learn from best-selling author, entrepreneur, and business coach, Shannon Susko.
Connect with Shannon Susko
Website: https://www.metronomeunited.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonbyrnesusko/
Facebook: https://ww...2022-06-2058 min
Buy Grow SellEP50 Growing, Scaling, and Selling an 11x EBITDA Professional Services BusinessAre you looking to scale your business?
From team development to infrastructure to founder mindset, to just straight luck, there are so many components required to rapidly grow a business.
Our guest, Greg Alexander unlocks many of the mysteries surrounding how to take your business to the next level. And he should know.
Greg successfully built his sales consultancy firm, SBI, over 11 years, generating $30M in annual revenue and $16M in EBITDA with only 30 employees. This allowed him to sell to a private equity firm for $162M without an earn-out.
Tune in and learn not just how he did it...2022-06-1355 min
Buy Grow SellEP49 From $400K to $50M: Stephen Hunt on Building a Pub EmpireWhat started as a family business in Australia’s local pub scene turned into a multi-branded private equity firm with 250+ employees and a 7-venue portfolio. Stephen Hunt is the founder of Hunt Hospitality, and buying, flipping and selling pubs is his passion.
Tune in and learn how he started with a $400K investment and turned that into $50M through a strategy of innovation and acquisition, including executing multimillion-dollar deals, all the while still fostering deep roots in the communities in which he operated.
His structured approach to acquisitions is transferrable across every industry, and you will leave with a thirst fo...2022-06-0652 min
Buy Grow SellEP48 Business Success that Feeds Your Soul with Dave GoldMindset is an often underrated and under-analysed component to starting a successful business. But this episode moves away from the traditional path of a business exit, and onto the one less travelled.
Dave Gold is a lawyer, author, entrepreneur, transformational mentor, and energy master who helps entrepreneurs develop healthy mindsets towards starting, scaling, and exiting businesses.
Tune in and learn how to build an authentic business model that aligns with your values, unlocking the door for a more enriching entrepreneurial experience.
Connect with Dave Gold
Website: https://davegold.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-gold-6a5602b/
Connect with...2022-05-301h 00
Buy Grow SellEP47 Creating Digital Value with James PrebbleFrom corporate slave to 7x EBITDA, James Prebble’s entrepreneurial journey was just as impressive as the businesses he helped grow.
Palladium Digital found its niche in the market by delivering digital transformation for Private Equity backed businesses. By helping unlock value drivers using technology, James was able to drive a higher multiple while also scaling up his own business to over one million pounds in annual turnover quickly.
When it came time for his own due diligence, James imparted several impactful lessons. Listen in and learn.
Connect with James Prebble
Website: https://palladiumdigital.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.co...2022-05-2356 min
Buy Grow SellEP46 How to Build a Self-Sufficient Business (And Then Sell for 7-Figures)Jodie Cook capitalised on the dawn of social media, starting her digital agency, JC Social Media, in 2011. With a stable base of recurring revenue and a growing team of passionate staff, Jodie was well on her way to developing a healthy business model.
But after realising she was the bottleneck in her business, Jodie started to see how her future could look if she made herself redundant. While initially doing it so she could take a vacation, Jodie quickly learned this was the golden ticket for an entrepreneur, so when it came time to sell, she had more flexibility to...2022-05-1649 min
Buy Grow SellEP45 From Getting Fired to $45M Turnover and 8+ x EBITDAFrom picking up industrial waste in a truck to creating a mini bidding war for his business that resulted in a $51.5 million acquisition deal, Mike Malatesta has had quite the Cinderella story.
His journey through surviving, scaling, acquiring for growth, before finally exiting involves a lot of knowing the market, understanding realistic timeframes, and most importantly, what you want out of the deal.
His key tip to entrepreneurs: If you’re selfish and know exactly what you want, you’ll be able build the right team to deliver on it.
Learn how Mike did just that while still managing to take...2022-05-091h 09
Buy Grow SellEP44 Ready, Set, Scale: From $12K to $24M+ with Jon MorrisWhen Jon Morris came second for his business idea in a competition, he took that $10,000 investment and decided to run with it. That is how his digital marketing agency, Rise Interactive, was born.
While the beginnings might have been humble, under Jon’s leadership, he helped Rise grow exponentially year-over-year, starting at $12,000 in sales in 2004 and ending in $24M+ before exiting in 2018.
Jon’s framework for growth is the foundation of this episode and is applicable across a variety of verticals to help business owners scale their companies.
Connect with Jon Morris
Website: https://ramsayinnovations.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...2022-05-0247 min
Buy Grow SellEP43 How to Grow an Outsourcing Company and Exit for 8+ FiguresFrom struggling to get a job out of university, to running multiple businesses across the world, Tim Burgess is an entrepreneur with a passion for people.
This passion led him and his business partner to open Shield GEO, an established global Employer of Record (EoR) provider based in Hong Kong with entities in the U.K. and Australia, and a global remote team.
After growing the company to service thousands of international workers, Tim was approached by Velocity Global, the biggest player in the industry. While the terms of this deal were undisclosed, in this episode, Tim walks you through...2022-04-251h 03
Buy Grow SellEP42 Before Uber Eats: How Cesar Quintero Took Over a MarketFrom knocking on doors trying to sell his food delivery service in 2004, to having his own employees knock on his door to buy the business in 2017, Cesar Quintero’s journey from a scrappy startup to a people-led, profitable business is one a lot of entrepreneurs will relate to.
After eight years, the team surpassed $1M in revenue and quickly grew to $3 million with a 12% profit. That’s when Quintero decided to sell half of his business, valued at 4x EBITDA.
Finding his passion in people and development and pairing that with his (numerous) learnings from the first-time round, Cesar was able...2022-04-1848 min
Buy Grow SellEP41 From the Boot to Billions: This is Jim EstillWhat do a $2 billion dollar technology company, a $400 million dollar appliances company, and a rapid-growth courier service all have in common?
One entrepreneur by the name of Jim Estill.
A serial business starter, Jim has bought, grown, and exited numerous businesses, invested, advised, and sat on boards for hundreds more, and is not looking to slow down any time soon.
Follow along on Jim’s journey from idea to execution, and from scaling to successfully exiting. It doesn’t matter what sector the business is in; Jim’s recipe is tried and true.
Connect with Jim Estill
Website: https://www.danby...2022-04-1141 min
Buy Grow SellEP40 Retail Retelling: Learning the Ins and Outs of Amazon ResellersFrom start up, to rapid growth. Building a company that stays ahead of the bell curve is a challenge in any sector, but especially in a market that is saturated with competitors. Being a reseller on Amazon means you’re a dime a dozen, but Eytan Wiener and his business partner built a unicorn.
The two scaled Quantum Networks from $100,000 in one year, to $3M in the following, to $30M 18 months later. How? By finding a differentiator and pulling their value levers.
Tune in to learn how Eytan increased revenue by 4,566% and what tips he offers for other e-commerce businesses lo...2022-04-0454 min
Buy Grow SellEP39 How a Focus on Culture Will Help You ScaleBefore Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, there was teleconferencing.
Frank Cianciulli saw an opportunity to do teleconferencing and do it well, offering a vastly different way of doing things from his competitors.
Focusing strongly on the organisational culture of Enunciate Teleconferencing and the employees that made up the company, Frank grew the business to a $14.5 million revenue generation machine in just five years.
Tune in to hear how Frank deployed some unique strategies to grow the business quickly and how he managed his exit when another company showed interest in an acquisition.
Connect with Frank Cianciulli
Website: https://wishgroup...2022-03-281h 06
Buy Grow SellEP38 Against the Odds: Selling a SaaS Business to a NASDAQ CompanyLow tech, low innovation, and low capital are all terms associated with the non-profit sector. Yet with non-profits spending more than $800B a year in the United States, Cheryl Contee saw an opportunity to service those making a difference.
Her SaaS company, Attentive.ly provided social listening services for non-profits. While the tool was a success in the sector, the business was thirsty for cash, prompting Cheryl and her business partner to exit, ultimately selling to Blackbaud. Attentive.ly was the first tech startup with a black female founder in history to be acquired by a NASDAQ-traded company.
Now, the...2022-03-2157 min
Buy Grow SellEP37 An Insider’s Guide to Growth, Burnout & ExitTranslations of business documents can make or break multi-million-dollar deals.
And that’s exactly how Michèle Hecken carved out a niche for reliable, high-quality translations between Germany and the English-speaking world. As one of Canada’s first translators for German to English services, Michèle founded ‘Alpha Translations’ and never looked back.
Focusing heavily on companies in the legal space, Michèle grew her business from the ground up, working 20-hour days before receiving an offer to sell after hitting a $5 million per year revenue figure.
Listen in to learn how she scaled up the business by making a small chang...2022-03-1446 min
Buy Grow SellEP36 People, Processes, and Pinpointing the Right Value LeversAccording to Kobi Simmat, business is a full contact sport.
Australian entrepreneur, investor, and a successful business advisor, Kobi is the CEO and Founder of Best Practice. He’s conducted around 20K business performance reviews, giving him unique knowledge of the workplace and the analytical skills to make sure your business scores the winning goal.
How do you get there and truly build your business? This episode strips back the big ideas and the flashy product offerings and provides listeners with small, tangible ways to increase the value of your business over time.
This methodical approach will help any new or...2022-03-071h 04
Buy Grow SellEP35 Strategic Partnerships or Acquisition? A Real-Life Case StudyAfter dealing first-hand with how poorly digital marketing agencies were treating their customers, Wesley Mathews decided to act.
He partnered with a developer whom he had previous dealings with and hit the ground running, starting his first agency called ‘High Level Marketing’.
Beginning his entrepreneurial marketing journey in 2009, it took Wesley just over 11 years to grow ‘High Level Marketing’ from an idea to 50+ employees with revenue of over $6.5M.
That kind of rapid business scaling is something we discussed at length on this latest episode of Buy Grow Sell. Wesley’s very successful experience with growing a business at such a quick pa...2022-03-0247 min
Buy Grow SellEP34 7th Heaven: Michael Griffiths on 7 Businesses and 6 ExitsSerial entrepreneur Michael Griffiths always has something on the go. Whether it’s a multi-city home tutoring business, a mineral make up brand, or a globally recognised marketing agency serving tens of thousands of clients across the world.
Having left the school system where he was a teacher for 7 years, Michael started his first business in 2009. Since then, he has built 7 businesses, and then selling 6 of them along the way.
Tune in and learn how he continuously builds successful brands regardless of the industry, and why he’s known as the leading authority worldwide on referral marketing.
Connect with Michael Grif...2022-03-0140 min
Buy Grow SellEP33 How to Scale a Marketing Agency to AcquisitionAndy Cabasso started his first company and sold it just three years later.
Armed with a law degree and a vision to help legal businesses have a more professional digital marketing presence, Andy started JurisPage.
After growing the business through an annual recurring revenue business model, and a reluctance to deviate from packaged offerings (including turning away potential clients who wanted bespoke and customised solutions), JurisPage was acquired by Uptime Legal just three years into their endeavour.
Andy’s unique perspective on strategic acquisitions and the transaction around this process makes for a great discussion on the latest episode of Bu...2022-02-2249 min
Buy Grow SellEP32 From $0 - $10M: Growth & Exit of a Digital Marketing FirmAll roads lead to marketing. At least, they did for award-winning entrepreneur, marketer, and investor, Rachit Dayal.
As Singapore’s first Google-certified advertising and analytics professional, Rachit founded Happy Marketer in 2005 and spent his career avoiding the traditional advertising landscape to focus on the “ignored” areas of marketing, including analytics, CRMs, and SEO.
Through their proprietary approaches to digital marketing, Rachit and his team have helped more than 5,000 executives grow their business, while growing his own from $0 to $10 million in sales before a successful acquisition by Dentsu Asia.
Tune in and learn how to future-proof your business, prepare for a strate...2022-02-2255 min
Buy Grow SellEP31 Buying, Selling, Launching & Everything in BetweenWorking with some of the biggest brands in the business, Greg Kihlstrom has authored books, started multiple businesses, and written for leading business publications like Forbes. At the age of 25, he started his first company to fill a niche in the early days of digital marketing.
Greg’s newest book, The Center of Experience (2020) talks about how customer and employee experience can be operationalised into a cohesive brand experience.
Currently the CEO and Co-Founder at CareerGig, after selling his digital experience agency, Carousel30, in 2017, Greg is well-positioned to discuss the intricacies of acquiring and selling businesses.
This episode is a mu...2022-02-161h 06
Buy Grow SellEP30 Luke Hohmann: Putting $1B into the Hands of ChildrenLuke Hohmann is one of the good people in tech. Instead of building companies to flip, he builds companies that make the world better. A serial entrepreneur, Luke has left the boardroom for the schoolyard, and it’s all because of a concept called Participatory Budgeting.
Participatory Budgeting is a global movement, endorsed by the UN, in which communities decide how to invest real money. His last business, Conteneo helped global organisations like BMW, Salesforce, eBay, Transamerica, and many others manage $3 billion. Now, Luke wants to take $1B and give it to children through his latest business startup, FirstRoot.
Tune in...2022-02-1453 min
Buy Grow SellEP29 Growing a Business to Over $25M and Getting AcquiredWally Akacha operates in absolutes. He knew from the age of five he wanted to be a civil engineer. He then entered into a civil engineering firm as Employee #1.
With no plan to exit, Wally grew through the ranks from General Manager to Managing Director, successfully stabilising cashflow and growing the business 25% yearly. Twelve years later, turning over $25M in revenue, he sold it to a listed entity.
Follow along on his journey as he honed and developed his leadership skills, figured out how to manage a team’s expectations through an acquisition process, and dive deeper into the nitty gr...2022-02-0958 min
Buy Grow SellEP28 Growth via Acquisition: How to Grow Successful Online BusinessesCOVID-19 has accelerated the shift of every aspect of our lives to be online. It is the standard for business owners now, not the expectation, that you must have a strong online presence. So as a business owner, how do you evolve your services to cater to a growing digital audience?
Today’s guest is Ronnie Teja, a Canadian entrepreneur who’s deployed a successful growth via acquisition strategy to capture his fair share of the internet market. He grew his first business Branzio, an eCommerce store for watches, organically. Since then, he’s acquired 15 different businesses and online sites to bui...2022-02-0753 min
Buy Grow SellEP27 People-Focused Business Strategies to Scale in 2022People are the heart of your business, and our guest, Dave Molenda knows this better than most. After a 30+ year career growing his business to $10M in annual sales, he exited in order to follow his passion of helping other business owners thrive.
In today’s episode, Dave dishes great tips on how to find the right people, build the right people-centric processes, and implement the right partnership strategies that will work together to grow a successful business.
Connect with Dave Molenda
Website: https://www.positivepolarity.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmolenda/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Positivepolarity/
Co...2022-02-0251 min
Buy Grow SellEP26 From Start-up to Scale-up with Lee HackettWhat do elite sports, the military, and the buy, grow, sell cycle all have in common?
Structure. And structure is something our latest guest, Lee Hackett specialises in. Starting out as a professional footballer for Wigan Athletic FC, Lee pivoted to the corporate world before entering his brother’s business, CMS, where he helped grow the business 4-5x in the four years he was there.
Since then, he has successfully grown 3 companies to $10M+ in sales and engineered trade sales to FTSE200 listed corporations. From professional footballer to professional businessman, learn about Lee Hackett’s journey from setting up play...2022-01-3154 min
Buy Grow SellEP25 ESOPs, Earn-outs, and International Growth with Rajiv LambaRajiv Lamba is an entrepreneur with proven track record of scaling a startup from $0 to $14M in sales. He has one successful exit, and he is now scaling his second Enterprise SaaS startup from $0 to $4.4M ARR in 3 years.
Rajiv isn’t in a hurry. He lives and breathes by the cycle of building up, scaling and selling to strategic acquirers, and he wants other business owners to slow down and adopt this mindset as well.
With one business, Kadence, grown successfully from $1.5M to $14M across multiple counties, he’s restarted that cycle with his newest startup venture: an AI-d...2022-01-2645 min
Buy Grow SellEP24 Turning an Idea into a 9-figure BusinessWhat do an electrical engineering degree, degree in Mandarin, law degree, and an MBA all have in common?
They all belong to our next guest, Devin Miller who’s built as many businesses as he has degrees. Devin has founded and co-founded several 7 and 8 figure companies. He has also founded his own patent and trademark law firm, Miller IP Law.
Devin is the type of entrepreneur who has 10 new ideas for breakfast, throws out 20 before dinner, and has another 10 by the time his head hits the pillow.
Learn how he vets these ideas and turns them into profitable business ventures – many...2022-01-2457 min
Buy Grow SellEP23 From Scandinavian Christmas Candles to $2.5M in TurnoverCamilla Bowhill built, and then sold her Scandinavian wholesale, retail and online business in gifts, homewares and fashion, Nordic Fusion, in about 2018.
This business prides itself on stocking original brands, with everything sourced from Scandinavia. The store showcases brands and designers that have been around since the 1950s, as well as new labels.
The Swedish entrepreneur brought a taste of Scandinavia to Australia, successfully growing a retail, wholesale and e-commerce store. But after 15 years of slow and steady growth, and $2.5M in turnover later, Camilla decided she had enough.
Learn about the different phases of her business growth, from navigating...2022-01-1740 min
Buy Grow SellEP22 Turning a Passion Project into a Profitable ExitIn this episode, we meet with Mark Steadman, a pioneer of the podcast industry.
Mark’s serious about podcasts, and his passion for the industry and for his fellow podcasters took him on an incredible, decade long journey of discovery. After creating, in his words, “the world’s most technically advanced podcast that no one listened to,” Mark decided to change lanes and begin his own hosting platform.
In 2016, Mark started Podiant, a podcast hosting, analytics, and distribution company. In the spring of 2021, he sold that business to Castos.
Dive deeper into how he discovered his competitive edge in the market...2022-01-1043 min
Buy Grow SellEP21 Jump Start Your Exit with Heidi DeningTune in for not just a story of a lifetime, but a story of two, or maybe three lifetimes.
Our latest guest, Heidi Dening’s story is one that will grab your attention. She recovered from childhood paralysis, was abducted and held at gunpoint, and even survived almost being burnt alive when petrol bombs were thrown through her windows. But one thing that pervaded these instances was her courage, and that courage followed her on her entrepreneurial journey.
She relied on it to quit her stable, teaching job to move her personal training company, Jump Start, out of her garage. He...2021-12-2051 min
Buy Grow SellEP20 Building a Business That’s Always SellableIn this episode, we sit down with Tyler Martin, a CPA by trade who has literally worked with thousands of businesses over his years. Not only did Tyler build an accounting practice, which he eventually sold, he also bought into a software engineering firm that he grew from $5M in revenue to around $25M, before selling to a multi-billion dollar acquirer.
When Tyler left a cushy job to start his own business, most of his family thought he was crazy. But after building and selling two of his own businesses, the last one for an 8-figure pay check, Tyler has...2021-12-1346 min
Buy Grow SellEP19 How to Sell a Professional Services Firm for 12x EBITDAPete Martin is genetically coded to be an entrepreneur. And with four businesses built, scaled, and sold under his belt, plus another two currently active, there’s no doubt today’s guest knows his way around an exit.
Today on the show, we speak to Pete about EntryPoint Consulting. He grew that business for 11 years, to 34 staff before selling to KPMG.
Traditionally, similar businesses trade for low multiples, but Pete sold for 12x EBITDA AND with no earn-out. Was this a unicorn? Or does Pete have a magic recipe for successful exits?
Tune in and find out.
Connect with Pete Mart...2021-11-2940 min
Buy Grow SellEP18 Maximise Your Multiple in Today’s Market ConditionsWhen Tyler Jefcoat’s company grew to more than 100 employees in just three to four years, he was convinced that success for him meant being the CEO of a $100M company with over 500 employees.
But after an offer came in from a private equity group for more than five times EBITDA, and things with Tyler’s business partner turned pear shaped, he learned some valuable lessons about how to set up a business partnership from the get-go.
Tyler has taken those lessons and now helps other business owners sell their companies, totalling more than $100 million per year in e-commerce sales. Tune...2021-11-1551 min
Buy Grow SellEP17 From Music Aficionado to a Million-dollar Earn-OutJoining the podcast today is Terry Dry. Tune in for the delightful tale he tells of music, mayhem, and the rise of digital marketing during the late 90s and 2000s as co-founder of Fanscape, one of the very first social media marketing companies on the scene.
Yes, before Facebook. Yes, even before MySpace.
Terry and his partner, Larry, grew Fanscape from an initial $10K investment to an eight-figure acquisition by Omnicom, but not before they pivoted several times, made multiple mistakes, and finally came to his ‘a-ha’ moment that it was time to sell the business.
You’ll learn how he lan...2021-11-0845 min
Buy Grow SellEP16 Friendships, Earn-Outs, and Partnership BreakdownsHave you ever thought about going into business with a good friend? Steve Grace did, and he doesn’t recommend it. For as many times as we’ve heard a partnership success story, Steve’s experience proves that there’s always an exception to the rule.
In this episode, we’ll cover how Steve first got into business, and how he ended up partnering with a good colleague and friend. Having previously sold a company for a seven times multiple, and with shared backgrounds in recruitment and complementary leadership skills, Steve’s partnership seemed like a success. Another two years, a friendship...2021-10-2548 min
Buy Grow SellEP15 Shaping the Story Behind Your Sale: Matt AldertonMatt Alderton is the Owner and Founder of Bx, Alderton Enterprises, and the Founder of Integrated Workforce Solutions, as well as a number of 6 and 7 figure startups.
Formerly the owner of multiple retail and hospitality businesses, as well as being a #1 best-selling author, Professional Speaker, Coach, and Small Business Expert, Matt was named Business Person of the Year in 2015, NSW Business Leader in 2016, and Finalist Australian Business Entrepreneur. BxNetworking was a Finalist in the Telstra Business Awards in 2018 and 2019, and Matt was named NSW Business Leader in the NSW Business Chamber Awards in 2019.
Great at spotting gaps in the market...2021-10-1855 min
Buy Grow SellEP14 Why You Should Not Tie Earn-Out to PerformanceTina Tower started her first business at the age of 20, an enterprise that went from being a small suburban tutoring centre and educational toy store, to becoming a licence program, and then a franchise. After five years of franchising, Tina opened 35 Begin Bright centres across Australia that employed 120 staff.
After Begin Bright was acquired by an international education company in 2016, she started coaching other people on how to scale their service-based businesses.
In this episode, Tina shares her advice if you’re thinking about signing an earn-out – imagine the worst case scenario (even the things you think no one could poss...2021-10-1149 min
Buy Grow SellEP13 Duplication: How to Grow Your Time and MoneyScotty Schindler is a businessman and keen surfer, proudly from the town of Sawtell, in New South Wales, Australia.
Scotty was the founder and CEO of ReNet, a PropTech business focused on residential real estate. He started the business in 2000 with just one single property listing, but by the time Scotty left the business in 2017, ReNet managed 900,000+ properties and over $1 trillion in real estate across Australia and New Zealand.
In this episode, Scotty shares the one thing that was his core focus as he built his business, and all the challenges that come with selling your business to a global...2021-10-0448 min
Buy Grow SellEP12 Buy to Sell: Acquiring for GrowthKickstarting, selling, acquiring, and merging several companies with his wife, Matt Raad has built a life for himself in the Australian countryside doing what he loves. Believing that business is the vehicle through which you can realise the life of your dreams, we talk about the importance of clearly visualising the kind of life you want, and then creating a company that supports it.
Among other topics of conversation, Matt dives into the two key things that make a great business transaction, and why he recommends asking yourself how you’re going to exit your business from day one (even if...2021-09-2757 min
Buy Grow SellEP11 The Pitfalls of Staying On After You SellCraig Daley was the Founder and CEO of Comfort Medical Supply, a nationally-accredited home medical equipment company that grew to national acclaim and a 3-time recipient of the Inc 500, “Fastest Growing Privately-Held Companies in America” award. Under his guidance, the company formed with $20,000 in 2003 and grew to $12 million in 10 years.
After a successful acquisition of Comfort by a private equity group in 2011, and continuing his tenure with Comfort as Chairman and CEO, Daley resigned in early 2013.
In this episode, you will find out the ups and downs of including a holdback in a private equity sale (and why it can be s...2021-09-2051 min
Buy Grow SellEP10 Beware Hidden Pitfalls In Earn-OutsIf you’ve ever thought about how you can better find your target market and close every sale, Andy Kyiet is the guy for you. Driven by informed decisions based on facts, not assumptions, Andy’s current and previous successes working for, partnering, and leading companies have given him firsthand insight into just how well his business tactics and strategies can work.
In this episode, you will find out Andy’s reflections on navigating negotiations without help the first time (and why it was a good thing that the deal fell through), and the catalyst that led to getting an adviso...2021-09-131h 05
Buy Grow SellEP9 How to Build the Value of Your BusinessNow exited after 20 years of hard work and dedication, Peter Hooker reflects on his time as Co-Founder and CEO.
If you’ve ever considered the value of Intellectual Property and having patented assets as part of your business portfolio, this episode is for you. Believing that IP ownership is one of the single most valuable assets a seller can bring to a potential sale, Peter talks through all sides of a product-related business from securing wide profit margins, to distribution, and diversification success.
In this episode, you will also find out how Peter and his business partner used an acquisition st...2021-09-0643 min
My Worst Investment Ever PodcastSimon Bedard – Make Your Contracts as Airtight as PossibleBIO: Simon Bedard is the CEO of Exit Advisory Group, a boutique M&A firm, that also provides a range of advisory services focused on exit strategies and how to maximize company value.STORY: Simon had a client who convinced him to change the terms of their contract. The change worked in Simon’s favor because he made $2 million after delivering his services instead of the low seven-figure he had quoted. Unfortunately, the client now felt this was more than he expected and refused to pay up.LEARNING: Make your contracts airtight enough to cover yo...2021-09-0120 min
Buy Grow SellEP8 How This Founder Went from Zero to $200MChristian Boucousis built a multimillion dollar enterprise that protected civilians and supported the post-war Afghanistan rebuild. After returning to Australia and learning the hard way on how not to exit a business, Christian sought to share his experiences with other entrepreneurs.
In this episode, you will hear about how Christian built his first business from zero to 200 million in 3.5 years, how a business partner can ruin your company, and how to rebuild after your business fails.
Connect with Christian Boucousis
Website: https://afterburner.com.au/
Website: https://fewpodcast.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-boo-boucousis/
Facebook: https://www.facebook...2021-08-3058 min
Buy Grow SellEP7 Leveraging Tech: How IT Can Help You ScaleInspired by his fellow entrepreneurs building businesses, tech startups, and SaaS subscriptions worldwide, Raj Goodman Anand looks to well-known mentors and teachers before turning inward to get the job done.
With one successful exit under his belt and a growing business on the horizon, Raj shares the lessons on how to build and sell a business. Now much more well versed in traditional and innovative business models, pricing, and negotiation strategies, we talk about how his value received for his first sale could have been much higher with the right broker.
Connect with Raj Goodman Anand
Website: http://www.goodmanlantern...2021-08-2339 min
Buy Grow SellEP6 Buying, Building, and Selling a Business EmpireMike Lander is a next level expert when it comes to buying, building, and selling multiple 7-figure businesses. Now leading other business owners through the art of successful negotiations, Mike’s experience as both a Procurement Director buying over £400m of services for clients and buying/selling a number of companies as an entrepreneur is helping other up-and-coming entrepreneurs grow their empires through acquisitions and exits.
Steadfastly believing in the importance of finding, dominating, and defending your niche, tune in to this episode to learn more about Mike’s tried, tested, and true strategy about acquiring businesses, the benefit of scale...2021-08-1645 min
Buy Grow SellEP5 How To Buy The Business You Work ForKerry Boulton is a serial entrepreneur having bought, built, and sold a number of her own companies. She’s had immense success, and her fair share of challenges. But what is fascinating about Kerry is how she has managed to overcome adversity at almost every stage of her life, and still achieve amazing and life changing results.
In this episode, Kerry shares the details around her first company – how she managed to get investors onboard to buy it, and then went on to drive immense growth, and finally sell the business. What was really interesting is that while she achieved fant...2021-08-0555 min
Buy Grow SellEP4 How to Close 5 Acquisitions in 1.5 YearsReady to scale your business in the fastest way possible? Then acquisitions should be a serious consideration in your strategy. Conversely, if you are a business owner that wants to sell one day, then you will probably want to get into the mind of a seasoned acquisitions professional.
In this episode, we meet Dean Tavener who helped his financial services firm grow from $450M in funds under management to 1.8B by acquiring 5 companies in 18 months.
If you’re interested in learning more about the financial, legal, and human resources ramifications that come with buying and integrating in such a short am...2021-08-0553 min
Buy Grow SellEP3 How to Exit a Business and Reinvent YourselfWhen does exiting your business become a means to an end? Luke Brice is a former policeman turned entrepreneur. Having started and sold a gardening business, he co-founded a security company that has now diversified into a range of other services. Like most people, Luke has had his share of challenges in life, but has discovered a real passion for business.
Luke’s high spirited approach to life and business is the perfect example of recognising your best qualities and putting them to good use. If you want to hear from a business owner who realised that what set him ap...2021-08-0546 min
Buy Grow SellEP2 How Diane Prince Scaled Her Business to $50MDiane Prince has an amazing story of starting her first business in the back of her house, then growing it to $50M in revenue over 6 years, before selling it to a public company. Since then, she has co-founded, built, and exited another five companies.
Diane knows the rush, and the fear, of creating a business. She has scaled from zero to million-dollar weekly sales. What she has done in business allowed her to travel the world, build homes that were featured in magazines, meet tons of incredible people, and got to spend most of her 30’s retired.
If you’re inte...2021-08-0536 min
Buy Grow SellEP1 Reflections of a Serial Entrepreneur: Fred SchebestaFred Schebesta has to be one of Australia’s coolest and most successful entrepreneurs. Having sold his first business, Freestyle Media, for $1.3M at the ripe old age of 22, Fred and his business partner co-founded one the world’s leading comparison websites, Finder.com. The business now operates sites in over 80 countries, gets around 10 million visitors per month, and has around 500 employees. At present Finder.com is valued at over half a billion dollars.
In this episode, Fred reflects on his first ventures as we discuss where he succeeded and where things did not work out. We cover everything from how...2021-08-0527 min