Built to Sell Radio

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.

If you've ever wanted to create recurring revenue inside your business you'll want to listen to today's episode of Built to Sell Radio. The show is the third in our three-part expert series and features a conversation between John Warrillow, the author of The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in any Industry, and Robbie Kellman Baxter, the author of The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction -- two of the world's leading experts on subscription models in one episode.

Negotiating the sale of a business sale is intense and emotional for founders. Clear thinking is vital. In our second expert series installment, we feature Hasard Lee, a renowned clear-thinking expert.

Lee, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, authored the international bestseller, The Art of Clear Thinking. This Wall Street Journal bestseller, #2 in U.S. business books, has been translated into multiple languages.

As a flight commander in Afghanistan, Lee led over eighty combat missions, piloting two different jets on the same day in support of ground troops. Selected to fly the F-35, a cutting-edge, costly weapons system, he later became Chief of Training Systems at the world’s largest training base, innovating pilot training technology and methods.

Lee’s book translates combat lessons into daily life. Today he provides a mental toolbox for founders, guiding clear thought amid the emotional challenges of selling a business.

This week we have a special treat: an interview about negotiating the sale of your business with Chris Voss, the bestselling author of Never Split the Difference.

Chris used his many years of experience in international crises and high-stakes negotiations to develop a unique approach to negotiation and this week, he talks about how his approach applies to selling a business.

Prior to starting his training firm, The Black Swan Group,  Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI.

Chris served as the lead Crisis Negotiator for the New York City division of the FBI. He was a member of the New York City Joint Terrorist Task Force for 14 years. He was the case agent on the TWA Flight 800 catastrophe. He also negotiated the surrender of the first hostage taker to give up in the infamous Chase Manhattan Bank robbery.

During Chris’s 24-year tenure with the Bureau, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI, but also Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He is also a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service.

Chris has taught business negotiation in MBA programs at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, and at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. He also taught business negotiation at Harvard University and guest lectured at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Goethe Business School in Frankfurt, Germany.

Greg Romanzo and his partners spent 17 years growing a freight forwarding business. As the company expanded to 200 employees, the partners faced a realization: their decisions now impacted 200 families. This responsibility became overwhelming, and they decided to sell.

Chip Conley built the world's second largest boutique hotel chain to 3500 employees, but after a near death experience, Chip realized he wanted out. Chip went on to become Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, where he mentored co-founder Brian Chesky. Conley went on to create MEA -- the Modern Elder Academy -- the world's first ‘midlife wisdom school'.

Jason Cohen is the founder of both SmartBear and WP Engine, both companies that have achieved a valuation of more than $1 billion, making them “unicorns” in the parlance of Silicon Valley. This is our first installment in a series we’re referring to as Legends of the Deal, which will chronicle the life lessons of extraordinary achievers in the world of value building.

Josh Anhalt started GreenPath Energy in 2007 to help oil and gas companies detect methane leaks in their pipes. Over the years, Josh tried and failed to sell his company three times only to have each deal thwarted for a different reason.  By 2023 GreenPath was generating more than $8 million in revenue when they finally agreed to be acquired by a competitor for around 7 times EBITDA, 90% of which was paid in cash with the balance paid in stock of the acquirer.

Chad Maghielse treats his two French bulldogs like family. When their breath turned foul, he invented a dog breath spray. Within three years, he was making over $2 million in online pet product sales at a 35% profit margin. Then he sold his business.