Jeff Church had every reason to believe Coca-Cola would buy Suja Juice outright. They’d invested $90 million alongside Goldman Sachs at a $300 million valuation, and two weeks before their final bid was due, Coke flew its entire North American management team to Suja’s plant to present to all 400 employees. Then, on July 3, 2018, they passed, leaving Jeff with $40 million in maturing debt and a business losing $9 million a year.
In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, you discover how to:
- Build relationships with likely acquirers years before you sell, so you’re on their radar when the timing is right. Grab our eBook to learn more about appealing to different types of acquirers.
- Recognize how a 2x liquidation preference can quietly redirect an entire investment round away from founders and angels
- Run a parallel fundraise that gets your early backers a 4x return, even when your lead investor won’t compromise
- Recover from an acquirer walking away by cutting spend and buying back their equity at a discount
- Swing EBITDA by $30 million in two years by replacing a 15% gross margin product with a 65% one
- Write the selling memorandum before starting the business, then build the strategic plan backwards from it
Jeff eventually sold Suja to a private equity firm for about $325 million, and the company went public on the Nasdaq earlier this year.
Watch the full episode below.
Quote of the Week
When opportunity knocks, you don’t say hang on, I gotta finish my dinner. You grab it by the throat and wrestle it to the ground.
Jeff Church, co-founder of Suja Juice, on saying yes when Whole Foods asked him to launch ten new SKUs in three months, despite having no idea whether his young company could pull it off
Curious what your business is really worth to a buyer? Let’s take a look.
Deals
Buddy Healthcare, a Finnish software company that helps hospitals digitally manage patient care pathways, replacing paper notes and phone calls with automated guidance was acquired by VitalHub Corp. (TSX: VHI), a healthcare technology platform, for $9.5M USD (€8.6M) upfront, plus up to €4.5M in performance-based earnouts. Buddy Healthcare had €2.8M in annual recurring revenue, implying a valuation of 3x ARR.
