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July 12, 2017 |
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Entrepreneurs can be categorized into two groups. On one hand, you have the doers. These are the people who organically grow a business over time. They plod along for years, or even decades in the same business. They look for small, incremental improvements every day.
Then you have the deal makers.
These are the entrepreneurs who are constantly on the prowl for partners or arbitrage opportunities where they can create value. They spend little time operating their business and favor investing time in new relationships, partnerships and strategies. The deal maker’s natural tendency is to say yes to new ideas, which can occasionally get them into trouble.
Jonathan Jay is a deal maker. Through his 20-year run as an entrepreneur, he has started and sold three businesses, bought two distressed businesses, been sued and had a falling out with a partner. Jay has emerged as a wiser entrepreneur with the scars to prove it.
Whether you’re a doer or a deal maker, you’ll want to set your business up to run without you to maximize your options for the future. Evaluating your company’s dependence on you is something we do using the Value Builder questionnaire—the higher your score, the more able your business is to succeed without you. Complete the Value Builder questionnaire.
Jonathan Jay is the author of five books on business and marketing: Sack Your Boss (2004)
Marketing Secrets Of A Multi Millionaire Entrepreneur (2008)
Unsung Business Heroes (2010)
1001 Ways To Get More Customers (2013)
Turn Your Website Into A Sales And Marketing Machine (2014) Jonathan has been featured in over 100 newspaper articles, radio stations and TV shows.
How To Increase An Acquisition Offer Without Appearing Greedy
In 2012, Gabriela Isturiz co-founded Bellefield Systems, a company offering a timekeeping application for lawyers. Over the next seven years, Bellefield grew to 45 employees when Isturiz decided to hire an advisor to find a strategic investor. Given Bellefield’s growth and success, Isturiz was hoping the process would garner a valuation of 5-7 times Bellefield’s Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).
Multiple Of Earnings Vs. Revenue
Glenn Grant always assumed he would sell his company for a multiple of EBITDA… until private equity firms started talking multiples of revenue. He decided to learn more.
Finding Your Subscription Model
John MacInnes pulled his business out of a rut by evolving into a subscription-based model. Here’s how he did it.
Finding the Middle Ground With an Acquirer
Shawn Finder built email marketing platform Autoklose to $1 million in revenue when a chance encounter at a conference led to an acquisition conversation with VanillaSoft. Finder thought his company was worth much more initially than VanillaSoft did – their valuations were quite far apart and both sides had to negotiate to ultimately meet in the middle.
When To Bring In Someone To Run Your Company
Pathfinder Health offered software to therapists helping patients with Autism. The company founder was creative, but the company had reached a plateau.
Jim Remsik’s Adorable Exit Was Just Right
When a health scare sent Jim Remsik looking for a buyer for his company, he had to decide whether to sacrifice a high-multiple exit for his personal priorities.
3 Ways to Untangle Yourself from Your Business
Debbie King was running on a treadmill so familiar to service company owners. Her company, Association Analytics, helped associations make sense of their member data, and she was wasting time on proposals that often did not get accepted. Then, when King did win a project, she was creating a custom solution for every job that required her to hire senior-level staff and personally get involved in client work. The model put a cap on her business, and when she reached 20 employees, she decided it was time to get out.
Jeremy Nagel started his entrepreneurial career teaching clients how to get the most out of Zoho, a popular CRM platform. Nagel began cultivating a small following on YouTube by sharing his advice for Zoho enthusiasts.
Given his status in their ecosystem, Zoho approached Nagel about creating an SMS plug-in for their application to allow users to text their clients while using Zoho. Nagel developed the application while keeping his day job. Despite only dedicating one or two days a week to its growth, the feature quickly became one of the top five applications in the Zoho marketplace.
How To Break Up With Your Business Partner
How do you place a fair valuation on your company when one partner wants out while the other is ready to continue?
One Company, Two 8-Figure Exits
Ed Buckley started Peerfit, which allows companies to offer fitness classes as part of their employee benefits package. The company grew to more than 150 employees before receiving an acquisition offer for almost $100 million from a major fitness brand widely reported to be Peloton. Buckley retained some of the IP, which, in a strange twist, he was able to sell in another eight-figure exit months later.
The Inside Story Of Elsevier’s $50.6 Million Acquisition Of 3D4Medical.com
Back in 2004, John Moore started 3D4Medical.com, a company that created three-dimensional models of the human body, photographed them and licensed the images to textbook publishers. When the Great Recession hit, Moore’s business took a turn, and he realized he needed to re-invent the company.
