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July 19, 2017 |
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In 2011 Josh Holtzman, the founder and CEO of American Data Company, gathered his employees into a conference room to announce “Fifteen Cubed”, a company-wide initiative to grow to $15 million in revenue by the year 2015.
As part of the program, Holtzman had “Fifteen Cubed” bracelets made for each employee and promised to share 15% of the business’s sale proceeds with his team.
His team left the conference room energized. The only problem was, American Data failed to grow: it remained stuck between $3 million and $4 million in revenue for the next two years.
Fast approaching the 2015 deadline, Holtzman decided the only way for American Data to reach their goal would be for him to sell his business to a similar company.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Magnet 360 acquired American Data for an amount about equivalent to their top line revenue because Magnet 360 was looking for a fast way to create a geographic beachhead on the West Coast. Have you considered how your location might (or might not) make you attractive to a buyer? That’s one of the questions you’ll ponder when you complete The Short List Builder, Module 11 in The Value Builder System™—get started for free by completing your Value Builder questionnaire.
Josh Holtzman is an entrepreneur and business coach based in Los Angeles, California. Holtzman began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 26 and grew his technology consulting firm into one of the fastest growing companies in the nation. He ultimately sold the organization to a national player. Together they grew that business 300% in three years and ultimately sold it a second time to a publicly traded global IT services firm. Holtzman currently works with entrepreneurial leadership teams to help them get what they want from their organizations through a simple set of proven tools and disciplines.
6 Things to Know Before Approaching an Acquirer
Touraj Parang has experienced the highs and lows of selling a company.
In 2009, Parang sold his first company, Jaxtr, for pennies on the dollar. He took the lessons he learned and joined Webs.com, where he helped Haroon Mokhtazarda sell his company for over $115 million.
Parang left Webs.com and joined GoDaddy as a leader in their acquisitions group, where they acquired dozens of companies during his tenure.
3 Reasons Bollé Sunglasses Acquired SPY Optics
The action sports business is fuelled by big brands which is why, when SPY Optics built a style popular with irreverent teens, eyewear bemouth Bollé decided they had to own them.
Selling to a Publicly Traded Company
In 1988, Tony Falkenstein started Just Life Group, one of the first water-cooler companies in New Zealand.
In 2016, Falkenstein identified the need to diversify into new service offerings and opted to start acquiring companies. Since then, Falkenstein has acquired six businesses, aligning with their overall focus of enhancing lives through healthy living and healthy homes.
Selling a Main-street Business
Jim McManaman started his accounting firm in a small town of 3,000, so when he decided to sell, he had to figure out how to do it without tipping off his employees.
By now, you’re accustomed to hearing John Warrillow ask the tough questions.
Every month, we turn the tables and grill John on his favorite anecdotes and transferrable lessons from the latest batch of guests on Built to Sell Radio. In this episode, Dr. Jeremy Weisz gets John to reflect on what stood out, any missed opportunities, and how each story imparts the Built to Sell Methodology.
How to Get Your Employees to Care as Much as You
In 2009 Natalie Nagele and her husband, Chris, launched Postmark to help businesses deliver emails to their customers quickly.
A decade in, Nagele had grown the company to around 40 employees, which was when she began feeling burned out. The pull to explore new interests was the catalyst to accepting a life-changing acquisition offer from Active Campaign in 2022.
In 2017, John Whiting started Digital Kryptonite with the goal of providing business owners with more leads. Helping his clients mine LinkedIn, Whiting quickly grew his company from zero to seven figures within a year. The company saw massive growth month-over-month when suddenly Whiting received a message from his credit card processor that his account was being shut down.
Although 98% of Whiting’s customers were happy, 2% were not, which led to a greater dispute rate than Stripe allowed. This ultimately led to Whiting being placed on the Match List, which inhibited his ability to process payments. Suddenly, the seven-figure business Whiting had built was in jeopardy.
With little faith left, John received an email from a friend asking to buy his company. In his own words, it was a “lifeboat,” and Whiting jumped on with both feet.
The Surprising Reason Ryan Kulp Sold Fomo
In 2016, Ryan Kulp launched Fomo because he saw marketers using aggressive popups on their websites.
Kulp reasoned that if he could show other people were shopping and interacting with a site, it would give new visitors confidence in the company.
Fomo allows businesses to show off real-time customer interactions (purchases, opt-ins, even pageviews) with a line of code the company installs on their site.
Eddie Whittingham started a company called The Defense Works in 2016. His idea was to provide companies with information on how to avoid getting hacked. Whittingham created a series of animated video clips explaining cyber security best practices and offered his content on a subscription model to companies.
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.
How Hawking Pool Chemicals On Subscription Led To An Offer From An Industry Giant
century. When they started looking for new funding, they found a buyer instead.
