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December 29, 2017 |
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The market for digital assistants is booming. Apple has Siri, Amazon has Alexa and Google has Google Assistant. Now, thanks to Charles Jolley, Facebook has Ozlo, a digital assistant designed to outsmart Siri and Alexa at their own game.
Ozlo was Jolley’s third exit and his second to Facebook (he sold the other company to Apple), and in this episode, you’ll learn:
Jolley started Ozlo with an understanding of how much he would be willing to sell the company for. Have you considered your “walk away” number? If not, that’s something we’ll contemplate together in Module 12 of The Value Builder System™—get started now by completing your Value Builder questionnaire.
Charles is an investor and serial entrepreneur who has started and sold multiple tech companies, including two sold to Facebook in 2011 and 2017. In between his own companies, Charles also spent time at Apple, where he helped launch iCloud, and Facebook, where he ran the Platform and Android apps. Charles focus is on next generation technologies that can impact our everyday lives, ranging from next generation water treatment to artificially intelligence digital assistants. Today he is spending his time traveling, investing, and planning his next venture.
Josh Delaney started FAB CBD, a CBD e-tailer, in 2017. Delaney’s Mom was his first customer, but his sales quickly went beyond family members. By 2020, through a combination of savvy marketing and good fortune, FAB CBD had risen to more than $10 million in annual sales. In early 2021, Delaney caught the attention of High Tide, a Calgary-based cannabis company that offered him $13 million in cash plus $8 million High Tide shares in return for 80% of FAB CBD (an implied valuation of $25.8 million).
Once Bitten, Twice Shy: The (Real) Reason Jay Gould Sold Yashi for $33M
Jay Gould co-founded Yashi, a platform that helped advertisers buy ads on video content. Yashi grew to more than $25 million in revenue and more than $5 million in EBITDA when Gould received an offer of $33 million from Nexstar Broadcasting. The offer represented around 6 x EBITDA and Gould was conflicted. He knew he could probably get more, but he had also seen how quickly a successful company can go to zero.
How to Get Negotiating Leverage When You’re Desperate
Chris Muench started C-Labs in 2008 to go after the burgeoning opportunities presented by the Internet-of-Things (IOT).
In this episode, Stephan Spencer details three strategies he pursued to withdraw from his business’s day-to-day operations. By 2010, he was able to take a six-month sabbatical which ultimately lead to a sale in 2010 with only a six-month earnout.
How to Time Your Exit in Any Economy
The economy has been a roller-coaster over the last quarter.
In this special episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow reveals the downside of trying to time the market and shares four alternative ways to know when to sell.
From Start-Up To Exit In Three Years
Peter Shankman started Help A Reporter Out (HARO) to connect experts with journalists. Within three years, Shankman was generating $1.5MM from selling ads on his email blasts. That’s when hi largest advertiser approached him to buy HARO.
Cheryl Contee on Selling Attentive.ly
Cheryl Contee co-founded Attentive.ly along with Rosalyn Lemieux. Together, the partners offered a Software as a Service (SaaS) app that helped non-for-profit organizations perform “social listening”. Their offering was used by organizations to identify and drive engagement among their influencers.
Would you rather have one million dollars in the bank today or a chance to have ten million a decade from now? It’s a philosophical question that comes down to the time value of money and your tolerance for risk.
Bitcoin – The Investor vs. The Acquirer
Back in 2013, Dave Ripley became fascinated with Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency market was gaining notoriety and Ripley and a friend decided to start Glidera, a company focused on creating tools to help developers integrate cryptocurrency.
How Much Are Your Employees Worth To An Acquirer?
Impact LABS had no hard assets and little intellectual property, so why would ContextLabs want to acquire them for millions?
A strategic acquisition is a different animal. The strategic acquirer will place a value based on how much more of their product they can sell, which is exactly what Business Objects did when they bought Next Action Technologies, for 8X revenue.
Lessons from Home Depot’s Acquisition of a $100 Million Juggernaut Blinds.com
Jay Steinfeld started selling blinds online in 1993. The e-commerce pioneer went on to build Blinds.com into a $100 million category killer before Home Depot decided enough was enough and made Steinfeld an offer he couldn’t refuse.
