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May 4, 2018 |
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Pete Borum practically invented the term “influencer marketing.” So how did Borum raise $15 million dollars and attract multiple acquisition offers in an industry that didn’t exist before he showed up?
Pete Borum co-founded Reelio, which is an influencer marketing platform that enables brands, agencies, and publishers to find social media influencers to endorse their products.
While Borum and his three co-founders forecasted the trend of influencer marketing, their major challenge was convincing advertisers who were used to controlling every aspect of a brand’s marketing, to turn over content creation to celebrity YouTubers, Instagrammers, and Snap Chatters.
Despite this challenge, they managed to raise $15M in capital from investors, and the company grew. Borum had acquisition conversations with several strategic buyers and was bought in 2018 by Fullscreen, which is owned by Otter Media, a joint venture between AT&T and the Chernin Group.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Borum knew that digital media was poised to skyrocket and created Reelio to meet the rising demand for influencer marketing. Recognizing the growth potential of your industry is one of the exercises from Module 2 of The Value Builder System™. Get started for free right now by completing Module 1.
Pete Borum is the Co-Founder and CEO of Reelio, a data-driven influencer marketing platform that enables brands, agencies and publishers to find and work with the right social media influencers at the right price. Prior to co-founding Reelio, Borum was the Director of Communications at Revstone, where he led the brand consolidation of 18 portfolio companies in 4 countries. Before that, Borum founded Aspirént, a strategic consulting firm whose projects included planning and execution of a five-borough direct marketing strategy for Michael Bloomberg’s successful 2009 mayoral campaign.
Inside Uptime’s 7-Figure Acquisition of JurisPage
Andy Cabasso co-founded JurisPage, a marketing agency specializing in helping law firms in 2013.
Three years later, JurisPage had service contracts with more than 200 law firms when they got a call from Uptime Legal, an Inc. 5000 business specializing in technology and practice management software for law firms.
Rory Fatt began his entrepreneurial journey running marketing seminars for restauranteurs. After several owners approached Fatt to do their marketing for them, he decided to launch Royalty Rewards in 2005.
The business was a multimedia marketing platform that helped small businesses market their products and services by rewarding loyal customers. The company took off, hitting just over $2 million in revenue in its first year.
Inspired to achieve financial freedom, Fatt began to explore selling his company. In 2022, he accepted an offer from Schianti Partners that would set his family up for life.
How One Pivot Doubled The Value of This Business
James Garvey grew Objective Loyalty from a standing start in 2005 to $2.5 million in EBITDA. When he and his partner decided to sell they were able to quickly double the value when they switched sell tactics.
Hacking Your Way to a $22 Million Exit
In 2015 Nick Santora founded Curricula, a cyber security awareness training program that helps companies defend themselves against hackers. Santora created fun, cartoon training videos in contrast to the dull content that existed at the time.
Companies happily embraced Santora’s approach. By 2021 he had grown Curricula to just over $2 million in annual recurring revenue when he accepted an acquisition offer from the cyber security giant Huntress for $22 million.
What To Do When Getting Out Means Staying On
A service-based company can be a tough sell, so Eric Enge found a buyer while his best asset was still on the table: himself.
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).
How this Service Business Sold for 3X Revenue
Ten years ago, Timo Armoo was on a flight from his home country of Ghana on his way to live in a council flat in one of the U.K.’s poorest neighborhoods.
Motivated to live a better life, Armoo started Fanbytes, an influencer marketing agency dedicated to connecting brands with social media influencers.
The company took off.
Fanbytes reached 65 employees and hit revenues of 8-figures when he decided to sell the company to Brainlabs for around 3X revenue.
Brighter Vision's Niche Strategy Leads to $17.5 Million Acquisition
In 2011, Perry Rosenbloom started the web development company, Brighter Vision. After a few years of jumping from project to project, Rosenbloom had a breakthrough. Instead of doing web design for everyone, he decided to focus on creating websites exclusively for therapists.
His decision to niche down worked as revenue soared.
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 Create a Bidding War Plus Three Other Lessons
This week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio is the Intel edition. We focus on four recent guests and highlight the strategies that made their companies built to sell.
The Hidden Cost of Being a Hands-on Boss With the Founder of Create & Cultivate, Jaclyn Johnson
In 2012, Jaclyn Johnson founded Create & Cultivate, a media company that educates and inspires women to succeed in business.
By 2018, Johnson had grown Create & Cultivate to eight employees when an acquirer offered her a staggering $40 million. Unfortunately, the deal was too good to be true. When the acquirer discovered her hands-on management style, they pulled out.
Learning from her mistakes, Johnson implemented a collection of strategies to ensure Create & Cultivate could thrive without her.
