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February 22, 2019 |
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From an agile SMB to the big, corporate environment of one of the Big Four auditors – this business owner learned negotiating a price is only half the battle.
Can a small, 30 employee team make a successful transition to the corporate environment of one of the Big Four auditors (and stay on-board)?
Ann Bennett was founder of Applied Information Services (AIS) – a first-of-its-kind, PC-based software company that processed K-1s (internal tax forms given to investors in partnerships). AIS was not an accounting firm, giving them a competitive advantage to powerhouses like PricewaterhouseCoopers –whose K-1 department was plateauing, still operating on traditional mainframes.
PwC realized they needed to evolve and offer the flexibility and responsiveness that only AIS’ software provided – so they approached Bennett. The two parties would eventually settle on a price (only after Bennett went back to ask for one million more), but it was the price she would later pay that has her reflecting on this story 20 years later.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
AIS offered an agile solution over its cumbersome competition. This kind of Monopoly Control makes you stand out to potential acquirers—even when they’re those same competitors. To find out how your Monopoly Control is affecting your sellability potential, get your Value Builder Score now and improve your company value.
Ann Bennett has 25+ years of hands on experience in building, leading and advisor corporations through strategic execution of funding, operational optimization and exit planning activities. She focuses on robust financial governance embedding new technology across an organization. Her experience includes founding and developing a high-tech company selling it after 15 years returning over 1000% to the investors.
Special Edition - Built to Sell Intel
Over the last month, we’ve interviewed four fascinating guests on Built to Sell Radio.
John Warrillow shares the transferable lessons with you on Built to Sell Intel, a monthly live webinar hosted for our listeners.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz hosts this Q&A and asks for John’s take on four successful exits.
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.
Selling Your Business vs. Getting Acquired
In 2012, Ryan Coon started Rentalutions, a platform to help landlords manage and communicate with their tenants more effectively.
The business showed steady growth, but Coon wasn’t satisfied.
Five years in, Coon rebranded the company to Avail and focused his marketing to target DIY landlords with under ten rental units to manage. The changes proved successful as Coon grew the business to around $7 million in revenue before selling to Realtor.com in 2020 for approximately five times revenue.
This week on Built to Sell Radio, we highlight the top strategies from the 10 most popular shows of 2022.
Staffing-industry veteran Will Gilbert co-founded Socium – a U.K.-based company supplying workers to companies that needed them – in early 2019. Within six months, Socium was generating more than 7 million U.K. Pounds in revenue.
How to Get Your Business to Run Without You
When Jodie Cook started her social media agency, nothing happened without her involvement.
Desperate to free herself up from the minutia of running her company, Cook started to systematize her business with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). After a few missteps, Cook mastered the art of delegation.
Bootstrapping to a $200 Million Exit
In 2012 Patrick Campbell founded ProfitWell to help SaaS companies increase revenue and reduce churn by managing their data in a single place.
After bootstrapping the business to 8-figures, Campbell decided it was time to raise money. While he was seeking a financial investor, Paddle approached him with an acquisition offer. Soon after, in 2022, Campbell sold ProfitWell to Paddle for over $200 million.
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.
5 Lessons from growing a startup to a 9-figure exit in 2 years
David Yaffe was working at Google when he spotted an opportunity to connect advertisers with smaller publishers competing for online advertising dollars. He and two friends started Arbor, raised more than $2 million in seed capital and built a prototype. Two years later, Arbor had grown to 25 employees when LiveRamp acquired them for more than $100 million.
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.
The Biggest Mistake Co-Founders Make, and 3 Other Lessons
With Built to Sell Radio, you’ve grown accustomed to hearing entrepreneur exit stories from A to Z, but this week’s episode is a little different. We tease out four transferrable lessons from the latest batch of guests.
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.
