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May 10, 2019 |
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Alex Bates’s company used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict the future, but even he couldn’t have anticipated a 10X payday when he sold his company
Alex Bates co-founded Mtell in 2006. The software company used artificial intelligence to predict Software that could help predict when a piece of heavy machinery like an oil rig was about to fail so workers can preemptively fix what’s about to break.
If that sounds like a niche service offering, it was. Bates and his co-founder were able to grow the company to be around $3 million in revenue using strategic relationships to fund growth and boost sales. But, in order to sustain their growth momentum, they needed more money.
Would they attempt to go public, or find a strategic buyer?
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Bates brought his expertise in Artificial Intelligence to solve a decades-old problem of maintaining heavy machinery. This kind of Monopoly Control made him and his business partner masters of their own destiny, and is explored in Module 6 of The Value Builder System™. To find your best specialty areas, get started for free right now by completing Module 1
Nathaniel Broughton grew Spread Effect to a $4 million company in only four years — so why would he sell for a rock bottom multiple?
From Technological Obsolescence to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit
From a service no one wanted anymore to a growing business and a strategic buyer, find out how AMI was rebuilt to sell.
Why Robert Glazer Sold His $28 Million Agency
Robert Glazer started an affiliate marketing agency called Acceleration Partners in 2007. Glazer never took outside capital and grew Acceleration to almost $28 million in sales before he sold a majority interest to Mountain Gate Capital in 2021.
How to Sell a 12 Employee Company for $17 Million
Rafael Zimberoff built ShipRush, an application that helps businesses streamline their technology, to 12 full-time employees when he sold it to Descartes for $14 million, plus a $3 million earn-out.
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.
The Backstory Behind Dream Water's $34.5M Exit
David Lekach started Dream Water; a natural sleep aid bottled in a 5 oz shot similar to the famous 5-Hour Energy Drink.
Lekach built Dream Water up to almost $10 million in annual revenue before selling it to Harvest One, a cannabis company, for $34.5 million in cash and Harvest One stock.
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.
4 Big Takeaways on Building the Value of Your Company
This week, we’re back with the latest Intel edition of Built to Sell Radio. We feature four recent guests and dissect what made their companies built to sell.
Why “Off-Boarding” Is an Essential Ingredient in Building to Sell
Michèle Hecken built Alpha Translations up to $4.4 Million (USD) in revenue and almost a million dollars in EBITDA before she sold it in 2019 for $6 million cash (6.7 x normalized EBITDA).
It was a fantastic exit for Hecken who got her start in University translating legal contracts from German to English.
In 2015, Lorenzo de Plano co-founded Solace Technologies, one of the first vape manufacturers in the United States. The goal of the business was to create a discreet vape pen that customers could use as an alternative to smoking cigarettes.
The business boomed to revenue of more than one million dollars a month, but a looming threat had de Plano eyeing an exit. So, when a $15 million offer came in, he bit.
Nick Huber was a track star at Cornell when he fielded a call from a parent that would change his life. A fellow student needed to store their stuff over the summer, and Huber was offered money to pick up his classmate’s stuff and keep it until the fall. Huber realized that other students who lived out-of-state might need a similar service, and Storage Squad was born.
John Ratliff started Appletree Answers in a spare bedroom of his house in 1995 and by 2012 had grown it to 650 employees and 24 locations when he decided it was time to sell.
