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December 2, 2015 |
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In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow interviews Beate Chelette, the founder of Beate Works, a creative company that she sold to Bill Gates for a significant premium in 2006.
Chelette had built her business to sell from the ground up. For example, her contracts with suppliers included a clause stating the obligations of the contract would “survive” the change of ownership of her company. Small, but important tactics like this allowed Chelette to garner a significant premium for her company.
Beate Chelette is a respected speaker, coach, and successful entrepreneur. After selling her creative company in 2006 to Bill Gates for millions of dollars, Chelette pursued her mission to build a global community of women who will collaborate and support each other. In business and in her personal life as a single mother, Chelette witnessed firsthand how women treat other women, how they boycott, bully, and backstab other women’s careers and personal lives. She is fiercely determined to turn that around by creating a new Core Code of Conduct by which women will live happier, more successful lives and as results show – have better relationships with other women and men. In 2011, drawing on the tools, hard knocks, and strategies she learned on her road to success, Chelette founded The Women’s Code. Chelette has created programs to improve Work-Life Balance, Leadership on C.U.E., and Career Advancement for Entrepreneurs and Creatives.
The Humble Yogi Sells His Business
Along with three friends, Sebastian Johnston co-founded TheAmazeApp in 2014. The idea was based on a simple idea. Social media influencers could upload a picture of what they were wearing and tag the clothing on TheAmazeApp’s database of e-commerce retailers. Then, when one of their followers purchased the item, TheAmazeApp would receive a commission they shared with the influencer.
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.
Why Candy Banners Sold for a Mint
In 2014 Tim Grassin founded Candy Banners, which designs ads that show up along the top, bottom, and sides of a website.
Grassin built a remote team in the Philippines to minimize his costs. Hiring inexpensive developers allowed Grassin to charge lower rates to agency owners, resulting in rapid growth.
The business had grown to over seven figures in revenue in 2020 when Grassin received an acquisition offer from one of his clients, Native Touch. The offer valued Candy Banners at around five times EBITDA, and the deal closed in 2021.
One Bold Decision That Led to a 20X Growth in Revenue
In 2009, Raman Sehgal started a small marketing company called ramarketing. In 2015, frustrated with the company’s progress, Sehgal decided to analyze his business.
That’s when he discovered something interesting.
Ramarketing’s most valuable customers (low-maintenance, sticky, high gross margin etc.) were in the pharmaceutical industry. Sehgal immediately pivoted the company to solely serve clients in the pharmaceutical supply chain.
11 Hard-Earned Lessons From Selling a Struggling Business
Jack Rivlin co-founded The Tab, a U.K. based media company that published digital campus newspapers across the U.K.
After ten years, The Tab had earned almost 6 million unique visitors and raised $10 million of capital from the likes of investors, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Things were looking up for The Tab, but when an attempt to crack the U.S. market failed, things started to unravel.
The Acquisition Of FPD: 4 Offers, 1 Big Regret
Tom Hannon’s publishing company grew rapidly, and he received 4 offers. So why does he wish he handled his exit differently?
The Story Behind Jason Flick's $100 Million Sale to WarnerMedia
These days, you’re just as likely to watch a football game on a mobile phone as you are on an old-school TV. The technology that enables you to watch your favorite show on whatever device you have handy was made possible by Jason Flick. Flick co-founded a company called You.i TV with a vision to “own the glass.” He struck deals to provide the user interface, which enabled content to be viewed across devices with the likes of the NFL, NBA, and just about anyone else who produces original content.
Inside the Mind of An Acquirer – Nathan Winch
U.K.-based Nathan Winch started his career as a private equity investor after selling his first company, Winch Pharma, in 2017.
Since then, Winch has acquired over 20 businesses, with a focus on logistics and infrastructure companies.
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.
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.
How Mike Winnet Sold His E-learning Company for Around 4-Times Revenue
In 2015 Mike Winnet started U.K.-based Learning Heroes after recognizing that most e-learning programs were long and boring. Winnet saw an opportunity to transform the industry by creating short, engaging, animated training courses.
Winnet started by trying to sell his courses to job seekers, but when his efforts failed, he pivoted to selling to companies. Instead of a few hundred dollars a year from job seekers, selling to companies meant he was getting a few thousand dollars a year.
Rick Day built Daycom Systems into a $23 million dollar business over a 17-year run. Daycom sold phone systems but the company had a problem: it had become too reliant on one supplier.
