Lessons From a A £20 Million Exit

Have you ever stayed in a fancy hotel and wondered how much they pay Aveda for those little bottles of shampoo? Turns out, there is a company called Pacific Direct that acts as a middleman between the hotel chain and the company supplying the shampoo.

U.K.-based Pacific Direct was earning £3.3 million when founder Lara Morgan decided to sell. She got multiple offers for her company and ultimately sold it to a private equity group for £20 million. During our interview, Morgan shared her wisdom on how to sell your company, including:

• What to do if your acquisition falls apart at the last minute.
• How to reward your employees when you sell.
• How a “drag and tag” clause in a sale to a private equity acquisition works.
• How to evaluate multiple offers to buy your business.

Have you picked your number?

Morgan grew up in an environment where she always felt she had less money than her friends, so she decided one day she would like to have £10 million because that meant her kids would never feel the same embarrassment she felt growing up.

Picking her number galvanized Morgan and she credits having a specific wealth goal as a key ingredient to building a valuable business.

Have you picked your number? If not, that is something we’ll do together during Module 12 of The Value Builder System^TM – you can get started for free by getting your Value Builder Score.

About Our Guest

Lara Morgan is most widely known for building her own leading global brand-licensing business Pacific Direct over the course of 17 years before selling a majority share in the company for £20 million. She is the mother of three and determined to be a voice for growth enterprise support as well as driving sales pride in Britain through Company Shortcuts.

Morgan is a regular commentator on Sky and BBC News and has appeared on BBC2’s The Apprentice: You’re Fired. She is a three-time finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was a finalist in the Veuve Clicquot Businesswoman of the Year Award. Morgan also authored the recently published Amazon best-selling business book, More Balls Than Most. Taking it all in her stride, Morgan also an avid athlete, having competed internationally in the World Triathlon Championships.