Heath Adams Said No to the Biggest Offer of His Life, Then Doubled It 

Heath Adams bootstrapped TCM into a company with two revenue lines: hacking into companies’ systems to expose vulnerabilities, and selling courses and certifications that trained others to do the same work. He owned every share, raised no outside capital, and never relied on outbound sales. Every lead came through a YouTube channel that grew to more than a million subscribers. 

A competitor then raised $50 million and began matching TCM on price and quality. On the advice of a friend who had sold his own company, Heath started answering the acquisition emails he had been deleting for years. One became a letter of intent for more money than he had ever seen. Half of it was an earnout, so he turned it down, hired a sell side firm, and put the company in front of 300 buyers. Four wrote letters of intent. The one he signed was worth more than double what he had turned down. In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, you discover how to 

• Turn the acquisition emails you’ve been ignoring into free valuations and a rehearsal for diligence 

• Tell the difference between the money in an offer and the promise attached to it 

• Pass on the highest offer and pick the buyer instead 

• Build a walk away number backwards from the life you want to fund rather than a multiple of earnings 

• Hold diligence at arm’s length so it does not paralyze the company you are selling 

Show Notes & Links

Connect with Heath on LinkedIn

The Cyber Mentor

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Definitions

Letter of Intent (LOI): This document outlines the basic terms and conditions of a deal before a formal agreement is drawn up. It serves as a mutual commitment between the buyer and the seller to move forward with the transaction on the agreed-upon terms.

Due-Diligence: This is a comprehensive appraisal of a business or investment undertaken before a merger, acquisition, or investment. It seeks to validate the information provided and uncover any potential risks or liabilities.

Earn-out: This is a financing arrangement for the purchase of a business, where the seller must meet certain performance goals before receiving the full purchase price. It reduces the buyer’s risk and aligns the interests of both parties post-acquisition.

About Our Guest

Heath Adams

Heath Adams bootstrapped TCM Security from a one-man operation into an eight-figure cybersecurity company with 30 employees. He built it on two legs: a penetration testing practice that serves Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, and a training business known for hands-on courses like Practical Ethical Hacking and the PNPT certification, which made industry-recognized credentials affordable for people who couldn’t buy their way in. Along the way he grew a YouTube audience of more than a million subscribers, which turned technical teaching into TCM’s best source of brand awareness and demand.