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Ari Ackerman started Bunk1 in 1999 to give parents a way to keep in touch with their kids while they were at summer camp.
To read a transcript of this episode, click here.
Over 17 years, Ackerman grew his technology business into one of the biggest brands in the summer camp industry, which is about the time they were approached by TogetherWork, a company backed by a billion-dollar private equity giant. TogetherWork’s original offer was too low, but after Ackerman projected what Bunk1’s profit would be in the hands of the buyer, the deal got a whole lot more attractive.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Can your business run without you?
Part of what made Bunk1 attractive to TogetherWork was that Ackerman had hired a president to run Bunk1 day-to-day. Setting up your business to run without you is a central theme of The Value Builder System™—get started now by getting your Value Builder Score.
Ari Ackerman is a serial entrepreneur and proud philanthropist. Among his companies, he is the Founder and (former) Chief Executive Officer of Bunk1.com, the technology company that allows parents to see pictures and send emails/Bunk Notes to kids at summer camp. Bunk1 has been fortunate enough to have been featured in dozens of media outlets including CNN, the Today Show, the New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. Ari recently sold Bunk1 to Togetherwork, the emerging leader in Group Management Software and Payments.
John Warrillow: Hey this episode of Built to Sell Radio is brought to you by the Value Builder System. I had the opportunity to interview Stephanie Breedlove the other day. She sold her nine million dollar payroll company for a cool 54 million dollars. How did she do it? She focused on the eight things that drive company value. Things like what we call the Switzerland structure, monopoly control, recurring revenue, all things you’re going to evaluate in your own business using the