{"id":9210,"date":"2021-12-03T11:59:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T01:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/?p=9210"},"modified":"2021-12-03T12:05:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T02:05:51","slug":"keeping-an-open-mind-with-serial-entrepreneur-deanna-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/keeping-an-open-mind-with-serial-entrepreneur-deanna-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping An Open Mind With Serial Entrepreneur Deanna Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/keeping-an-open-mind-with-serial-entrepreneur-deanna-brown\/id1532346146?i=1000543353704\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-listen-on-spotify\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0bljemi9ifrl6JJwAYH4cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Listen on Spotify<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-listen-on-google-podcasts\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zb3VuZGNsb3VkLmNvbS91c2Vycy9zb3VuZGNsb3VkOnVzZXJzOjg4MjY1MjIyOC9zb3VuZHMucnNz\/episode\/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMTE2MjcwMTExOA?sa=X&amp;ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwi4ivWKq8H0AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Listen on Google Podcasts<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1162701118&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true\"><\/iframe><div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/theexitpodcast\" title=\"The Exit - Presented By Flippa\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">The Exit &#8211; Presented By Flippa<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/theexitpodcast\/ep63\" title=\"Keeping An Open Mind With Serial Entrepreneur Deanna Brown\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">Keeping An Open Mind With Serial Entrepreneur Deanna Brown<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we\u2019re talking to Deanna Brown, a serial entrepreneur who has had multiple successful exits.&nbsp; Starting in the media business, Deanna quickly found a love for being an entrepreneur when she helped to launch the website, Epicurious.&nbsp; She\u2019s been through a variety of different exits, but says a solid team has always been a strong selling point.&nbsp; Through an open mind approach, Deanna has been able to see great success in starting, growing, and selling businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>From Curiosity To A Craft<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Deanna moved to LA to attend USC and study journalism and film making.&nbsp; While there, she found that there was a lot in the world that she was curious about.&nbsp; This curiosity led her to the media business, where she found a career in the business side of things.&nbsp; In her formative years, she learned a lot about what people were passionate about and what projects would excite consumers.&nbsp; She says her curiosity really turned into a craft.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ripe With Opportunities<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While working at CondeNet, she was introduced to a series of brands that had such ripe opportunities for those that could imagine them.&nbsp; Their first website launched was Epicurious, the first structured database of recipes online.&nbsp; This was the first engagement where Deanna truly felt like an entrepreneur. She describes her team as scrappy and says they made things happen daily.&nbsp; Having the resources of a larger division was vital in the success of their site.&nbsp; Through her investor mentality, Deanna learned a lot about how to relate to owners, operators, buyers, and sellers.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Value Of A Good Team<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the companies that Deanna exited from were pre-revenue and KPIs were more about revenue growth and product market fit.&nbsp; When it came to looking at engagement metrics, Deanna says it took her a couple of exits to figure out that teams were often as valuable as the assets themselves.&nbsp; Looking at metrics in the human capital area, Deanna found herself asking things like, \u2018do we have a team of engineers or business executives that are engaged and passionate?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Keep An Open Mind<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Deanna has found that most companies become desirous of an exit when they\u2019re distressed and can\u2019t see a path forward, as they\u2019re often underinvested.&nbsp; When it comes to these types of exits, you have to ask yourself how to safely get the product set, group of people, and this business to a safe place.&nbsp; Then you have to consider cash flow needs and market conditions.&nbsp; Deanna recommends networking like crazy and asking yourself how you feel about a partnership.&nbsp; Look into collaborative or bigger opportunities.&nbsp; You should be open-minded to a range of possibilities, from business partnerships to acquisitions.&nbsp; She\u2019s also been known to have quiet conversations about merges, which others will inevitably hear about.&nbsp; She says it\u2019s not always best to just put a for sale sign up and risk all sorts of things, instead be open to a variety of business relationships.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>An Immediate Acquisition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Another company Deanna started began in her spare bedroom and got acquired almost immediately because of the mindset and the brand.&nbsp; Deanna says she wasn\u2019t networking and the largest entity in the space came in and gobbled them up.&nbsp; She\u2019s glad she was open, where most entrepreneurs would\u2019ve said it\u2019s too early.&nbsp; Deanna says she was passionate about the space and wanted the product to exist.&nbsp; She wasn\u2019t as concerned about how much money she would make as she was about making sure the product had it\u2019s best chances.&nbsp; She found herself thinking that if she didn\u2019t go now, they would dig in and make headwinds she couldn\u2019t compete with.&nbsp; Deanna recognizes that it\u2019s relatively easy to sell a profitable entity, but when it\u2019s not yet had a chance to be profitable, what are some other desired things that the company offers an acquirer?&nbsp; She believes the answer is human capital and product market fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Operate Like You\u2019re Staying In Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When preparing for an exit as a brand-new entrepreneur, Deanna offers the following tips: be tactical and understand how is it important.&nbsp; She says you want to be well organized and have everything such as financial books in as clean a state as possible.&nbsp; She says it\u2019s also helpful to not be legally encumbered.&nbsp; Not only that, but she says to operate your business like you\u2019re staying in business.&nbsp; Try not to pull it short by thinking you\u2019ll be out in a certain period of time.&nbsp; Most deals are structured in a way that there\u2019s an earn-out.&nbsp; Always keep your team focused on what they\u2019re doing, and continue to deliver until the ink is dry.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Knowing What You Know Now, What Would You Tell Yourself Ten Years Ago?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Deanna would advise herself to be open to change, and to transition, while focusing on building great businesses.&nbsp; She says she would tell herself to almost ignore the exit.&nbsp; With all the people she\u2019s worked with and for, the business was always the thing in front of them that they were excited about.&nbsp; The exit was the reward, but they were excellent at staying focused on the business and letting the exit take care of itself.&nbsp; She says to do what you do because people will buy great companies.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Learn More<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Deanna says she has lots of interesting and exciting projects coming up.&nbsp; She says she believes in change and thinks that change is the most important thing the world needs right now.&nbsp; She looks forward to being a part of that change and encourages listeners to tune in to her LinkedIn profile at<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/deannacbrownsf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> www.linkedin.com\/in\/deannacbrownsf\/<\/a> where she will be making some big announcements soon.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Google Podcasts The Exit &#8211; Presented By Flippa \u00b7 Keeping An Open Mind With Serial Entrepreneur Deanna Brown Today we\u2019re talking to Deanna Brown, a serial entrepreneur who has had multiple successful exits.&nbsp; Starting in the media business, Deanna quickly found a love for being an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":9279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,19],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9210"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flippa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=9210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}