Get a Free Valuation
Sell Now

  Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | SoundCloud | Amazon Music

Episode 202

Bootstrapping to Millions: Peter Corbett’s Agency Exit Tale

This week on The Exit: Peter Corbett, the previous founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs, a digital agency he bootstrapped and sold to WPP, shares his journey from being laid off at 27 to building a 100-employee agency with tens of millions in revenue over nine years.

Peter discusses key aspects of his entrepreneurial journey, including early hires, KPIs tracked, and the exit process. The exit process began with informal conversations with potential buyers, eventually leading to a formal process involving 65 potential buyers and narrowing down to WPP, and closing the deal five days before his wedding.


Peter provides insights on deal structure, including earn-out arrangements and his decision to leave after 18 months. He explains the timing of the exit, citing both business conditions and personal reasons. Peter also shares strategies for preparing a business for sale, including financial audits and managing the due diligence process.


Post-exit, Peter has transitioned to executive coaching and is launching a micro-membership program in New York City focused on the mental health and well-being of leaders and entrepreneurs.

For more details and insights from his entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

Personal Bio: 

Peter Corbett is the retired/exited founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs, a digital agency that develops solutions to clients’ challenges and brings them to life in the online and offline world. He’s currently an executive coach, and Venture Partner at Up.Partners, as well as the CEO and Founder of Still Rush.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corbett3000/

Website: https://www.stillrush.co/

For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit

The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

YOUR HOST

Steve McGarry

An entrepreneur, content creator, and investor based in sunny Tampa, Florida. In 2015, while living in San Francisco, Steve sold his first fintech startup LendLayer to Max Levchin’s (founder of PayPal) consumer finance company Affirm.

You May Also Like

Episode 211

The Exit

Wayne Zell, a renowned exit attorney, founder of Aspire to Exit, and CEO of Zell Law shares insights from his 44-year career in estate planning, exit planning, and business law, which he has also written about in his book, “Your Multimillion-Dollar Exit”.

Wayne emphasizes the importance of proper preparation for business exits, discussing key aspects such as valuation, personal financial planning, and management succession.

The conversation also touches on more complex considerations, such as the differences between strategic and private equity buyers and the complexities of stock purchases versus asset purchases.

Episode 210

The Exit

Simon Alex Bérubé, app entrepreneur, startup coach, and investor, shares the story of his transition from software engineering to founding a sleep improvement mobile app company that grew to 40 employees before being acquired by Teladoc after an eight-month exit process.

Simon emphasizes the importance of accurate and long-term forecasting, clean financials, organized documentation, and overall maintaining “a clean house” in preparing for an exit.

Regarding when to exit a business, Simon suggests that the best time to sell is during rapid growth with predictable forecasts.

Episode 209

The Exit

Vincent Alessi, a multiple-exit founder and current subject matter expert at OpenAI shares his journey from humble beginnings in Michigan to becoming a successful entrepreneur and AI expert, specifically within the field of biology and chemistry.

He discusses his first venture, Covaron Advanced Materials, which developed innovative materials with a strong sustainability profile. The intellectual property alone was worth $32M and the company was acquired by an industrial consortium after a nine-month process.