The Exit Podcast

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.

Paul Shustak, currently co-founder of AsqMe, shares insights from his transition from Microsoft, Sony, and Adobe to founding four of his own startups, one of which was a SaaS platform that helped families provide care for parents with Alzheimer’s.

Paul details the acquisition process, including initial negotiations, valuation considerations, and stress points that can arise at each phase and cause a deal to fall apart if not properly addressed.

Matt Fitz-Henry, Chief Innovation Officer at AMP Agency, discusses his journey from music to tech entrepreneurship, starting with his experience at Universal Music Group and Disney Music Group, and then moving on to multiple successful exits.

Matt details his first venture, a digital agency that grew to 45+ employees in three years before being acquired in a swift 90-day process.

His second venture, Genome, a digital innovation, transformation, and product development company, also scaled to about 50 employees and was acquired by AMP Agency in 2022.

April Pride, a creative entrepreneur with multiple successful exits in the cannabis industry, shares her journey from interior design and branding to founding a cannabis accessories company, which she sold within three years for a 28X return.

She discusses the challenges of raising capital as a woman in the cannabis industry and her decision to exit early despite criticism. April highlights the importance of timing in exits, emphasizing the need to sell before burnout and to trust one’s intuition while considering market forecasts.

Nate Winkler, 4x founder, shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey, starting with his early exposure to business through his landscaping business in 6th grade and his parent’s real estate company.

He discusses his first major venture, Juggernaut Training Systems, and the importance of finding the right business partner, highlighting how this relationship shaped his entrepreneurial path.

He details the growth of his SaaS business, Elevar, from its challenging start to its successful exit, and how mentorship and education enabled him and his team to stay ahead, rather than constantly trying to catch up.

Roy Zur, former founder and current CEO of ThriveDX’s Enterprise Division, shares insights from his journey as a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits in the cybersecurity space.

Roy discusses his background in Israel’s Cyber Intelligence Unit and briefly working in law at the Israeli Supreme Court, and how these experiences influenced his entrepreneurial path.

Despite his first venture being acquired after two years, it felt more like luck to him as it was a business built by focusing more on a solution than a customer problem.

With his second business, Cybint, Roy’s growth and exit were more intentional, and he decided to sell at a time when market conditions for acquisitions were particularly favorable.

Steve Weiss, founder of MuteSix, a creative digital marketing agency he sold to Dentsu, shares his tumultuous journey from troubled youth to successful entrepreneur. 

After being robbed at gunpoint, Steve decided to make a major pivot in his life and dedicated himself to business, programming, and digital marketing.

MuteSix began when Steve, pursuing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, started running Facebook ads to promote comedy shows. 

This turned into a full-fledged agency, growing from 20 to over 500 employees in just four years. The company’s success stemmed from integrating creative and paid media services, a novel approach at the time.

In 2019, Dentsu reached out via LinkedIn, leading to MuteSix’s acquisition after an 8-9 month process.

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.

Mark McClain, CEO and founder of SailPoint Technologies, shares his journey from corporate roles at IBM and HP to becoming an “accidental entrepreneur” with his first startup, Waveset.

After a successful exit selling Waveset to Sun Microsystems for $150 million, Mark co-founded SailPoint, which has since become a thriving company with thousands of employees.

SailPoint’s story includes multiple exits: a sale to private equity firm Thoma Bravo, going public in an IPO, and then being taken private again.

Blake Hutchison, CEO of Flippa, discusses Flippa’s new Data Insights feature. 

The company has developed this tool to provide transparency and valuable market information for online business buyers and sellers.

The Data Insights feature offers real-time data on search intent, buyer liquidity, trading multiples, and time-to-sell across various business categories and price points.

Blake highlights how this tool benefits both buyers and sellers by providing accurate market trends, realistic expectations for selling cycles, and insights into global buyer demographics.

MelRose Wild, CEO of Permaculture Capital and Decision Society, discusses the importance of inclusion in the C-suite, particularly for women, and highlights data showing that gender-diverse executive teams and boards outperform their less diverse counterparts across multiple financial metrics.

She also explains the challenges women face in raising capital with the traditional VC model.

It is because of these very challenges that she created Decision Society, a platform that connects female founders with experienced operators to develop their startups in exchange for equity, thereby providing an alternative method to building businesses that do not rely entirely on VC funding.

Nancy Solomon, founder & CEO of WomenThink Global, shares insights from her extensive coaching career spanning over 30 years.

She discusses her journey from sales to psychology, ultimately finding her calling in coaching women in male-dominated fields, particularly technology.

While she offers several gems of business and life wisdom, her most emphasized takeaway is to trust one’s intuition.

On the business side, Nancy provides valuable advice on scaling businesses, retaining top talent, and preparing for exits.

To accomplish the above, she says business owners must listen to employees, create a meaningful work environment, and recognize when it’s time to exit a business.

Luke Cooper, General Partner at Latimer Ventures, discusses his journey from poverty to law school and eventually becoming a successful entrepreneur and investor.

He recounts his first major exit with a defense contractor, followed by a challenging acquisition of an ice cream company during the 2008 financial crisis. His biggest success came with Fixt, a mobile device repair startup he founded and sold to Assurant in 2020.

Luke emphasizes the importance of building relationships with potential acquirers early, understanding company culture in M&A deals, and navigating the complexities of the acquisition process.

Jordan Dargue, investor and co-founder of Lifted Ventures, began her career in the construction industry before making her way to tech software. Throughout her experiences in various industries, a common theme she noticed was a disproportionately low number of female founders, particularly in venture-backed endeavors.

With her company’s angel network and VC education, her mission has become to even the playing field by helping female founders raise the capital needed to scale early-stage startups.

Donald Thompson, founder and CEO of The Diversity Movement, shares insights from his numerous successful business exits, starting from his role in iCubed, which was acquired by Adobe, to leading multiple spin-outs and acquisitions.

Donald recounts how his team at iCubed, post-acquisition, bought back the company, grew it, and later sold it again. This became a foundational strategy over his career and led to multiple large-scale exits.

This week on The Exit: Anthony Westfall, an expert in business mergers and acquisitions, shares his insights on growth acquisitions and multiple exits. After working at Cisco during the dot-com bubble, Anthony moved to a startup, got laid off, and transitioned to the wine business. His first solo venture was an online wine startup catering […]

This week on The Exit: Arijana Kaskarova always knew she wanted to run her own business, but before jumping in full-time, she made it a priority to develop the skills necessary to succeed.  She went on to build three businesses, all of which she is now simultaneously running. From helping businesses set up and manage […]

John duHadway has spent decades advising startups and growth-stage companies, guiding them to the next level and eventual exits. As someone who has exited three companies himself, he shares a few truths that he believes are crucial in getting companies successfully acquired.

He emphasizes the importance of business owners surrounding themselves with strong advisors, particularly those who have experience in bringing companies through the same journey.

While he believes it’s important to keep the exit in mind as part of building a company, it should not be the primary focus. The north star for business owners should be, instead, to build value, and an exit should be something that comes about as a result of achieving that primary objective.

Tina Moser has come a long way since her start in entrepreneurship, which she describes as being like jumping from a plane and building the parachute on the way down.

As the owner of multiple businesses and Finance Director at Cultivate Advisors, she shares her evolution from developing financial literacy to successfully exiting her business.

Tina highlights the significance of understanding financial health beyond profit and loss statements, urging entrepreneurs to focus on future projections and cash flow management.

Marguerita Cheng, founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth, a financial planning and wealth management company, discusses the importance of not going on the financial journey alone.

She’s worked with individuals of various backgrounds including business owners of recently exited businesses who are trying to understand the best way to manage newly acquired wealth.

As a mother and a business owner, she is particularly motivated to help other women entrepreneurs, especially when it comes to gaining access to capital for business building and growth.

Perhaps most importantly, she emphasizes that financial success does not need to come at the expense of self-care and that you can (and should) have both. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of guidance to get there.

Suleman “Suli” Ali was introduced to the world of business M&A when he was just eight years old helping his father find and buy their family’s first business.

However, it wasn’t until years later into his early 20s and his first job at Microsoft that he determined that the corporate path was not for him and he answered his calling to a life of entrepreneurship.

During this time, the Facebook app marketplace was in its early stages and he went all in on becoming a leader in the burgeoning space.

He and his team would go on to build and exit two mobile gaming businesses, Esgut (acquired by SGN) and then TinyCo (acquired by Jam City).