Built to Sell Radio

Nick Telson-Sillett and his co-founder built what you could call "OpenTable for bars and nightclubs" in the UK. 

Instead of chasing the US (the move most founders are told to make), they went big fish, small pond: dominate their home market first. That focus helped them build DesignMyNight into a business that sold for more than $40M. 

In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Nick shares what happened, so you discover how to: 

Turn one clear customer frustration into a business idea you can explain fast 


Choose focus over hype when everyone tells you to chase the biggest market 


Set a "financial freedom" number and use it to make cleaner decisions 


Run a sale process without tipping off competitors too early 


Negotiate an earn-out tied to revenue so the targets stay in your control 


Plan for the morning after the deal, when your identity gets reset

The fastest way to make a service company unsellable is building it around a personal brand. 

When clients hire you—because of your reputation, your name, and your specific expertise—you haven't built a business; you've built a high-paying job. 

And as Gavin Bell realized, you can't sell a reputation. 

Gavin was known as the "Facebook Ads Guy" in the UK. He was making good money, but he knew that to build a sellable asset, he had to fire himself as the face of the company. 

He rebranded his firm from "Gavin Bell" to "Yatter," productized his service, and systematically removed himself from sales and delivery. 

The result? He sold Yatter to a larger agency, Velstar, in a deal that closed just one minute before a major tax deadline. 

In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Gavin breaks down exactly how he made the switch.

Some of the richest founders don't run trendy companies. They run dirty ones. The kind of work you'd never brag about at a dinner party, but that quietly throws off real money because it's hard, risky, and most people won't do it. 

 

 

This Built to Sell Radio episode follows Shenar Wood, who built an underground power business by taking on personal risk, earning trust job by job, and eventually selling when he hit a ceiling that had nothing to do with demand, you discover how to: 

 

Recognize the hidden ceiling that has nothing to do with demand and everything to do with your balance sheet 


Stop confusing "more revenue" with "more value" when margin and risk aren't improving 


Build a reputation flywheel where customers feed you better work because they trust how you operate 


Separate assets from value so you don't overestimate what a buyer will pay for "stuff" 


Fix the financial story before a buyer forces an expensive cleanup under pressure 


Negotiate earn-out terms so the buyer can't hit your results by moving costs onto your books 


Decide when it's smarter to sell now than grind for years just to add a rounding error to valuation

Most business owners hit a fork in the road. 
Stay "on the tools" and keep making great money. Or start feathering back your personal involvement so the business can grow beyond you. 
In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Dr. Michael Filosi walks through how he made that shift in a dental practice, without jeopardizing cash flow. He didn't rip the band-aid off. He reduced his patient days one day at a time while the practice added clinicians and transitioned patients carefully. Over a few years, his billings went from roughly 43% of revenue to single digits, and he only went to zero once the business was already producing most of his take-home income. 
In this episode, you discover how to 
Spot the "capped upside" moment when your time becomes the constraint
Feather back from four days on the tools to three, then two, then zero
Time each reduction using numbers, not hope
Transition customers off the owner without breaking trust
Remove key-person risk by ensuring no one producer dominates revenue
Keep cash flow steady while you trade personal production for enterprise value 
The result: Filosi sold his practice and collected 100% of his cash at closing, which is almost unheard of in dentistry.

Built to Sell Radio just dropped a year-end special that pulls the strongest moments from 2025 into one episode.
Across four formats (Exit Story, Inside the Mind of an Acquirer, Mastering the Deal, and After the Deal), you discover how to
Choose exit value over lifestyle income before comfort caps valuation
Spot the "founder-dependent" trap that scares off serious buyers
See how buyers price risk, not just revenue and EBITDA
Use imperfections as leverage instead of liabilities
Build leverage before a first offer quietly sets your ceiling
Create real alternatives so negotiations stop feeling one-sided
Prepare for the identity shift that hits after the wire clears