Ep 524 3 Non-Negotiables to Walk Away Clean, Turn Your Expertise into Recurring Revenue, and Avoiding a Deal-Killing Clause.
Most experts who start a practice or studio end up trapped by their own success. The schedule is packed, the waitlist is long, but every dollar still depends on them showing up. In this week's episode of Built to Sell Radio, John talks to a physical therapist who turned a fully booked, owner-dependent practice into a boutique fitness business with recurring revenue, a second-in-command, and a clean exit on her terms. After a first deal collapsed on closing day thanks to a last-minute bank clause, she went back to market with three non-negotiables and still got a seven-figure outcome.Â
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Ep 523 15 x EBITDA for a Service Firm
In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow sits down with Ujwal Arkalgud, who built the same company twice. Chapter one was a classic problem: a profitable, founder-heavy services firm with impressive EBITDA but a ceiling on valuation. Chapter two began when he turned that service into a productized offering, transformed how customers bought his work, and ultimately sold for more than 15x EBITDA — roughly three times the offer he received as a simple service provider.Â
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Ep 522 The difference between 4x vs.8x EBITDA, Customer Concentration Discounts, PE Re-trades with Eric Wiklendt on this special edition of Inside the Mind of an Acquirer
For many owners, private equity feels like a black box: a buyer shows up with a multiple, some debt, and a term sheet, and it is hard to tell whether you are getting a fair shake or being set up for a painful re-trade later. In this Inside the Mind of an Acquirer episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow sits down with Speyside Equity managing director Eric Wiklendt.
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Ep 521 10x Outcome Selling Tiny to Private Equity and how to make the 'Cruise vs Double Down' Decision
Andrew Roberts spent two decades turning a bootstrapped family company from Brisbane into one of the most widely used text editors on the web, then faced the hardest call of his career: keep a comfortable, profitable business or push for a bigger exit with venture capital and private equity in the mix.Â
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Ep 520 How Chris Hutchins convinced Google to buy Milk—and Wealthfront to acquire Grove—despite not generating much revenue (and no EBITDA)
A strategic acquirer is a company buying to advance its own roadmap, distribution, or capabilities—unlike financial buyers (private equity, family offices) who buy primarily for cash flow. To a strategic, value may sit in what you've built, not what you've earned. Chris Hutchins' story makes the point. He co-founded Milk, acquired by Google, and later founded Grove, acquired by Wealthfront. Both saw assets they could plug in—product, team, IP—even when revenue and EBITDA weren't impressive. If you want a strategic acquirer to pay for what you've built rather than how much money you make, this episode of Built to Sell Radio is for you. You'll discover how to: • Define and prioritize the assets a strategic may value now (team, product, customer list, roadmap, even your lease) • Reframe your pitch so a distribution-rich buyer may see an immediate lift from your assets • Run a fast, momentum-led process that invites quick noes and surfaces real interest • Split assets across buyers when it improves the overall outcome • Protect employees and customers while you move quickly toward a decision If a strategic exit is on your radar, this playbook helps you create options when EBITDA won't carry the deal.Â
Built to Sell Radio is a weekly podcast for business owners interested in selling a business. Each week, we ask an entrepreneur who has recently sold a business why they decided to sell their business, what they did right and what mistakes they made through the process of exiting their business. Built to Sell Radio is the ultimate insider's guide to approaching the most important financial transaction of your life.