Built to Sell Radio

Murray Kent had no background in electrical conduit fittings when he paid $40,000 for a four-person business that, as he put it, looked like a bit of a crack den. What he did have was Value Builder's 8 drivers -- pinned to the wall next to his desk as a literal road map for every decision he made. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, you discover how to negotiate a clean exit with no earn-out complications and no equity rollover. You'll learn: Why posting the eight drivers next to your desk changes the decisions you make every day How Murray reduced his biggest customer from 50% of revenue to the low 20s -- and why even that required extra meetings to satisfy the buyer The counterintuitive reason a surprisingly high offer should make you more cautious, not less How Murray turned a proposed earn-out into a simple 12-month warranty holdback worth less than 5% of the sale price Why Murray broke the news to staff in small groups rather than a town hall -- and how he kept each group from spoiling it for the next Why open-book management and profit sharing made his team part of the business, not just employees of it What Murray wishes he had known going in: the one negotiation skill no podcast can fully prepare you for

Jay Richards spent five months deep in an acquisition process. He had a letter of intent. He had mentally checked out. He was planning what came next. Then issues surfaced in diligence and the deal collapsed. This week on Built to Sell Radio, Jay walks John Warrillow through the full story of selling Imagen Insights, a qualitative research platform with clients like Visa, Google, and Amazon, and how you discover how to navigate two very different acquisition conversations and come out the other side with a deal you are genuinely happy with. You'll learn why: an LOI means far less than you think, and how problems in your books can kill a deal founders who shop their company can signal desperation, and what Jay did instead the eventual buyer valued the business on EBITDA instead of revenue, and why that worked in Jay's favor Jay accepted an earn-out worth more than half the deal, and why he was comfortable with it handing out equity without vesting created a problem at the worst possible moment a long-standing accountant relationship does not guarantee clean books, and how this nearly killed the deal the moment the DocuSign came through did not bring relief, but a flood of new ideas

David Sinkinson and his brother Chris built AppArmor over eleven years without taking a single dollar from outside investors. They bootstrapped it by running side businesses, plowing the profits back in, and staying lean through long sales cycles and compliance-heavy buyers. By the time they were ready to sell, they had over 250 universities on the platform and roughly $6 million in annual recurring revenue — profitable, with no cap table to split with anyone. Then an acquirer asked them a simple question, and they answered it. That answer nearly cost them $20 million. Recorded live at the Value Builder Summit, this is David Sinkinson's second appearance on Built to Sell Radio. This time he goes beyond the mechanics of the deal — into the surprising struggles he faced after the sale, and a take on employee equity that is going to challenge what most founders believe.

When Sharon Gillenwater built Boardroom Insiders, she was doing something nobody else wanted to do: manually researching the personal work styles, business initiatives, and habits of Fortune 500 executives so that enterprise sales teams could finally get a meeting with the C-suite. It was hard, painstaking work — and that was exactly the point. After more than a decade of bootstrapping, consulting on the side to fund payroll, and raising just $275,000 from three people she knew personally, Sharon sold Boardroom Insiders to London-based public company EuroMoney for $25 million — all cash at close, no earn-out. In this episode, you discover how to build and sell a business where customers love you so much they follow you from company to company. You'll learn: Why a cold call from a PE firm offering $48 million was actually the worst thing that could have happened to Sharon — and what she did instead The one overheard side conversation that changed her negotiation posture entirely and helped her push from a $17–20M offer to $25M Why Sharon insisted on all cash at close — and why her angel investor told her a lower number in cash beats a higher number with strings attached What convertible notes look like after a decade — and why her investors converted their notes just six months before the sale Why Sharon cried on her birthday, the day she was quietly walked out of the company she had spent 13 years building How she watched the acquirer run Boardroom Insiders into the ground, tried to buy it back — and then decided to rebuild from scratch anyway The land-and-expand growth strategy that took Boardroom Insiders from zero to $5 million ARR without ever cracking the demand generation problem

Most founders approach a sale with one goal: get the highest price possible. But Mark Ferrer argues that focusing only on price can lead to the wrong deal, the wrong partner, and a painful transition after closing. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow talks with Ferrer about what he has learned after moving from founder to buyer, and why every owner needs to know whether they are a transactional, transitional, or transformative seller before they go to market. In this episode, you discover how to identify your seller type before a buyer does it for you. You'll learn: Why a transactional founder who insists they just want the money often turns out to be something else entirely — and why getting that wrong poisons the deal What a buyer learns about you when they ask whether you would sell to your biggest competitor for the same price Why the multiple is just the starting point, and how cash at closing, seller financing, and rolled equity can swing the real outcome by more than most founders expect How Mark lost 8 to 14 percent of his own deal proceeds not because of bad faith, but because he did not ask the right questions about his rolled equity Why pushing for agreement after a sale closes is the fastest way to destroy a partnership — and what to focus on instead What working capital and normalized earnings actually mean, and why founders who gloss over both almost always regret it How to clarify the role you want after closing before it becomes the source of tension no one saw coming

Most business owners assume their buyer will be a private equity group or a strategic acquirer. But if you run a smaller business in a niche category, the person most likely to buy you is an individual — someone who likes what you've built, can see a path to improve it, and is willing to put their own name on the line to finance the deal. This week on Built to Sell Radio, Joe Soelberg joins the Inside the Mind of an Acquirer series to pull back the curtain on what that kind of buyer actually looks like — and what it means for you as a seller. Listen and you discover how to: spot the tells of a real buyer versus "capital partners" theater pressure-test proof of funds without turning it adversarial use a seller note as a credibility filter, not just a concession understand why individual buyers consistently misread the cash down, seller note, bank structure and how to use that to your advantage ask questions that surface risk early, before lawyers get involved

Andrew McConnell built a SaaS company that helped vacation rental managers price homes like airlines using dynamic pricing based on demand. He eventually successfully exited, but not before learning the hard way that building a company and selling one require two entirely different skill sets. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Andrew walks through the pivot that saved his business, why his VC backers stayed on board, and the exact moment he realized that a "short buyer list" is a dangerous trap for founders. Listen in to discover how to: Spot the "hidden ceiling" in a business that looks like it's doubling—right up until it isn't. Move a cap table from a failed bet into a new one without lighting your professional relationships on fire. Understand liquidation preference in plain English (and why it can erase a founder's take-home pay at exit). See why a banker's real value isn't just managing the process—it's forcing pressure and widening the field of potential acquirers Avoid the "I can sell this myself" mindset that often results in a year of free research for buyers and zero leverage for you.

This episode is part of our Inside the Mind of an Acquirer series, and it unpacks the ETA (Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition) wave now flooding the market. For business owners, ETA is a double-edged sword. On the upside, more buyers courting you means more choice, more urgency, and more liquidity. On the downside, many ETA buyers are first-timers who lean on heavy leverage and seller financing. If they misread your business or hit a snag they can't handle, the part of the deal you financed can quickly become the part you never collect.