Built to Sell Radio
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.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 512
- Years Active
- 2015 - 2025
Ep 490 Exit Story: How a Middleman Built and Sold a $19M Distribution Business
Sean McAuliffe didn’t invent anything. He was a distributor.
If you lost your car keys and went to a locksmith to cut a new set, chances are your locksmith got the replacement key from Sean’s busi…
Ep 489 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer: Sequoya Borgman on How Independent Sponsors Buy Companies, Structure Deals, and Spot Pretenders
What do acquirers really want?
Sequoya Borgman has acquired 19 companies and exited two. He’s raised capital on a deal-by-deal basis, working outside the traditional private equity model. In this …
Ep 488 Exit Story: Garren Hilow on Selling for $190M, Taking Stock, and Missing His Earn-Out
When Garren Hilow helped start Abveris, he didn’t have much—just a background in sales, a co-founder with a Harvard PhD, and a stock option representing 16% of the company.
Eight years later, he b…
Ep 487 After the Deal: How the Ultra-Wealthy Invest After Selling Their Business
What would you do with $20 million?
That’s the minimum amount required to join Tiger 21, the exclusive network where ultra-high-net-worth entrepreneurs learn how to preserve and grow their wealth.…
Ep 486 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer: The Harvard Playbook for Buying Your Business
A new generation of buyers trained in Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) is looking for businesses like yours. Unlike private equity firms focused on roll-ups, ETA buyers are often searching …
Ep 485 After the Deal: The Psychology of Selling—Kill Criteria, Walkaway Mindset & Why “Telling Your Company’s Story” Often Drives Up Your Multiple
For the first time ever, we recorded a Built to Sell Radio episode in front of a live audience at the Value Builder Summit—a gathering of mission-driven advisors dedicated to helping founders level …
Ep 484 How to Know When It’s Time to Sell
Kristie Shifflette built a 13-location Orangetheory Fitness empire from scratch—bootstrapping a capital-hungry business, personally guaranteeing leases, and taking on risk most founders wouldn’t touc…
Ep 483 Exit Story: Frank Shultz on Escaping the 50/50 Trap and Buying Out a Partner
When Frank Shultz co-founded Infinite Blue, he and his partner split ownership 50/50. The business thrived, but their working relationship soured. Frank wanted to buy out his co-founder, but with a v…
Ep 482 Exit Story: Bob Gilbreath — "The Adult Version of the Marshmallow Test" and How to Capitalize on an Earn-Out
An earn-out is a deal structure where part of the sale price is contingent on the business hitting future performance goals. For many owners, it feels like a gamble—where the payout is uncertain, and…
Ep 481 After the Deal: What 70 Founders Reveal About Generational Wealth, the Achievement Trap & the Happiness Illusion
Most founders focus all their energy on getting to an exit, but few stop to consider what comes next. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Rood shares what he learned after selling Next Step …
Ep 480 Exit Story: The $80M Deception—How Kevin Wagstaff Walked Away and Won
When Kevin Wagstaff and his brother bootstrapped Spectora, a SaaS platform for home inspectors, with just $2,500 each, they never expected to one day face an $80 million acquisition offer. Spectora t…
Ep 479 Exit Story: How to Attract a Fortune 500 Acquirer With Brock Weatherup
Selling your business to a Fortune 500 company is a dream for many founders. Strategic acquirers often pay the most because they can integrate your business into their larger ecosystem. It’s rare to …
Ep 478 After the Deal: When Can You Afford to Fly Private? with Preston Holland
That’s why we created the After the Deal series on Built to Sell Radio. This series explores life after selling a business—delving into the personal, financial, and emotional transitions that come wh…
Ep 477 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer: Lessons from Analyzing Thousands of Real-Life Transactions
This week on Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow interviews Blake Hutchison, CEO of Flippa, the world’s largest marketplace for buying and selling digital businesses. With experience overseeing thous…
Ep 476 Exit Story: How Ben Landers Avoided an Earn-Out in His 8-Figure Sale of Blue Corona
Ben Landers built Blue Corona, an 8-figure digital marketing agency focused on home service businesses, into a data-driven powerhouse. When it came time to sell, Ben achieved something extraordinary:…
Ep 475 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer: Adam Kerrigan on Selling His Service Business, Acquiring 16 More, and Moving From a 1X to a 15X Multiple
Adam Kerrigan started as the owner of a managed service provider (MSP) business, which he built and eventually sold. After his exit, he joined the acquiring company to lead its M&A group, where he co…
Ep 474 2024 Year-End Special: The Insider’s Guide to Maximizing Your Exit
As we gear up for 2025, I wanted to highlight the top strategies covered this past year on Built to Sell Radio. These insights are designed to help you increase the value of your business and positio…
Ep 473 Exit Story: How Grace & Stella Survived a $28M Setback to Sell for 5.8x EBITDA
Imagine personally guaranteeing millions in debt to fill a $28M order—only to have it yanked at the last minute. It nearly bankrupted founder Adi Gullia as well as Grace & Stella. Yet he overcame it …
Ep 471 Exit Story: Kaelon Egan on Selling AccelaSchool to PowerSchool, Targeting Strategic Buyers, and Avoiding Earn-Outs
In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow interviews Kaelon Egan, the founder of AccelaSchool, who successfully sold his company to PowerSchool—a giant in the K-12 education techn…
Ep 470 After the Deal: James Ashford on the Aftermath of Selling a 12-Employee Company for 8 Figures
James Ashford built GoProposal with a clear goal: to sell. From designing the logo with potential acquirers in mind to rallying his team around the vision, James executed his plan with precision. The…