Chris went on to grow the company to over 100 million dollars in annual revenue, diversifying their products and target markets along the way. After successfully growing the company over 15 years, Chris sold Sportech to a private equity firm in November 2019 and received all of his cash up front. Chris accomplished what many entrepreneurs strive too and is willing to share what strategies grew value, his successes along the way and what he would do different if he were to do it again.

What You Will Learn in Today’s Podcast Interview:

How Chris grew his company to over $100M in revenue without debt

Why Chris was able to get all his cash up front when selling to Private Equity

The difference between enterprise value, equity value and net proceeds

How Chris shifted his mindset away from only top line revenue to long term value creation

How to identify the key value drivers in your business

How to reduce client concentration and why it pays off

How one’s willingness to evolve and stay relevant are keys to success

Why passion can get you started but value growth education will get you to the top

The importance of differentiation and how to make your company invaluable to your customers

Why betting on yourself as an entrepreneur can have the biggest ROI

Where to spend your time and energy educating yourself as a business owner

The biggest differences between Strategic Buyers and Financial Buyers

Chris’s grueling experience going through due diligence when selling

Why a culture of trust and integrity is hard to quantify in the valuation (it’s not on the spreadsheet)

Podcast Summary:

In today’s episode, Chris Carlson shares how his passion for driving snow mobiles let him to starting Sportech—the company’s original product protects the lights of snow mobiles from snow in order to see clearly while driving. Chris tell his story about how he adapted the business to match the changes in the market, invested time and resources to further his own knowledge—including joining a peer group, understanding value growth, investment banking, and implementing EOS—and what he learned from his experience selling Sportech to private equity. Chris went on to grow the company to over 100 million dollars in annual revenue, diversifying their products and target markets along the way. After successfully growing the company over 15 years, Chris sold Sportech to a private equity firm in November 2019 and received all of his cash up front.I’m excited about today’s episode because Chris’s story clearly explains how investing in yourself as an entrepreneur can lead to long-term success, as well as illustrating the many aspects of selling a business he wishes he knew at the time. We get to benefit from Chris’s experience as a business owner who accomplished what many people strive to achieve, while also recognizing that even incredibly successful companies and owners can benefit from understanding value growth with your end goals in mind, the difference between financial and strategic buyers, and the key components needed to approach a sale. 

 

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