Marina Khidekel joins Carrie Kerpen just days after selling Hugimals to Relatable. She shares how she built a design-forward weighted plush brand from the ground up, bootstrapped it to seven figures, chose control over outside funding, and navigated the reality of selling her company while stepping into a new role with the buyer.

This episode is sponsored by The Whisper Group, helping women founders understand their exit options, prepare for the right opportunity, and turn the businesses they’ve built into life-changing assets.

2:51 - The origin story behind Hugimals
4:48 - How Marina brought the product to life
6:53 - Turning the product into a business 
10:03 - Funding the growth 
12:57 - Knowing when it was time to sell
15:48 - Manifesting the right acquirer: how Relatable entered the picture
16:48 - Inside the year-long M&A negotiation process
19:08 - The biggest lessons Marina learned from selling her company
22:37 - What it felt like when the deal officially closed
23:29 - Marina’s first day at Relatable and what comes next
24:55 - Marina’s letter to herself one year from now