How to Sell Your Business for the Best Price

In this special Bonus episode for Series 1- Episode 7, Chris and Ian discuss 'A Life In Deals'. They talk about "HOW TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS FOR THE BEST PRICE." Over the last 20 years, Chris and Ian have acted as advisors, buyers and sellers on hundreds of mergers and acquisitions - they are possibly worth listening to.

Ian and Chris explain:

▪️ The importance of data

▪️ When you should start getting ready to sell

▪️ How soon should you meet potential buyers?

▪️ When is the best time to sell?

▪️ What factors will impact the price you get?

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Follow Chris Godsmark:

Billionaire Business:

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

Sponsors for Series 1:

NETS International - https://nets-international.com

£25bn of UK Tech Funding with British Banking Giant NatWest

In this episode we interview Neil Bellamy, the Head of Technology Media and Telecoms [TMT] at NatWest. He set up a sector-specific lending team that has now lent £25 billion to over 25,000 UK technology businesses. This sector approach has now been copied into many other industries. Neil appreciates that many TMT businesses want the 3 B’s – get Backing, get Big and get Bought.

We ask the UK’s largest bank – how do you decide which companies to lend to, and what is the new concept of lending against Intellectual Property? If you want to understand how business lending works, this interview is a great place to start.

At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this interview and how it shows that the UK’s largest bank is constantly seeking new companies to lend money to.

Neil explains:

▪️ How much money is he trying to lend each year?

▪️ What proportion of applications for loans are approved and why?

▪️ How big does a company need to be before they can get a loan approved?

▪️ What does he mean by Intellectual Property?

▪️ How many loans are not repaid, and what happens then?

Follow Neil Bellamy:

Billionaire Business:

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

There is a chapter in The Street-Smart MBA specifically devoted to Banks. The chapter on bank borrowing is for people who are serious about setting up a business and want to know how to deal with banks. Lessons that you rarely see elsewhere.

Sponsors for Series 1:

NETS International - https://nets-international.com

It is rare for a family business to decide to go global. In this episode Jahangir Ahmad tells how NETS International now operates in 8 countries worldwide, with almost 1,000 staff.

At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this impressive family story.

Jahangir explains:

▪️ How he sold his business in Pakistan and moved to Dubai to start again

▪️ How he spotted the fastest growing part of the technology market and pivoted the company

▪️ How they identify which countries to move into next

▪️ How they use ‘academies’ to transfer skills to new countries

▪️ How a family business cannot afford to fail

▪️ How working with key suppliers can help you grow

Follow Jahangir Ahmad:

Billionaire Business:

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

Sponsors for Series 1:

NETS International - https://nets-international.com

Bob Falconer, former CEO and Richard Bligh, former CO, are two of the UK Telecom’s industries best known figures of the last two decades. They explain how they took a business with c£3 million revenue to a valuation of £1.5 billion before they finally stood down.

They made a visionary decision, about 15 years ago: the future of phone calls will be over the internet rather than using conventional Telecoms networks. The success of GAMMA in the B2B market has been extraordinary.

At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this remarkable story – one of the few examples ever of a business floating on the London Stock Exchange and then the share price increasing over 10x.

Bob and Richard explain:

▪️ How they hit £100m revenue in 3 years and then decided they were in the wrong part of the market

▪️ How they had about 5,000 salespeople – without paying a salary to any of them

▪️ How they used an imaginary customer ‘Tracy’ as their guiding light

▪️ How keeping IT systems simple is key to rapid growth

▪️ How an obsession with refining their products constantly was key to keeping growth going

▪️ How a forward-looking investor played a critical part in their success

00:00 - Welcome and Hosts Intro

01:58 - Acquiring Distressed Assets: The Atlantic Telecom Story 

03:11 - From Asset Acquisition to a Viable Business Model 

09:30 - Meet 'Tracy', The Mythical Customer That Drove Success

13:10 - The Visionary Pivot to Voice Over Internet 

16:07 - Exploiting Incumbent Weakness: The Innovator's Dilemma 

18:10 - The Strategic Rationale for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) 

19:35 - Our Sponsor: NETS International 

21:25 - The Indirect Sales Model: Scaling Through Channel Partners 

28:00 - The Strategic Advantage of a Focused Product Portfolio 

33:00 - Cornerstones of Company Culture 

38:48 - Ian and Chris’s Takeaways

Bob Falconer is now retired. Follow Richard Bligh:

Billionaire Business:

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

Sponsors for Series 1:

NETS International - https://nets-international.com

Maxine Laceby is an absolute inspiration to single mum’s who have teenage children. Her eldest daughter went to University, and the next, a year younger, learned to drive. She was then faced with the decision that all mum’s face – what do I do with the rest of my life?

The tale of how she became convinced that collagen was vital to the health of women and then quickly turned it into a hugely successful business is amazing.

At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this extraordinary lady.

Maxine explains:

▪️ That she had never run a business before and hates the concept of a spreadsheet

▪️ The business hit £12m revenue still operating from her garage

▪️ Her obsession with the customer – what she calls ‘the absoluter’

▪️ Within 6 years she hit £30m revenue

▪️ What it was like to work with her eldest daughter, Darcy

▪️ How she chose which private equity investor to work with, to help them grow, even faster

Follow Maxine Laceby:

Billionaire Business:

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

Sponsors for Series 1:

NETS International - https://nets-international.com

Lessons for Scale-Ups from a European Venture Capital Leader, Dawn Capital Dawn Capital, with 2 billion Euros under management, are probably Europe’s largest Venture Capital fund investing in software companies. Nils Howland has been involved in many of their investment decisions and is very clear about what they look for. There are millions of coders out there, but which ones will be backed to become the next big software company? And which types of AI company are they looking to invest in? At the end, in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this interview. Nils explains: ▪️ How a €2 billion Venture Capital fund decides which software and AI companies to back ▪️ What type of founders are they looking for? ▪️ How important is the actual code? ▪️ Do you need a complete senior leadership team? ▪️ How big do you need to be to attract investment from Venture Capital? ▪️ How do you decide whether a business is capable of being valued at over £1 billion?  Follow Nils Howland: • LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/nilshowland Billionaire Business: • Website: www.billionairebusiness.net • Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/billionaire-business-podcast/?viewAsMember=true Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick • HARDBACK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without/dp/B0FLD5Q8Z5/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title • PAPERBACK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without/dp/B08735HP2W/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title • KINDLE https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Smart-MBA-Mastering-Business-Without-ebook/dp/B08738NVS8/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2VOX3UKOWGT6R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jGqkZxFG3WEufxz7M-1iVgGElqr83rgD-VAM-9WLfXz4fii5xR10ZsWDNVlnOGAfLdZG4lksR0cCtaRyzjKlwxD8Gh4WKr2ZP8TuayLmYBiPqNWQi66IAM3QDfoxZeEa.ZUymM2LEtrzNGeYhyP9yoJQknWJe8w7LOx6GDaS6ano&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+street-smart+mba&qid=1755704706&sprefix=the+street-smart+mba%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-2 Sponsors for Series 1: NETS International - https://nets-international.com

This is probably Scotland’s greatest ever technology story. How do you take a software app (for booking flights) and turn it from a startup to a $1.75 billion sale?

Shane Corstorphine played many C-suite roles at Skyscanner, including CFO, and explains clearly how they did it. Some of the lessons are not what you expect.

At the end in the section called ‘Ian and Chris’s Takeaway’, the hosts discuss the key lessons to learn from this remarkable interview.

Shane explains:

▪️ The type of leadership team you will need

▪️ How employee share ownership can play a part

▪️ How you tackle international expansion on an incredibly rapid scale

▪️ How they attracted the greatest ever investor name from Silicon Valley - Sequoia

▪️ At the time this was the largest fundraise by a privately-owned UK tech company in history – but the record only lasted weeks

00:00 Welcome & hosts intro

00:01:07 Guest background: startup → banker; execution mindset

00:05:30 Joining early stage Skyscanner & founder vision

00:08:40 Execution v strategy; COO cadence & weekly reviews

00:11:00 Travel’s frequency problem & tracking PMF (product market fit) metrics (AARRR)

00:13:40 Sequoia joins: valuation, fundraising & dilution

00:16:30 Sponsor: NETS International

00:17:40 Equity that retains staff: options, buybacks & secondaries

00:23:08 Scale cultures: UK prudence vs US/China speed

00:28:45 Go to market playbook: test and learn

00:33:10 The exit (2016): sale process, buyer & lessons

00:36:00 Closing: What’s next and Key takeaways

Follow Shane Corstorphine:

Billionaire Business:

Buy the book “The Street-Smart MBA – Mastering Business Acumen Without Going to School” by Ian Fishwick

Sponsors for Series 1:

NETS International - https://nets-international.com

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The legendary founder of Reebok, Joe Foster co-authors a book with Ian Fishwick about people who have struggled at some point in their life, though no fault of their own, battled through it and then gone on to greater things. Ian's story is Chapter 2.