Build and Exit

Michele Hecken built a global business from scratch, grew it to the point where she was working just 4–10 hours a week, and ultimately sold it.

In this episode, Michele joins Julie Wilkinson to share how she built a business that could run without her, overcame founder dependency, and prepared the company for a successful exit. They discuss delegation, systems, leadership, KPIs, business value and the mindset shift required to truly step away.

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HjpCBqbl5NQ?si=kwlz8ivt49KAkpBF

Kemi Egan bought a business in 2021. What she did not know was that HMRC had already launched a COP8 fraud investigation into the seller six months before completion. By the time she found out, the tax liability had reached £677,000, a further million in director's loan credits had been denied, and she was five months pregnant. 

This episode covers the full story, the due diligence check that could have flagged it, and why she is now in high court litigation. 

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NrGd1tUK3gY

Less than 2% of VC funding in the UK goes to female founders. That number has barely moved in 16 years. In this episode David B Horne, who has raised over $110 million and written Funded Female Founders, joins Julie to explain why, and what female founders can do about it.

Including the one response strategy that makes any founder 14 times more likely to secure funding. 

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/q3xKZ60SIPc?si=8jK33vvLPSi9Qg3A

Most conversations about selling a business focus on the deal. This one focuses on what it actually feels like. 

Luke Winter co-founded Wallbreaker, a video agency, straight out of university. After 12 years he sold his half to his business partner. 

In this episode he talks honestly about the loneliness, the exhaustion, the night in the shower, and the question every seller faces: am I walking away with enough? 

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zl2MuhC8ufo

Nine out of ten businesses that come to market within a year have not sold. Marc Adams has spent four decades on both sides of that statistic. 

In this episode he joins Julie to break down the three-step framework behind his book: cutting costs through outsourcing, deploying that saving into growth, and using acquisitions to double a business in an afternoon. 

Including a real client whose valuation moved from £5 million to £24 million. 

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZALeAgUlHzY

Of all the businesses that go to market, 75 to 85% do not sell.

In this episode Julie Wilkinson breaks down why that happens, what financial controls and governance have to do with it, and what needs to change before a business becomes a genuine asset rather than a job that stops the moment the owner steps back. 

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dRiXi__uX9s?si=4EkaDmWyTFlmSAso

Most business owners go to market expecting a strong valuation and are disappointed. Not because the business is bad. Because the profits they think they have are not the profits a buyer will accept. 

In this episode Julie Wilkinson breaks down adjusted EBITDA from the ground up, including the accruals concept, how owner pay distorts profits, the pricing flaw hiding in most SME businesses, and why the buyer's first concern is always whether the margin covers replacing you. 

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dlemWCxHAbc

Most businesses do not fail overnight. They lose oversight first.

In this episode Julie walks through how financial and legal risk quietly builds inside growing businesses, including a real case where credit card spend crept to half a million a year unnoticed, an acquisition that inherited a money laundering exposure, and an internal fraud case that went undetected for years.

If your business is growing but somehow needs more of you in it, this is the episode to listen to.

Watch the full video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FFbEKZIhdSU?si=yyBcHwjc-8HqM9iH 

Most business owners believe their valuation is driven by revenue and profit. Buyers are looking for something else entirely: confidence. 

Confidence in the numbers. Confidence in the controls. Confidence that the business is actually as sustainable as it appears on the surface. 

In this solo episode Julie Wilkinson walks through a real case study: a business with £20 million turnover that had been offered a 7x multiple by a PE firm. 

By the time due diligence was complete, the valuation had been slashed and the exit delayed by five years. 

Not because the business was fraudulent. Not because it suddenly stopped trading. 

Because of three things that are almost invisible until an outsider starts asking questions: reporting the buyer couldn't trust, a major client leaving mid-process, and a concentration risk that revealed 75% of clients came from a single channel.   

Julie also covers what businesses can put in place now — systems assessment, trading reports versus financial reports, and a controls framework — so that when questions come, they already have the answers. 

Only 10 to 15% of businesses have a contingency risk plan. This episode explains why that number needs to change, and what it costs when it doesn't. 

Nothing is technically broken. Revenue is growing, teams are expanding, activity is high. So why does cash never close where you expect? Why are the same decisions taking longer every month? Why do leaders keep double-checking numbers that should already be right? 

In this solo episode Julie Wilkinson breaks down the three operational areas where financial systems quietly fail growing businesses — and what it actually costs when nobody catches it. 

She covers the gap between front-end systems (CRM, project management) and back-end finance systems, what happens when purchase orders are bypassed, and why integrity reports — not more data — are what businesses actually need.