Everyone can start a business, but few can make it a successful one. And even fewer entrepreneurs know when it’s time to step aside to bring in the big guns. Tina Youngblood is that big gun.

With a PhD in accounting and over 20 years of experience in executive strategic leadership and results-oriented operational administration, Tina has developed a strategic approach to turning around businesses that has seen her succeed in various ventures across accounting, health, and SaaS.

If you’re a flagging founder who can’t seem to get to the next stage of growth, tune into this episode and learn Tina’s rules for sustainable growth.

Connect with Tina Youngblood

Website: https://techaccel.net/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-youngblood-13262264/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tech_Accel

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gck7vLHtIlVRzIAE9gbLw

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

For an accidental entrepreneur, Jonathan Claydon did everything right in his affiliate marketing company, Streamline.

Jon grew the business for 7 years from 1 employee to five to 35, servicing big names like Expedia, T-Mobile, and Microsoft right from the get-go. His industry expertise and market niche saw a client retention rate of 95%. This skyrocketed streamline to leaders in the industry, with Jon assessing over 20 Letters of Intent before finally accepting an offer from “frenemy” company, Acceleration Partners (who he now works for).

His top advice for entrepreneurs: Find the right buyer and everything else will fall into place.

Connect with Jonathan Claydon

Website: https://www.accelerationpartners.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonclaydon/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jon.claydon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AccelerationPartners/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accelerationpar/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jon_claydon

Twitter: https://twitter.com/accelerationpar

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

From theory to application and beyond, marketing professor Peter Fader did what most academics fail to do: create a successful commercial business based on what you’re doing in the classroom.

His work on consumer decision making led him to start Zodiac, a company that looked at consumer buying data to accurately predict future purchasing decisions. His data was a gold mine for entrepreneurs, but the challenge was getting business owners to see the value and trust the forecasting.

After three years of side-of desk growth, Peter and his team were working hard on scaling and bringing in new and innovative ideas, when along came an acquisition offer they couldn’t refuse from a retailer you might’ve heard of before: Nike.

Peter’s answer to the offer? Just do it.

Connect with Peter Fader

Website: https://thetaclv.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterfader/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faderp

Get a copy of Peter’s new book, The Customer-Base Audit: https://whr.tn/Customer

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

Whether it’s eCommerce or Influencer Marketing, David Perry has advice for all businesses on how to best acquire, engage, and retain customers.

A veteran of the gaming industry, he’s taking the lessons he learned creating #1 selling video and computer games, and translating them into successful business ventures.

David has built and sold businesses acquired by Sony, Disney, and Atari. Now, he’s shifted to eCommerce, blurring the lines between gaming and reality.

Connect with David Perry

Website: https://dperry.com/

Website: https://getcarro.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dperry/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getcarro/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dperry

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

Successful entrepreneur, technologist, speaker, podcast host, and pilot, James Benham is a man of many talents, but one of his greatest gifts is his ability to build bootstrapped businesses.

James took three years to develop enough cash flow to invest in building products he wanted to build, but the payoff was worth the wait. SmartBid, his construction bid management software, was first-to-market on most technology trends, staying well ahead of its venture-funded competitors. But after 12 years of funnelling all profits into the business, James came to a crossroad: He needed to scale, raise, or exit.

Learn how he built to scale, including his top takeaway tips for growing a self-funded company.

Connect with James Benham

Website: https://jamesbenham.com/

Website: https://jbknowledge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbenham/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JBKnowledge

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesmbenham/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesMBenham

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbknowledge

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

After growing her bootstrapped and self-funded alternative camping SaaS business to $100,000 in Annual Recurring Revenue, Anna Maste received a very respectable offer of 3.9 times ARR.

Rather than accepting, Anna decided to focus on exponentially growing Boondockers Welcome, capitalising on a favourable market at the time.

Two years, 2,800 hosts and 12,000 annual guest members later, she more than quadrupled their revenue before accepting a mid-seven figure offer.

Connect with Anna Maste

Website: https://www.subscribesense.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-maste-9aab6315/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/skulegirl

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

After Sandy Hansen-Wolff’s husband suddenly died, she was thrust into running their regional agriculture business. Rather than balking at the task, she grew the company to $8M before selling 18 years later.

Sandy overcame a lot of challenges in this time period. From navigating her grief, to navigating being a woman in a male-dominated industry. She made a lot of mistakes along the way, but in the end, created a great business and secured a great exit.

Now, Sandy integrates these key insights as the platform for her work with high-level business leaders and entrepreneurs so that they too are empowered to move from struggling to success and profitability.

Connect with Sandy Hansen-Wolff

Website: https://sandyhansenwolff.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandy-hansen-wolff-5568b910/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandyHansenWolff/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandyehansen

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

Three-time start-up entrepreneur, Melissa Kwan has one piece of advice for those who want to start a tech company: Don’t!

But jokes aside, Melissa’s advice is invaluable when it comes to the mindset you need to build a SaaS product, and she isn’t shy about sharing the cold hard truth.

Her real estate software, Spacio grew to the industry’s #1 open house sign-in solution by applying data analytics to open houses and helping agents automate lead capture and follow-up. When she sold to HomeSpotter in 2019, the deal terms were undisclosed, but were in the mid-seven figures.

Yet to get there, Melissa spent three years skipping meals and paycheques, and not knowing whether she mentally had what it took to get her business off the ground. But once she found the momentum, her success skyrocketed.

This is her story.

Connect with Melissa Kwan

Website: https://ewebinar.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissakwan/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ewebinar

Twitter: https://twitter.com/msskwan

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

Shannon Susko started, scaled, and sold two high-growth technology companies in the financial services industry just six years apart.

This self-described ski bum from Whistler, Canada built a repeatable playbook that both she and her acquirers have used, as well as over 100 businesses worldwide.

In her second business, it resulted in a 60x top line sale.

If you’re looking to inject more predictable profit into your business, then tune in and learn from best-selling author, entrepreneur, and business coach, Shannon Susko.

Connect with Shannon Susko

Website: https://www.metronomeunited.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonbyrnesusko/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/metronomeglobal

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metronome_united/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShanByrneSusko

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtfKz1miyfoNlX9RYvtQx-A

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/

Are you looking to scale your business?

From team development to infrastructure to founder mindset, to just straight luck, there are so many components required to rapidly grow a business.

Our guest, Greg Alexander unlocks many of the mysteries surrounding how to take your business to the next level. And he should know.

Greg successfully built his sales consultancy firm, SBI, over 11 years, generating $30M in annual revenue and $16M in EBITDA with only 30 employees. This allowed him to sell to a private equity firm for $162M without an earn-out.

Tune in and learn not just how he did it, but also how you can take his framework and apply it in your professional services business.

Connect with Greg Alexander

Website: https://www.collective54.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gpalexander/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/collective54

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/collective_54/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/collective_54

Connect with Simon Bedard

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srhbedard/

Website: https://buygrowsell.com/

Website: https://exitadvisory.com.au/