Kristie Shifflette built a 13-location Orangetheory Fitness empire from scratch—bootstrapping a capital-hungry business, personally guaranteeing leases, and taking on risk most founders wouldn’t touch. In the end, it paid off for Kristie and in this episode, you’ll discover how to: 

• Bootstrap a capital-intensive business without giving up control 

• Reduce your risk when taking on an investor 

• Attract entrepreneurial employees who will care as much as you do 

• Think about the $10 million milestone (and why it matters to private equity) 

• Know when to take some chips off the table—and when to double down 

• Ace management presentations with an acquirer 

• Play hard to get (even when you want to sell) 

• Get an acquirer to bump up their offer  

• Max out an earn-out payment—even if you don’t quite hit your targets 

• Spot an acquisition offer that’s likely to be re-traded