Recently, I had the chance to join John Warrillow on his podcast, Built to Sell. He’s the best in the business at pulling stories and success tips from sellers.

In preparing for my discussion with John, I wondered what I could bring to the table that would be different than the other 479 guests he has spoken with.

But I kept thinking back to a surprising consistency I’ve heard in John’s interviews:

Most earnouts don’t work out—and that’s a shame.

I’ve been fortunate on the other side. Nothing was easy, and we got lucky as hell. But each time I hear of others’ struggles, I wish I had a chance to share my experience with them beforehand.

So I sat down and tried to distill what I learned and screwed up in going through this twice.

Whether you hope to sell your company someday, are an employee at a company that goes through this, or are just curious, come with me for a peek behind the curtain at an interesting, under-reported corner of the business world…

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