Intentional Growth

Mike Rynchek is the founder of Spyder Trap, a digital marketing consulting agency. He sold it to Bright Health in 2017. He walks me through the history of Spyder Trap and how he transitioned the company for Bright Health’s use. He had to settle client relationships that didn’t fit into Bright’s new direction. Relationship is a big word for Mike. He spent most of his energy focusing on his company’s reputation. As well as building good working relationships with his clients.

We discuss how Mike scaled his business and how he prepared it for sale. He also stresses the importance of integrating your work into life, rather than trying to find a “balance.” It is a point that many people don’t consider when they examine their family/work life relationship.

Mike raises an interesting point about finding integration in your work and family life. There is a difference between integration and balance. Integration is ideal because balance is very unrealistic. Ask yourself what is important to you? How will those things change when you sell? Is that what you want? Ask all these questions and really self-examine yourself before you even consider selling your business.

GEXP Collaborative

Mike Rynchek considers himself a natural born entrepreneur. He began his company Spyder Trap in college at St. Cloud State University. In 2017, he sold the company to Bright Health, a former client. After staying on for a year with Bright Health, he moved onto other endeavors. Mike now works as a consultant for numerous technology companies and Fortune 500 companies.

Everybody thinks about the big payout when they sell their business. However, very few people are prepared for the emotional toll the sale takes on them. My guest today is Laura Rich a successful former journalist who founded a publication called Street Fight. She took her experience of selling that business and built a community for other entrepreneurs who find themselves lost after the post-exit.

The Exit Club is a podcast and an online community that helps post-exited entrepreneurs find a new focus and passion. Laura and I discuss the depression that sets in after the business sale. It is real and it is hard to talk about with other people. She tells me about her sale of Street Fight and why she chose to sell. She also offers some insight on what The Exit Club has taught her about the entrepreneur experience.

Exiting a business is a complicated and wild emotional ride. It is important that we know as entrepreneurs that we all go through a post-exit lost feeling. You are not alone in the “what now?” feeling.

The Exit Club

Laura Rich is a former journalist who wrote for Condé Nast, Adweek, Fast Company, The Industry Standard, and others. After moving to Colorado, she founded Street Fight. She sold the company in February of 2017 and found a need for entrepreneurs during the process. Today, she hosts The Exit Club podcast, a show that helps entrepreneurs who have exited their companies cope with the emotional aspect of an exit.

Mike O’Neill is the director at Stone Arch Capital. Stone Arch is a mid-market, mid-western based private equity firm. I met Mike on a panel, during which he gave a very clear and articulate explanation of how the “second bite of the apple” works for companies who work with private equity firms.

Today, Mike and I discuss why business owners choose to work with a private equity firm. He also gives us some insight into how it works from the firm’s side of the deal. Mike covers who Stone Arch serves, what they offer to their clients. He also touches on how the firm gets their money and what Stone Arch considers before they enter into a deal.

Planning an exit involves so many decisions. It is important that you research and are aware of all of your options. There is so much to think about that it is okay to seek out advice and counsel. Private equity is an option and it is a lucrative option, but consider everything before you are completely committed.

Mike on LinkedIn

Michael O’Neill joined Stone Arch Capital in 2008. His primary responsibilities include sourcing, reviewing and structuring new investment opportunities for the firm. He also has experience in add-on acquisitions, debt and equity financing and supporting investment management activities from the board level.

Prior to joining Stone Arch Capital in 2008, Michael was an investment banker at Lazard Middle Market. While at Lazard Middle Market, Michael focused on mergers and acquisitions transactions within a variety of industries, including industrial products, oil and gas services, business services, food and agriculture, and technology.

Mike lives in Edina with his wife, son, daughter and dog. In his spare time, he enjoys running, drinking local beer, and letting the Iowa Hawkeyes get his hopes up.

Michael is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas (B.A. in Finance and History) and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University (M.B.A.).

The co-founder of HAAWK, Inc. Ryan Born joins me for today’s episode. Before HAAWK, Ryan was the founder and CEO of AudioMicro, Inc. AudioMicro was a media rights management company. Its most successful venture was AdRev. Ryan explains what that service was and why he felt it worked.

We take the journey with Ryan through AudioMicro’s beginnings, the pivots, the changes in the media rights industry, and what life was like after AudioMicro changed owners. This episode is a great example of the struggle and the hustle many entrepreneurs face on a daily basis.

Ryan had a great point in today’s interview. If you want to own a business, try. All you can do is try and see what happens. Know what you want in your business and take steps to achieve it.

Ryan Born’s Website

Ryan Born started his career in the Atlanta office of Price Waterhouse Coopers’ (PwC) Assurance and Business Advisory Services Practice where he gained experience in an array of industries. He later transferred to New York City to broaden his experience in the firm’s Tax and Legal Services division. After PwC, he served as VP of Finance and Financial Controller at WireImage.com during which time the Company was acquired by Getty Images for $208 million. After WireImage, Ryan angel invested in Internet Marketing Inc. (a 2012 Inc 500 company) and NewCondosOnline.com, the largest one-stop resource for finding and comparing new condo developments, where he also served as CFO. Most recently, he relocated to Los Angeles and founded AdRev / AudioMicro, Inc, which ranked as the #5 fastest growing media company in the USA as part of the 2015 Inc 500, the #1 fastest growing company in the San Fernando Valley (by the SF Valley Business Journal in 2014), the #6 fastest growing company in LA (by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2014), and the #40 fastest growing company