Intentional Growth

My guest today is Bobby Kingsbury, a principal at a private equity firm called MCM Capital. MCM has been in business for 26 years and invests in small to medium-sized niche businesses. On today’s episode, Bobby tells me how MCM screens its potential investments.

We discuss how the private equity business works and how MCM Capital stands out among their competitors. He offers the questions the equity firm asks a potential client and also the questions the business seller should ask the equity firm. Bobby also stresses the importance of having clean financial records to present to the equity firm. He suggests ways to better present your business to get a clearer and firmer price point for your business.

There are a lot of nightmare stories out there regarding private equity firms. However, MCM Capital is one of the more honest firms that want to give their sellers the best deal possible. Bobby explains MCM’s motives in their screening process and assures listeners that MCM Capital wants to be a partner with companies, not a dictator.

If you are considering working with a private equity firm, this episode is a good resource for you. My next episode will be the second part of this topic. Mark Calcaterra, one of Bobby’s sellers will join us to describe what his experience with Bobby and MCM Capital. So, you will be seeing both sides of the process.

Today we’re taking a look at private equity from an insider’s perspective. Bobby Kingsbury (who you may remember from a previous show of mine) talks about how private equity works, in general, and how his company is doing business differently, in particular.

You’ll want to pay close attention to this show if you are even contemplating selling to a private equity firm.

As business owners looking into private equity, we typically look for the biggest number we can get from the sale. We’ve spent a lot of time on this show, though, talking about how important the ‘fit’ is when we go to sell the business we built from the ground up. Let’s look at Bobby’s points and see if private equity is the right fit for you.

My guest today is Vicki Raport, one of the founding members of Quantum Retail Technology. Vicki was on the front lines of Quantum’s sale. The story she has to tell is impressive and is a clean-cut example of how a company sale should happen. We discuss the journey Vicki and her partners took to build a successful business and how they kept a delicate balance between five (yes, five) founders. They pivoted the business from a SaaS to an Enterprise model, Vicki explained how they reached that decision and what it meant for the business as a whole.

If your goal for your business is to build a lucrative company and then sell it, Vicki’s story is inspirational and fascinated.

Today’s show highlights some very interesting and useful points for any entrepreneur. Not only did Vicki Raport and her four partners build a well-respected and profitable business, but when they sold, they got the cleanest contract out of the deal. They got the terms they wanted and the company they sold to fulfilled each and every one.

So what did Vicki do differently that helped her achieve such a desirable outcome?

Vicki attributes her success to great intention. She had intention in design, action, planning and execution. When she started her company, she knew she wanted to work in the market she was familiar with and so contacted a bunch of her old coworkers to see if anyone else was interested in developing a business.

By drawing from five different founders, their business (Quantum Retail) was able to utilize multiple skill sets and strengths. It quickly became a successful industry giant whose clients, while not numerous, were mighty and well-known. As with most entrepreneurial endeavours, Quantum started out as a single-purpose business catering to one client’s needs and then developed more of a portfolio as they gained more clients who had other needs in the same market.

Vicki’s story is a great example of capitalizing on what you know and building off of that until you are an indispensable service (or product) in your particular market niche. The only difference is in the intention; in the planning. Thoughtfulness, intention, planning, due diligence… whatever name you need to give this concept of acting with intention, do it. The better prepared you are and the more contingencies you plan for, the greater success you will achi

My guest today is Erin Weed. After a tragic death of a friend, Erin founded Girls Fight Back! A women’s self-defense and personal safety organization. Erin traveled the U.S. speaking on college campuses and keeping the memory of her murdered friend alive through awareness. Erin wouldn’t consider herself an entrepreneur, but an activist that built a business out of her passion project.

During today’s episode, Erin tells me about the growth of Girls Fight Back and how she was able to take the business internationally. She also shares why she made the decision to sell the company and move on to the next stage of her life. Businesses can easily become the cornerstone of someone’s identity or purpose. Erin’s story is a great example of out-growing a business and knowing when to let it go.

What are you passionate about in your life? What social issues ring near and dear to your heart? What if a past tragedy is the exact impetus you need to get your enterprise up and running? Today’s guest shows us exactly how you can be both a social justice warrior and still run a cash-positive business. Erin Weed talks about making a legacy out of her friend’s tragic murder by building a business devoted to helping women live a life without fear where they can defend themselves if necessary and have the tools they need to succeed.

What has your business done for others today?

So many entrepreneurs don’t choose this path. Most fall into entrepreneurship by accident. If there’s an exposed market niche or an under-serviced segment, you can bet an entrepreneur will find a way to fulfill that need. One trend we don’t see enough of is businesses that are created to help a social issue or injustice get resolved. Today’s guest did exactly that: created a business to resolve a social injustice (women who live life in fear that they will be attacked and therefore pass on major life opportunities that their male peers do not have to due to considerations of personal safety).

In Erin’s own words, “Girls Fight Back gives women’s safety and self defense seminars at high schools and colleges across the world. We also have a product line that all supports that messaging.” So not only did she establish a business that would help thousands of women across the globe, but she also managed to make it a profitable business that could be sold to another like-minded ‘activist entrepreneur’.

The lesson here is that you never know who has been affected by a tragedy like yours and who could benefit from your healing process. While Erin has extrapolated this experience and grew beyond her initial need to be

My guest today is Sherry Deutschmann, the founder of LetterLogic and currently Sunset Ventures. Sherry began LetterLogic in direct response to her previous employer’s lack of interest in improving business practices. She built her own business doing the exact same service, but with one key difference, she implemented an employee-first business model.

The model changed how her business grew, including creating a unique culture. Sherry’s intimate business model made her business desirable to clients and buyers alike. LetterLogic was included on the Inc 5000 list eleven years in a row!

Today, Sherry shares what lead to her decision to sell LetterLogic and what she would have done differently in hindsight. Employee-first companies are a  rare business model, but the results can be shockingly impressive. Sherry makes a good argument for the business model and also warns against the downside of selling a business built on the employee-first mindset.

Do you know the full value of company culture? It may surprise you to learn just how much value you, as an entrepreneur and business owner, can get out of establishing an employee-first culture. Sherry Deutschmann talks real numbers and how her company profited under this business model.

One of the values near and dear to Sherry’s heart is paying it forward. As most entrepreneurs do, she established her business after discovering a severe lack in her industry for client care and company culture—she found herself endlessly apologizing to her clients on behalf of the cold culture at the company she worked for.  Enter her first entrepreneurial step: selling everything to better fulfill this very niche market service gap.

She started her business in her basement and refused to compromise on her values. As she worked to grow her company, she made sure that her employees had as much buy-in to what she was doing as she did.

She started doing some research into how to make her employees more invested in the business. What she came up with as unique approach to the market which included raising her minimum wage to more than double the state average and even employing profit sharing. And she found that neither of this things negatively impacted profit;

My guest today is Larry Anderson. Have you ever wondered what you would do if your biggest client suddenly dropped you? Larry has experienced that first hand. He is an “accidental entrepreneur” that came back home to help with the family business. Since getting his start in the industrial repair field, Larry has pivoted into many technology niches including contract manufacturing and most recently, the online freelance market.

During today’s episode, Larry walks me through his business experience and offers some hard-learned lessons. He is inspirational for his tenacity and flexibility within his industry. If you are looking at a possible pivot, Larry Anderson is an excellent example of staying positive and moving forward.

Today’s guest covers a couple of big risk topics, namely lack of customer diversification and technical expertise. We all get into our businesses to satisfy a need and should never undervalue our expertise in that market, but when it comes to expanding to areas we aren’t familiar with (including selling our business), it’s best to reach out to others who have a greater understanding of these areas. For Larry Armstrong, these two factors caused him to become an entrepreneur in the first place and have led to the reason why he is on the show today.

When it comes to customers, there is safety in numbers. Larry, however, had a business where one client made up 99% of their revenue. While that wasn’t a concern for him at first because that client was so reliable and they had such great communication, it eventually became a bit of an issue. As much as you want to trust the people you work with on a daily basis, the bottom line is that each one of us has to look out for what’s in our best interests. When Larry’s client eventually came to the conclusion that different services would better suit their needs, Larry was left holding the bag and putting money into a company that wasn’t putting out returns.

Eventually the client let Larry know that his services weren’t required anymore, but Larry had already been hanging on for two years and not turning a profit. While there are some businesses that do only have one or two major clients, it’s important to get as much information from them as possible about their future plans so you’re not left in the lurch—or, better yet, go out and actively seek new clients so your portfolio is more diverse.

Another way to decrease risk for your business, without necessarily expanding your clientele. Go for long-term contracts and renewable contracts. The more locked-in a client is, the more likely they are to stay. Clients stay where they’re comfortable and well taken care of, so as long as you are fulfilling your contractual obligations with this client, you should have no issue getting a long-term contract from them. This gives you an idea of the stability of your future earnings by those who agree to stay for the