The Built to Exit Podcast with Jason Sisneros

Building a business nobody wants to buy is a trap most owners walk into without realizing it. The real problem is not revenue or marketing. It is founder dependency, missing systems, and never asking who you are building this for.

If you are grinding inside your company, overwhelmed by AI hype, unsure what to automate first, or quietly wondering whether your business could survive without you, this one cuts deep.

In this episode of Built to Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Nathan Byrd, founder of Acquicon (Acquisition Conference), long-time advisor and investor in the lower middle market, to talk about what separates operators who build transferable value from those whose businesses own them.

Together, we break down:

• Why founder dependency is the silent killer of business value
• How to use AI without drowning in ideas you cannot execute
• Why SOPs come before automation and what happens when you skip them
• The vetting process behind high-integrity business communities
• How vision and reflection drive better decisions than speed ever will
• Why AI-first companies will reshape the future of transactions and exits
• The difference between influence and impact, and which one comes first

This episode is for business owners who want to:

• Build a company that runs without them in the room
• Stop confusing activity with progress
• Know what to automate and what to protect

You did not start this business so it could own you. Nathan and Jason show where operators get stuck and how to build something worth transferring, to a buyer, to your team, or to your family.

Chapters

00:00 - Why the business you built might own you

00:37 - Meet Nathan Byrd and the story behind Acquicon

03:50 - What Acquicon solves for operators and investors

05:22 - From personal training to architecting businesses

10:02 - Why following expert advice actually works

12:22 - What separates action takers from everyone else

16:00 - How to vet people without a ten-question checklist

22:30 - Where AI helps and where it creates overwhelm

28:30 - Why SOPs come before automation

30:30 - AI-first companies and the future of exits

35:00 - How a PE firm used AI and what outperformed it

39:40 - What attendees said after Acquicon

44:55 - The biggest mistake: letting the business own you

🔗 Guest and Event Links

Acquicon (Acquisition Conference), October 19-21, Salt Lake City: acquicon.com

Jason Sisneros: jasonsisneros.com

Built to Exit: builttoexit.biz

#BuiltToExit #BusinessExit #SmallBusinessGrowth

Business owners spending thousands on marketing to chase one client at a time are playing the wrong game. Most never consider that the largest buyer in the country already publishes exactly what they want, how much they'll pay, and where to find the opportunity, every single day.

If you're stuck as the bottleneck in your business, burning cash on client attraction, or sitting on a great company with no idea how to exit it profitably, this conversation will shift how you think about revenue, risk, and what your business is actually worth.

In this episode of Built to Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Kevin Jennings, government contracting expert, serial acquirer, and founder of The Government Cheese, to break down how everyday service businesses can tap into government contracts, why Kevin's first exit was a painful masterclass, and what it actually takes to go from running one company to building a nine-figure roll-up.

Together, we break down:

• Why government contracts eliminate the hardest part of business: finding the customer
• How a five-year street sweeping contract at the Las Vegas airport covers all the bases
• Why 23% of every federal dollar is earmarked for small businesses and most never go after it
• What Kevin got wrong in his first exit and why he calls it a "paid MBA"
• How running eight businesses became easier than running one
• The four startup traits (arrogance, impatience, wrong team) that must flip before you scale
• Why knowing your worth as a person, not just a business, changes every negotiation

This episode is for business owners who want to:

• Add reliable, long-term revenue without spending more on marketing
• Avoid a dictated exit where the buyer controls price, timing, and terms
• Build a business that runs without them so they can be present for what matters

You do not have to figure out government contracts alone, and you do not have to repeat the mistakes Kevin made on his first exit. This episode shows where service-business owners leave money on the table and how to stop.

Chapters

00:00 - Why business owners never consider the government as a client

02:54 - Kevin's journey: football, real estate crash, and the pivot to government contracts

06:09 - What the government actually buys (hint: it's not just guns)

09:30 - The janitor analogy: jobs the government stopped filling and now contracts out

12:22 - How government contracts reduce concentration risk and boost your multiple

13:56 - Five-year deals and guaranteed revenue: why Kevin locks in long-term contracts

17:00 - Zero marketing spend: one website, every federal opportunity, every day

19:30 - Running eight businesses is easier than one, here's why

21:30 - The mindset shift: killing the ego to scale past eight figures

26:30 - Kevin's NICU moment and why he had to change how he ran his business

31:00 - Kevin's first exit: uneducated seller, dictated deal, and the lessons inside the pain

37:30 - Building the seller's code: controlling price, timing, and terms

43:00 - Kevin's one piece of advice: know your worth

🔗 Connect with Kevin Jennings

Find Kevin across all socials: @thegovernmentcheese

Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube: The Government Cheese

🔗 Connect with Built to Exit

Website: builttoexit.biz

Subscribe for weekly conversations on building enterprise value and exiting on your terms.

#GovernmentContracts #BuiltToExit #BusinessExit

Business owners who play it safe are just employees with more stress. Most entrepreneurs stay stuck not because they lack skill, they lack the guts to match the size of the opportunity to the size of the work they're already doing.

If you're grinding every day but the payoff never feels worth it, if you're scared to go bigger, or if you've lost sight of why you even started, this one will hit.

In this episode of Built to Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Kyle Auffray, former NFL player, venture capital operator, and private equity dealmaker, who scaled a company from $600K to $28M in revenue, closed a multi-seven-figure government PPE contract during COVID, and now builds billion-dollar sports development projects. Kyle breaks down exactly how the same skills that got him from undrafted free agent to four NFL teams translate directly into closing deals and building businesses worth owning.

Together, we break down:

-Why the same skillset produces wildly different income depending on what you attach it to

-How Kyle sold himself into the NFL with no agent, no draft pick, and no guarantees

-The COVID deal that paid more in three months than the previous four years combined

-Why business owners take all the risk but refuse to chase the real reward

-How to stop being an employee of your own company

-What Kyle's father taught him about living with urgency and zero regret

-Why The Forge exists and what the male suicide crisis means for entrepreneurs

This episode is for business owners who:

-Know they're capable of more but keep playing small

-Haven't defined their endgame and can't explain why they're still grinding

-Need a reality check on whether the juice is worth the squeeze

You don't have to figure this out alone. You don't have to keep selling used cars when you could be selling Lamborghinis. Kyle and Jason lay out the mindset, the moves, and the community that make the difference.

Chapters

00:00 - Why playing it safe as a business owner is the biggest risk

00:30 - Kyle Auffray's journey: New York kid to NFL to dealmaker

02:00 - The transition most athletes and business owners get wrong

03:00 - Everything is sales, how Kyle sold his way into the NFL

05:00 - Scaling a company from $600K to $28M in four years

05:50 - The COVID PPE deal: multi-seven-figure matchmaking

08:00 - Why the same work earns 10x more with the right product

09:00 - The fearlessness factor: billion-dollar deals and Lake Como meetings

10:00 - Why comfort kills business owners

11:30 - The moment Kyle got the call from the Arizona Cardinals

13:00 - One life, one shot: why your endgame matters more than your hustle

15:00 - Know your endgame or you're just an employee of your own company

17:30 - The Forge: why male suicide and fatherlessness are an entrepreneur crisis

22:30 - Two books you need in your life, the Bible and your passport

25:00 - What three days with B2X actually does to your business and your life

🔗 ConnectThe Forge → betheforge.com

Dare to Exit Event (Nov 5-6, Atlanta) → daretoexit.com

Built to Exit → builtexit.biz

#BuiltToExit #BusinessExit #EntrepreneurMindset

Business owners in the trades are drowning in six platforms just to run one company. Most AI advice makes it worse because it skips the foundation, your SOPs, your workflows, your people, and jumps straight to the shiny tool. That is how you burn money and lose trust.

If you are running an HVAC company, a roofing crew, electrical, plumbing, or any trade-based business and you feel stuck between ignoring AI and going all-in without a plan, this conversation will ground you.

In this episode of Built to Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Joe Garner, tech entrepreneur, former Department of Defense cryptologist, and founder of a consulting-marketing-software firm with nine platforms in its portfolio. They unpack what AI adoption actually looks like when you do it right, what it costs when you do it wrong, and why the trades have a built-in moat that most industries do not.

Together, we break down:

• Why SOPs are the only thing that will keep your business alive in the age of AI
• How to tell the difference between a real AI use case and a shiny object
• What "people, processes, and platforms" actually means when you audit your operations
• Why AI agents in dispatch, accounting, and HR are here now, not five years away
• How one platform (Evolve ERP) replaced six tools for a multi-trade company
• The three AI risks most business owners have not thought about: security, unknown cost, and hallucinations
• Why the trades are one of the few industries with a real moat against AI displacement

This episode is for business owners who want to:

• Stop paying for six platforms that do not talk to each other
• Use AI to multiply their team instead of replacing them
• Build enterprise value that commands top dollar when they exit

You do not have to guess at this. You do not have to throw AI at everything and hope it sticks. Jason and Joe lay out what works, what does not, and where to start, with your operations documented first and the tech layered on second.

Chapters

00:00 - Why ignoring AI will leave your business behind

00:37 - Welcome to Built to Exit with Jason Sisneros

01:00 - The due diligence mistake most business owners make with partners

02:47 - Joe Garner's journey: DoD cryptology to tech entrepreneur

05:05 - The rare combination: architecture mind meets marketing mind

06:31 - How to pivot when the next wave hits your industry

08:08 - Why SOPs are the only thing keeping you alive in the AI era

10:10 - AI is turning business owners into zombies

13:00 - Joe's true north: faith, family, and doing business with integrity

14:50 - Trust in the age of AI deepfakes and generated personas

17:50 - Evolve ERP: one platform replacing six for trades businesses

22:50 - Why the trades have a moat against AI disruption

24:50 - Price, timing, and terms: who really controls your exit

28:15 - AI agents in the trades: the dispatch example that changes everything

30:50 - Three AI risks no one talks about: security, cost, and hallucinations

35:00 - The "super suit" philosophy: AI as leverage, not replacement

39:30 - Dying breath: what to tell your kids about business

41:00 - Where to find Joe Garner and Evolve ERP

🔗 Connect with Joe Garner

Website: https://garner.agency/

🔗 Built to Exit

Website: builttoexit.biz

Dare To Exit live event: daretoexit.com

#BuiltToExit #AIForBusiness #TradesBusiness

Most business owners have no idea what their company is actually worth, and neither does anyone else. Private companies don't trade on a market. There's no ticker, no graph, no daily price. So when it's time to raise capital, reward early employees, or sell, you're guessing. That guessing costs you real money.

If you've been grinding for years, building something real, and you still can't answer "what's my company worth today?" this one is for you.

In this episode of Built To Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Tomas Milar, founder of Eqvista, a company that issues stocks and provides equity valuations for private companies. Tomas has worked with over 20,000 clients and nearly half a billion dollars in client assets, all bootstrapped, no VC money.

Together, we break down:

• How to price a private company when there's no public market to reference
• Why rewarding early employees with equity is a competitive weapon, not just a nice gesture
• How a logistics company cut from 170 employees to 24 and went from $28M to $12M in revenue with better margins
• Why raising $35M on $5M in revenue can leave a founder with $8-10M after a $100M exit
• How AI should be used to make your business efficient without replacing the human judgment that keeps clients safe
• Why revenue before fundraising is the discipline that separates builders from burn-rate companies
• What "cap table hygiene" means and why ignoring it kills your exit

This episode is for business owners who want to:

• Understand what their company is actually worth right now
• Stop diluting themselves into a corner with bad fundraising math
• Use AI and lean operations to increase enterprise value before they sell

You don't have to figure out valuation, equity, and exit math alone. Tomas and Jason lay out where business owners go wrong and what the smartest operators are doing differently.

Chapters

00:00 - Why most business owners can't answer "what's my company worth?"

00:27 - Welcome to Built To Exit

01:07 - Tomas Milar's story: from Hong Kong incorporations to private-company valuations

04:22 - The core question: how do you price something that doesn't trade?

07:43 - What "always ready to sell" actually means

11:01 - Operator vs. executor: the shift that makes a business transferable

11:39 - Rewarding the believers: stock liquidity for early employees and investors

15:11 - WIIFM: how gamifying your business changes everything

19:29 - AI in business: why "automate but human-deliver" works

22:26 - The real cost of replacing your analyst with AI

25:51 - Two identical businesses, one with AI: what happens to valuation

30:02 - Future revenue multiples and the three things owners can do today

34:16 - The $35M raise on $5M revenue: a cautionary tale in dilution math

🔗 Connect with Tomas Milar & Eqvista

Website: eqvista.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tomasmilar/

🔗 Built To Exit

Website: builttoexit.biz

Dare To Exit live event: daretoexit.com

#BuiltToExit #BusinessValuation #ExitStrategy

Selling your business should not destroy your family or your finances. Most owners get the company ready to sell but never get themselves ready, and that gap costs them their identity, their family, and sometimes the deal itself.

If you are a business owner staring down an exit and wondering who you will be on the other side of it, or if you have never once talked to your family about what happens when the business is gone, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of Built to Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Jeffrey Condren. Jeffrey is a wealth advisor who has spent over a decade helping business owners handle the money and the mindset that come with selling. Part advisor, part therapist; he breaks down the risks that nobody warns you about until it is too late.

Together, we break down:

-Why owner risk, client risk, and people risk determine what a buyer will actually pay

-How losing your identity during a sale can blow the deal before it closes

-What happens when a business owner who has never had that much cash suddenly sees it in a checking account

-Why the first 30 to 90 days after the wire hits are when most owners blow through their money

-How families fight over the money when the business owner never told them why it was split that way

-Why one owner's $20 million exit turned into $1 million in less than two years

-What a family office that has lasted nine generations can teach you about raising kids around money

This episode is for business owners who want to:

-Exit without losing themselves in the process

-Protect the wealth they spent decades building

-Stop avoiding the family conversation that gets harder the longer they wait

You do not have to figure this out alone. Jeffrey and Jason show where owners go wrong, and what it looks like when someone does it right.

Chapters:

00:00 - Why most business owners are not ready for what happens after the sale

00:30 - Welcome to Built to Exit

02:01 - Jeffrey Condren: wealth advisor, sometimes therapist, and the person you need on your team

02:54 - Jeffrey's background and why he focuses on owners who are selling

04:03 - The four traits that built your business and now hold you back

06:01 - Three critical risks every buyer evaluates before writing a check

09:00 - What buyers are really looking for: certainty across four quadrants

10:04 - Involuntary, dictated, or custom-tailored: which exit are you headed toward

11:45 - The horizon: the psychological danger zone between decision and closing

12:55 - Why owners lose their identity mid-deal and how to reframe the next chapter

15:17 - Sudden liquidity: why the first purchase after the wire is almost always a mistake

17:00 - The 30-60-90 day rule: no major decisions after the sale

20:00- From $20 million to $1 million: what happens when nobody manages the money

22:00 - Why avoiding the family conversation creates more conflict than having it

24:00 - Start with the why before the what: dividing assets among your children

26:00 - Disaster story: the owner who died before signing the documents

27:30 - Teaching kids about money at every age without handing them entitlement

30:00 Shirt to shirt: why generational wealth disappears by the third generation

31:00 - Nine generations deep: what one family office got right starting at age six

34:00 - Jason's own kids and what it means to be the first-generation way maker

35:30 - When to bring in a mediator, estate planner, or specialist

37:30 - How to reach Jeffrey Condren and the Built to Exit team

Connect with Jeffrey Condren Website: mesirow.com/wealth-management

Built To Exit Website: builttoexit.biz Dare To Exit live event: daretoexit.com

#BuiltToExit #ExitPlanning #WealthAfterSale

Selling your business alone is the most expensive decision you will never see on the invoice. Most exits do not fail because the business was broken. They fail because the owner refused to get the right people around them before the deal started.

If you have been telling yourself "I'll figure it out," grinding through every problem solo, and treating expert help like an expense instead of an investment, this conversation is going to cost you nothing and save you everything.

In this episode of Built To Exit, Jason Sisneros sits down with Kevin Marron, serial entrepreneur, strategic investor, and founder of the 335,000-member Blue Collar Millionaires community. Kevin built and exited Gutter King across 29 states, planned that exit five years in advance, and now operates and invests in multiple businesses using the exact playbook he wishes someone had handed him at 23.

Together, we break down:

• Why "I'll figure it out" is the four-word sentence that shrinks your exit and steals your time
• How Kevin left $100K on the table on his first exit by skipping the lawyer and the accountant
• What borrowed belief actually looks like and why it accelerates you faster than hard work alone
• Why your fractional CFO should show up on day one, not the year you decide to sell
• How to build a network that compounds into real deals instead of stacking business cards
• The difference between an architect and a specialist and why confusing them costs you everything
• Why wearing losses as a badge is overrated when you can learn from someone who already took the hit

This episode is for business owners who want to:

• Exit on their terms with their family, health, and wealth intact
• Stop guessing and start surrounding themselves with people who have already done it
• Build something worth $50 million instead of grinding alone toward $2 million

You do not have to white-knuckle your way through this. Kevin and Jason have both taken the hits and come out the other side. This is what they wish someone had told them 20 years ago.

Chapters

00:00 - The four words that will shrink your exit

00:37 - Who is Kevin Marron and why Jason showed up to his stage for free

02:37 - How Blue Collar Millionaires grew to 335,000 members

09:49 - Why work-life balance is a lie entrepreneurs need to stop repeating

12:26 - How Kevin built a tribe from zero connections in Atlanta

20:46 - Your mask meets my mask: why fake networking kills deals

24:04 - What Kevin would tell his younger self before his first exit

27:09 - Why Kevin started planning his Gutter King exit five years early

32:50 - "I'll figure it out": four words that cost you everything

34:13 - Architects vs. specialists: the mistake that looks like good advice

39:53 - Borrowed belief: how two SCORE mentors changed Kevin's whole trajectory

51:03 - Kevin's last piece of advice to any business owner watching

🔗 Kevin Marron / Blue Collar Millionaires Website: bluecollarmillionaire.net Blue Collar Millionaire on Facebook (335,000+ members) Boardroom Elite Atlanta — October 23-24

🔗 Built To Exit Website: builttoexit.biz Dare To Exit live event: daretoexit.com

#bluecollarmillionaire #builttoexit #businessexit