Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth?

With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business.

You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit

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This week on The Exit: Steve Weiss, founder of MuteSix, a creative digital marketing agency he sold to Dentsu, shares his tumultuous journey from troubled youth to successful entrepreneur.

After being robbed at gunpoint, Steve decided to make a major pivot in his life and dedicated himself to business, programming, and digital marketing.

MuteSix began when Steve, pursuing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, started running Facebook ads to promote comedy shows.

This turned into a full-fledged agency, growing from 20 to over 500 employees in just four years. The company's success stemmed from integrating creative and paid media services, a novel approach at the time.

In 2019, Dentsu reached out via LinkedIn, leading to MuteSix's acquisition after an 8-9 month process.

Steve discusses the challenges of maintaining business growth during due diligence and emphasizes the importance of proper accounting, HR practices, and legal counsel in preparing for an exit.

Steve advises entrepreneurs to plan for life after selling their business. Money doesn’t provide purpose, so it’s important to find the thing that does.

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Steve Weiss started MuteSix in 2013, where he saw that the structure of building integrated media teams was broken and needed to evolve rapidly. MuteSix sat at the intersection of creative, media buying, and data with a goal of disrupting the status quo and being an all inclusive growth solution. Their goal was to give leading native “Direct to Consumer” eCommerce brands the unfair advantage in quickly taking market share from leading enterprise competitors. As CEO along with his incredible team of 450+ MuteSix’ers, they were able to grow the company 25%+ every single year. This led to an acquisition by iProspect in 2019.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevejweiss/

Check Out Flippa’s Data Insights Tool: https://flippa.com/data-insights

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth?

With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business.

You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit

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This week on The Exit: Peter Corbett, previous founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs, a digital agency he bootstrapped and sold to WPP, shares his journey from being laid off at 27 to building a 100-employee agency with tens of millions in revenue over nine years.

Peter discusses key aspects of his entrepreneurial journey, including early hires, KPIs tracked, and the exit process.

He focused on top-line growth, client exposure metrics, and internal leadership evaluations. The exit process began with informal conversations with potential buyers, eventually leading to a formal process involving 65 potential buyers and narrowing down to WPP, and closing the deal five days before his wedding.

Peter provides insights on deal structure, including earn-out arrangements and his decision to leave after 18 months. He explains the timing of the exit, citing both business conditions and personal reasons.

Post-exit, Peter has transitioned to executive coaching and is launching a micro-membership program in New York City focused on the mental health and well-being of leaders and entrepreneurs.

For more details and insights from his entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

Peter Corbett is the retired/exited founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs, a digital agency that develops solutions to clients’ challenges and brings them to life in the online and offline world. He’s currently an executive coach, and Venture Partner at Up.Partners, as well as the CEO and Founder of Still Rush.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corbett3000/

Website: https://www.stillrush.co/

Check Out Flippa’s Data Insights Tool: https://flippa.com/data-insights

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth?

With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business.

You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit

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This week on The Exit: Mark McClain, CEO and founder of SailPoint Technologies, shares his journey from corporate roles at IBM and HP to becoming an "accidental entrepreneur" with his first startup, Waveset.

After a successful exit selling Waveset to Sun Microsystems for $150 million, Mark co-founded SailPoint, which has since become a thriving company with thousands of employees.

SailPoint's story includes multiple exits: a sale to private equity firm Thoma Bravo, going public in an IPO, and then being taken private again.

Mark discusses the challenges and lessons learned through these transitions, including the importance of building relationships with potential acquirers and being prepared for unexpected opportunities.

For more details and insights from his entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

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Mark has been an entrepreneur in the identity management market for more than 20 years, co-founding two companies that have driven innovation in the market. SailPoint (formerly NYSE:SAIL), has built its business on the foundational principle that identity is power. They have been in business for more than 15 years, and the company continues to grow with profitability. Their commitment to innovation and consistently high customer satisfaction are among the reasons the biggest, most complex organizations in the world rely on SailPoint to help them improve security while staying agile.

Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmcclainceo/

SailPoint: https://www.sailpoint.com/

Check Out Flippa’s Data Insights Tool: https://flippa.com/data-insights

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

What are the latest online business trends?

Where are buyers and investors based?

What profit multiples are App, Content, SaaS, and Ecom businesses selling at?

Flippa’s Data Insights can answer all these questions and more. It is the most comprehensive and freely available dataset for online business transactions and buyer intent.

Explore the tool today at: https://flippa.com/data-insights

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This week on The Exit: Blake Hutchison, CEO of Flippa, discusses Flippa’s new Data Insights feature.

The company has developed this tool to provide transparency and valuable market information for online business buyers and sellers.

The Data Insights feature offers real-time data on search intent, buyer liquidity, trading multiples, and time-to-sell across various business categories and price points.

Blake highlights how this tool benefits both buyers and sellers by providing accurate market trends, realistic expectations for selling cycles, and insights into global buyer demographics.

The feature includes interactive elements like a global map showing buyer distribution and liquidity across different countries.

Flippa's Data Insights aims to empower business owners and investors in transactions and educate users about the realities of the digital business marketplace, particularly for businesses valued under $10 million.

Blake also previews other Flippa tools like the Buyer Directory, which helps connect business owners with buyers who are actively searching for businesses.

For more details and insights, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

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Blake Hutchison, (CEO of Flippa), has been leading the business for nearly 6-years while building their platform and expanding the business globally to help over 12,000 business owners sell annually. Flippa is building the investment bank for the 99%. With industry-leading technology and a worldwide network of brokers, Flippa provides intelligent valuations, AI-driven buyer matching, and integrated legal, DD, and payment services for end-to-end transactions. Flippa is the investment bank for the 99%, serving over 2 million users and facilitating nearly a billion in sales.

Blake on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/blakehutchison

Flippa: https://flippa.com/

Check Out Flippa’s Data Insights Tool: https://flippa.com/data-insights

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit

This week on The Exit: In this episode of The Exit, MelRose Wild, CEO of Permaculture Capital and Decision Society, discusses the importance of inclusion in the C-suite, particularly for women, and highlights data showing that gender-diverse executive teams and boards outperform their less diverse counterparts across multiple financial metrics.

She also explains the challenges women face in raising capital with the traditional VC model.

It is because of these very challenges that she created Decision Society, a platform that connects female founders with experienced operators to develop their startups in exchange for equity, thereby providing an alternative method to building businesses that do not rely entirely on VC funding.

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

MelRose Wild is a former fashion designer for her own collection Paradisiac, former globally recognized fashion model, and currently a registered representative of Umergence Broker Dealer, CEO of Permaculture Capital. She is the founder of Decision Society. Decision Society is a one-stop-success-shop for women to form ideation of companies all the way through exits with operational and financial guidance and services. Her firm also offers Sustainability Planning which starts with SDG reports, problem solving per SDG, and provides marketing materials for consumer and investor facing content. Her firm offers permaculture oriented solutions for long lasting business, conscious and responsible investing and operational opportunities as well as a safe place for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ++ to grow their businesses and connect. With a financial services background that includes Single Family Office, Institution, Private Equity, and 3 time entrepreneur, she brings 20 years of female business and empowerment to the table.

Learn More: https://www.permaculture.capital/

Link for Decision Society: https://www.linkedin.com/company/decisionsociety/

The study by Catalyst that was mentioned in the episode:

https://www.catalyst.org/research/why-diversity-and-inclusion-matter/

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Nancy Solomon, founder & CEO of WomenThink Global, shares insights from her extensive coaching career spanning over 30 years.

She discusses her journey from sales to psychology, ultimately finding her calling in coaching women in male-dominated fields, particularly technology.

While she offers several gems of business and life wisdom, her most emphasized takeaway is to trust one’s intuition.

On the business side, Nancy provides valuable advice on scaling businesses, retaining top talent, and preparing for exits.

To accomplish the above, she says business owners must listen to employees, create a meaningful work environment, and recognize when it's time to exit a business.

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

Nancy D. Solomon, Founder & CEO of WomenThink Global and The Leadership Incubator, is on a mission to create Equitable Empowerment in the workplace. She has designed and delivered over 630 classes, programs, and workshops, has coached about 15,300 hours, and delivered about 113 keynotes. Nancy has worked with 203 client companies, delivered 29 multi-day retreats and published about 232 articles. Nancy has also created more than 372 Solomonisms) – unique quotes that inspire courage, resilience, leadership and accountability. “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for” was named one of the “100 Best Motivational Quotes to Inspire Anyone” by Inc. Magazine.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancydsolomon/

Websites - https://www.womenthink.com/

For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Luke Cooper, General Partner at Latimer Ventures, discusses his journey from poverty to law school and eventually becoming a successful entrepreneur and investor.

Luke recounts his first major exit with a defense contractor, followed by a challenging acquisition of an ice cream company during the 2008 financial crisis. His biggest success came with Fixt, a mobile device repair startup he founded and sold to Assurant in 2020.

Luke emphasizes the importance of building relationships with potential acquirers early, understanding company culture in M&A deals, and navigating the complexities of the acquisition process.

Luke Cooper is currently the Founding Managing Partner of Latimer Ventures, and was the original founder and CEO of Fixt, which he exited in 2020. Before moving into entrepreneurship, Mr. Cooper started his career as an attorney at DLA Piper and then at State Farm. Luke’s first entrepreneurial experience was joining Caldwell Technology Solutions, and guided them to a $60 million exit. His second entrepreneurship experience was with Brigham's Ice Cream, a 100-year-old ice cream manufacturer and restaurant chain, which eventually was sold to HP Hood, a food and dairy giant.

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/lukecooperbaltimore

Websites - https://www.fixt.co/

- https://www.latimer.vc/

For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Jordan Dargue, investor and co-founder of Lifted Ventures, began her career in the construction industry before making her way to tech software. Throughout her experiences in various industries, a common theme she noticed was a disproportionately low number of female founders, particularly in venture-backed endeavors.

With her company’s angel network and VC education, her mission has become to even the playing field by helping female founders raise the capital needed to scale early-stage startups.

When deciding whether to fund businesses, she pays particular attention to the founder’s background and story, the team, the problem they are solving, and their understanding of the market.

For female founders looking for investors, she recommends frequently attending events and speaking with investors early.

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.

Jordan Dargue, is a founder, senior executive, investor, NED and seasoned investment expert. Her boundless passion for innovation, coupled with a remarkable track record of achievements, positions her within the realms of growth and investment. Jordan is Co Founder of Lifted Ventures. Lifted exists to increase the flow of early stage capital to female founders and promote the significant business benefits of backing women. The Lifted Ventures flywheel has an angel network at its core, alongside education, community and consultancy.

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/jordan-dargue-59438433

Lifted Ventures Website - https://liftedventures.co.uk/

For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Donald Thompson, founder and CEO of The Diversity Movement, shares insights from his numerous successful business exits, starting from his role in iCubed, which was acquired by Adobe, to leading multiple spin-outs and acquisitions.

Donald recounts how his team at iCubed, post-acquisition, bought back the company, grew it, and later sold it again. This became a foundational strategy over his career and led to multiple large-scale exits.

He attributes his success in these endeavors to cohesive entrepreneurial-minded teams and emphasizes the value of delayed gratification by taking equity over only a salary.

For those looking to exit, while it’s important to be prepared to answer questions about your business for due diligence, deeply understanding the buyer's growth strategy and how your business fits into that can significantly enhance negotiation outcomes.

Donald Thompson has built an extraordinary career spanning diverse industries from tech sales and IT leadership, to digital marketing and pioneering DEI programming while serving on more than a dozen advisory boards. Through unparalleled experience particularly in creating companies, leading startups and growing them to over a $1 million revenue milestone. Donald has positioned himself as a sought-after executive coach and advisor.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldthompsonjr/

The Inclusive Leadership Handbook - https://thediversitymovement.com/product/the-inclusive-leadership-handbook/

For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Anthony Westfall, an expert in business mergers and acquisitions, shares his insights on growth acquisitions and multiple exits. After working at Cisco during the dot-com bubble, Anthony moved to a startup, got laid off, and transitioned to the wine business.

His first solo venture was an online wine startup catering to nonprofits, which didn’t scale due to the nonprofits' business approach. Once again Anthony needed to pivot. He moved to a private sale model for wine during the financial crisis, targeting high-end wine consumers. Despite initial success, Anthony missed out on scaling his venture fast enough and securing significant venture capital, leading to competitors surpassing him.

Anthony eventually grew his company through acquiring distressed assets and focusing on customer acquisition rather than tech or anything else. Anthony also ventured into the cannabis industry, intending to bring out-of-state brands into California. Realizing the industry's high risk and capital intensity, he ultimately sold that business within 14 months.

With multiple exits under his belt now, Anthony now leverages his deep operational experience in brokering business sales to help others exit. He emphasizes the need for growth and understanding the intricacies of scaling ventures.

Anthony Westfall is a seasoned corporate executive and entrepreneur with a truly diverse background across multiple industries. Tony has worked on and led multiple M&A deals throughout his career. As an entrepreneur he has made several successful acquisitions and turned those bolt on acquisitions into substantial exits from multiple companies that he founded. Tony has founded at least a half dozen companies and made several successful exits. Tony has his undergraduate degree in Economics from Michigan State University and his MBA in Finance and Supply Chain Management from the Broad Graduate School of Management.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-westfall-650776/

Exit Strategies Group Website - https://www.exitstrategiesgroup.com/

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/