In this episode, Chuck Templeton is joined by fellow Chicago entrepreneurs and old friends Chris Gladwin and Mike Evans for a captivating conversation about scaling their respective companies for exit.  Chris founded and sold CleverSafe and is currently the Founder and CEO of Ocient, a data analytics platform for the world's biggest data sets. Mike is the Founder of Grubhub and now the Founder of Fixer, a home maintenance membership company. Chris and Mike compare their customer acquisition experiences, discuss their hiring approaches, consider their mutual passion for endurance sports, and dig into their core business philosophies. It’s a conversation any entrepreneur will take valuable insights from.

Key Takeaways:

1. Customer acquisition for enterprise companies and small businesses: Mike shares how he thought about building a brand and providing customers with value early on. Chris speaks to the importance of understanding the buyer’s motivations.
2. Their “just start” and “stay in business” mentalities: According to Mike, the only way to know if customers will buy your product is to start selling it. According to Chris, the number one reason businesses fail is because they don’t last long enough. 
3. What endurance sports can offer entrepreneurs: Read: a learning mindset and a lot of pain.
4. Hiring for scale: Chris and Mike both share how they approached hiring and maintaining talent through different stages of growth.
5. Building companies for exit: Chris and Mike discuss their philosophies on designing a company for exit, from creating a growth template to maximizing the probability of an exit. 

Ocient Socials: 

• LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter) 

Ocient Resources

• Dun & Bradstreet Customer Case Study
• Beachfront Customer Case Study

Mike Evans Socials: 

• LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter)

Mike Evans Resources

• Hangry: A Startup Journey

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