The Surprising Truth About a 9 Figure Exit
“Zain Jaffer co-founded the mobile game company Vungle and sold to Blackstone for $780M in an all cash offer,” shares Sam Thompson, a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “Zain talks about the post exit trap, protecting relationships after a windfall and generational wealth.”
If you’ve ever noticed those ads inside a mobile game, you have Zain Jaffer to thank. He co-founded Vungle and helped popularize rewarded video ads—the ones that revive your character or hand you in-app currency after you watch.
In this Built to Sell Radio episode, Zain explains how he rode the smartphone wave to a $780M all-cash exit to Blackstone—and why he personally took home more than $100M. Then he gets candid about what came next.
You discover how to:
- Decode funding jargon that actually matters: convertible notes vs. SAFEs vs. venture debt warrants (and who benefits).
- Avoid the post-exit trap: the $13M real-estate partner scam and the $10M short he wishes he’d never placed.
- Protect relationships after a windfall: boundaries, not bravado—why flaunting wealth invites problems.
- Rethink “generational wealth”: why he’s steering most of his net worth to a foundation and leaving kids enough to do anything—not enough to do nothing.