Back in 1996, Sunny Vanderbeck started Data Return, a business that provided website hosting to big e-commerce companies. They grew 40% every quarter leading to an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 1999 and an eventual market capitalization of $3 billion. Then the internet bubble burst. Customers started failing and Data Return’s growth flat lined. Despite the effect the [...]
Join merger and acquisition expert Sam Thompson as he presents critical factors you need to know prior to buying or selling a business. How to properly evaluate a company you want to purchase How to prepare to sell your company What can you do to pay a reasonable price for another company or get top dollar [...]
Most company founders are good at the first stages of entrepreneurship. But in the phases that follow, they may only be average. Just because you have a knack for starting companies, doesn’t necessarily mean that those skills translate well into growing one. There are celebrated cases of founders who have successfully started and grown a business [...]
Think back to the last time you booked an oversees flight. Chances are, you travelled within one of the big travel alliances: Oneworld, SkyTeam or Star Alliance. Airline partners share a common system which is why your bag shows up in the right place (most of the time) even though you may have taken a set [...]
Used cars from leasing and rental companies were being sold at physical auctions. Kelly realized the wholesale side of selling used cars was ripe for transformation and started OPENLANE, a digital auction for fleet owners to sell their old cars. Kelly raised money from some Silicon Valley venture capitalists and went on to grow the company [...]
Once you’ve decided to sell your business, one of the biggest challenges you will encounter is determining if the potential buyers you interview are serious buyers. 90% of all potential buyers that begin looking to acquire a new business never buy. There are numerous reasons why a potential buyer may not follow through on an acquisition. [...]
Mark Deutschmann started Village Real Estate in 1996 and grew his residential real estate brokerage to 350 agents and $30 million in revenue – then, he heard some disturbing news. One of his agents and five former colleagues had been secretly planning to launch their own agency to compete with Deutschmann. Rather than steeling for a [...]
Glenn Grant started G2 Technology Group which was in the business of helping website developers host their sites with Amazon Web Services (AWS). By 2018, Grant had built his company to 30 employees and was planning to grow further by acquisition. That was around the same time he began fielding calls from Private Equity Groups (PEGs) [...]
It can be tempting to offer shares in your company to finance its growth. These days, there are plenty of investors chasing promising new companies and, in today’s tight labour market, employees are getting more brazen in their demands for equity-based compensation. However, using equity as a form of currency dilutes your position and may not [...]
Tommy Berretz co-founded Texas Aquatic Enterprise (TAE) in 2005 to maintain commercial swimming pools for condominium groups, apartment buildings and schools. The business grew to more than 200 employees on the back of Berretz’s sales skills. That's when he hired an accountant to value TAE. Berretz waited patiently as the accountant ran the numbers but was [...]
