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 [...]
John MacInnes ran Print Audit, a printer and photocopier management software, for 20 years. In 2012, the company suffered a rude awakening when its biggest client – who made up more than two thirds of their revenue – dropped their monthly spend by 90%. MacInnes had to pivot… quickly. He evolved Print Audit to a subscription-based [...]
If you own a small business and want to expand, or if you are an individual who wants to own a small business, you may be tempted to create one organically. You might think that long term, an organic start-up will save you money; however, this is the furthest from the truth. Statistics show that only [...]
From a standing start, Dinesh Dhamija grew European online travel agency eBookers to more than one billion in sales in just five years. After two successful financing rounds, Dhamija still owned 40% of eBookers stock which represented virtually his entire net worth. Dhamija decided it was time to sell. He quickly got six acquirers interested, and [...]
Matt Slaine is an investor who grew up on Wall Street. In pursuit of his next move (and an intent to own), he decided to purchase a company, instead of starting one. What followed was a journey of identifying his perfect candidate (Progressive Business Media, a B2B media and communications company in the home furnishings and [...]
