The 50/50 Exit: One Partner Built It, the Other Bankrolled It
“Ryan Atkinson co-founded CORE Resources in 2017. Ryan injected over $2 million of his own capital and his partner ran the business day-to-day. They were 50/50 partners,” shares Sam Thompson, a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “In this episode Ryan talks about how he kept a strong ownership position without working in the business. He also discusses working capital, leveraging LOI’s and walking away without resentment.”
When Ryan Atkinson sold CORE Resources to 24 Seven, it wasn’t his first exit. After selling Redwood Global in 2014, Ryan played a different role in his next venture—injecting $2 million of his own capital while his partner ran the business day-to-day.
The model worked. They grew CORE Resources into a go-to firm for specialized technology talent solutions and ultimately sold the company to 24 Seven—one of the largest privately held marketing, creative, and digital talent firms in North America—in an eight-figure exit.
In this week’s episode of Built to Sell Radio, Ryan shares how they structured the deal, avoided resentment, and nearly lost the sale in the final hours.
You discover how to:
- Structure a 50/50 partnership when only one partner runs the business
- Compensate a manager with equity and profit-sharing
- Avoid the trap of ambiguous working capital estimates
- Build clean books that attract inbound offers
- Use competing LOIs to negotiate a stronger deal
- Spot the second most important number on a term sheet
- Walk away without resentment—and with a meaningful exit