Users vs. Customers
“Spencer Thompson founded a career assessment company named Sokanu in 2012. Job seekers loved using his assessment yet Thompson was not able to create a revenue model that provided company value. He eventually sold his company to Penn Foster, a buyer that saw value in his users,” shares Sam Thompson a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “In this episode you’ll learn how to use business historical data to capitalize on when selling your company.”
In 2012, Spencer Thompson founded Sokanu, a career assessment platform aimed at replacing the outdated assessments that existed at the time. Sokanu’s “Career Explorer” quickly became one of North America’s most prominent assessment tools and was adopted by the U.S. government and top colleges around the world.
The assessments were a huge hit with job seekers, yet Thompson struggled to generate sales. Rather than fix his revenue model, Thompson looked for an acquirer that would value his enormous user base. Soon after, Sokanu received a lucrative acquisition offer from Penn Foster, an online educational institute. In this episode, you’ll learn how to:
- Utilize “dominance theory” to prop up the value of your company.
- See patterns in historical data you can capitalize on.
- Discover the hidden value inside your business.
- Determine what terms are negotiable when selling your business.
- Define why your company exists.
- Find an ideal buyer for your business.