Ep 461 Aaron Levenstadt on Narrowing Your Focus to Broaden Your Appeal, Building an Advisory Board, and the Rule of 20 for a Successful Exit

Aaron Levenstadt built Pedestal Search into a business worth selling by mastering one thing: SEO. While clients tempted him to offer other services, Aaron knew the real value lay in doing one thing better than anyone else. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Aaron shares how focusing on one service helped him stand out in a crowded market and achieve a successful exit.

Jessica DeLuca co-founded Cult Beauty in 2008, creating one of the UK’s leading online beauty retailers. In this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Jessica reveals the path that led her to selling the business for £275 million to The Hut Group (THG).  DeLuca’s background in tech shaped the business, with her love for data and precision leading to a meticulously curated platform. Frustrated by the lack of unbiased information in the beauty industry, she built a database of expert advice, allowing customers to search products tailored to their needs—an approach that set Cult Beauty apart from the competition. 

Alex Bean sold his company, Divvy, for $2.5 billion. But after reaching this monumental milestone, why didn’t the sale bring him the happiness he expected? In this episode, Alex shares his journey and the lessons he learned about life after a business exit. 

On this week’s Built to Sell Radio, John Warrillow talks to Tim Schumacher, co-founder of SaaS Group, about the mindset of an acquirer.  Tim shares Peter Thiel’s “zero to one” versus “one to ten” concept and how knowing which one you are can shape your business. 

n this episode of Built to Sell Radio, Jim Sebenius, the founder of the Negotiation Unit at Harvard Business School, shares his advanced negotiation strategies for selling a privately held business.     Jim's extensive experience includes his time at the Blackstone Group, where he negotiated on behalf of one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers with more than $1 trillion under management. He is also a frequent speaker to YPO and a consultant for privately held companies, helping them navigate complex negotiations.    Jim's insights are backed by his in-depth research, including first-hand interviews with former U.S. Secretaries of State such as Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton, and Rex Tillerson. These interviews have provided him with unique perspectives on negotiation from some of the world’s most experienced dealmakers, making his advice invaluable for anyone looking to sell their company for maximum value. 

Matt Matros built Protein Bar from a single smoothie shop into a fast-growing chain. In 2012, private equity firm L Catterton came knocking with a deal valuing his company at $44 million. Matt decided to roll 40% of his equity, expecting it to grow even more.

This week on Built to Sell Radio, William Brown shares his remarkable journey from selling a $50 Word document offering trading advice to building a multi-million dollar online education business that attracted serious interest from acquirers. Based in Dubai, William's story is a testament to how a simple, bootstrapped start can evolve into a highly valuable and sellable business. 

Corporate buyers are notoriously secretive and rarely reveal their inner workings. This is why our latest episode of Built to Sell Radio is so valuable: It provides a rare look into the secretive world of corporate M&A.    Our guest is Christopher Vollmond-Carstens, Chief M&A Officer at Ntiva, where they help businesses keep their technology running smoothly, from managing their computer systems to protecting them from cyber threats. Christopher has bought fifteen companies in the last few years, and this week we take a walk inside his mind to understand how he thinks about buying companies.    This episode, part of our Inside the Mind of an Acquirer series, offers unique insights into the corporate development division of a big company.

Most people hear about spectacular acquisitions made by strategic acquirers or giant private equity groups. But the reality is, you’re likely to sell your company to a small business in your sector that nobody outside your industry has ever heard of.  In our latest episode of Built to Sell Radio, part of our Inside the Mind of an Acquirer series, we get inside the head of Kristi Herold. Kristi is the founder of Jam, a company based in Toronto that connects people through adult recreational sports leagues and corporate team-building events.  Kristi has successfully completed 11 acquisitions, making her a prime example of how small businesses buy other small companies.  

Jeff Archibald founded Paper Leaf, a company specializing in developing websites, mobile apps and custom software. By offering a narrow scope of services to a variety of verticals, Paper Leaf built a reputation for handling challenging projects that generalist agencies couldn't. Jeff's commitment to simplicity and effective forecasting played a significant role in Paper Leaf's success. He used fixed payment contracts to ensure steady cash flow and offered a limited number of technologies, allowing his team to become experts. These practices stabilized the business and made it attractive for acquisition.