Lessons Learned From 400+ Post-Exit Entrepreneurs: John Warrillow, Host of Built to Sell Radio

Jul 22, 2023

John Warrillow, host of Built to Sell Radio, shares lessons from 400+ post-exit entrepreneurs. Topics include navigating forecasts and due diligence, struggles faced by post-exit entrepreneurs, and challenges of employee communication during a business exit.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Introduction to John Warrillow and the Value Builder System

02:50 • 9min

Navigating Forecasts and Due Diligence

12:08 • 13min

Sponsor segment: Symphony - Software Design and Product Development Firm

25:23 • 2min

Entrepreneurs Reflect on Post-Exit Struggles

27:05 • 7min

Employee Communication during Business Exit

33:57 • 20min

This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the leading insurance brokerage and insurance diligence provider for the search fund community. The company is led by ⁠August Felker⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (himself a 2-time successful searcher), and has been trusted by search investors, lenders, searchers and CEOs for over a decade now. Their due diligence offering (which is 100% free of charge) will assess the pros and cons of your target company’s insurance program, including any potential coverage gaps, the pro-forma insurance pricing, and the program structure changes needed for closing. At or shortly after closing, they then execute on all of those findings on your behalf. Oberle has serviced over 900 customers across a decade of operation, including countless searchers and CEOs within the ETA community. * This episode is brought to you by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Symphony⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Symphony not only performs technical due diligence engagements for search funds, Private Equity firms, and strategic acquirers, but they also partner with those buyers on an ongoing basis on all things product (outsourced development, team augmentation, new product prototyping, UI refreshes, QA professionalization, and so on). Symphony is offering a full 15% off of any of their services for listeners of In the Trenches. Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact form on their website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and tell them that you’re a listener of the podcast to receive this discount! * My guest today is John Warrillow, author of the bestselling book Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You, and Founder & CEO of The Value Builder System, a sales and marketing software tool for business advisors to find, win and keep their best clients. Built to Sell was recognized by both Fortune and Inc magazines as one of the best business books of 2011, and has been translated into 12 languages since its initial publication. John is also the author of The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry and The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top. John is also the host of Built to Sell Radio, a hugely popular podcast where he has interviewed over 400 SMB founders about their exits. Forbes ranked Built to Sell Radio as one of the ten best podcasts for business owners. Before founding The Value Builder System, John started and successfully exited four companies.