Wisdom.MBA

Andrew Gazdecki is the founder and CEO of MicroAcquire which is billed as the world’s #1 acquisition marketplace for Startups. Andrew is a successful founder with 3 exits to his name.  He has been named an Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, and had the Fastest Growing Company in San Francisco in 2014 according to Inc.Andrew and I talk about his entrepreneurial journey and spend a lot of time discussing what I call “digital ETA.”  Many people are familiar with Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) which traditionally focuses on Entrepreneurs acquiring brick and motor established family businesses. Digital ETA, however, specializes in the acquisition of eCommerce and SaaS businesses which include more digital than physical assets. The time to close can be much faster with such deals, and Andrew has built a platform to help search entrepreneurs get deals done in a more streamlined way.If you are interested in startups, eCommerce or are thinking about acquiring an online business, you will want to tune into this podcast. Andrew is passionate about helping founders and entrepreneurs succeed and has a great deal of wisdom on the topic.Discussion Topics:(1:25) MicroAcquire by-the-numbers. 2.5 years and $1.75 billion.(3:07) The catalyst for launching MicroAcquire.(9:17) Vetting deals to help increase the probability of a sale.(16:09) MicroAcquire’s total $11 million raise.(27:05) The demographics of a typical buyer on MicroAcquire.(30:06) The financing of a typical deal on MicroAcquire.(33:56) Valuation multiples for eCommerce businesses.(41:28) How Amazon brand aggregators are changing the market and valuations.(44:20) Andrew’s keys for success.(48:15) Rapid fire questions.

Nick Gray is a successful entrepreneur, author and talented public speaker who has given a very inspiring TEDx talk on how he built and sold his multimillion-dollar start-up Museum Hack. Nick also runs a popular newsletter for business owners and entrepreneurs with topics such as productivity hacks and how to use virtual assistants. Nick and I talk about our mutual love of tea, his new book, how he helped build his family’s business which ultimately sold to private equity and how his passion project side hustle became one of Inc 5000’s fastest-growing companies, featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and more. Finally, having reimagined how people attend Museums, Nick shares his wisdom on how Universities and business programs can make educational content more engaging.Nick has a BS in Business from Wake Forest University and current resides in Austin, Texas. If you are interested in entrepreneurship, how to throw the ultimate party or building and selling businesses, then you will want to tune in.Discussion Topics:(1:15) Tea and travel.(8:25) Icebreakers & how to throw amazing parties.(17:38) Launching Museum Hack.(27:48) Working in a family business.(32:09) Selling businesses.(38:31) The future of education.(44:16) Rapid fire questions.

Robert Graham, a notable search fund entrepreneur and partner at Search Investment Group, challenges the traditional search fund model and advocates for self-funding as a more effective alternative. He discusses the essential traits of successful searchers, particularly the importance of leadership during uncertain times like COVID. Graham provides invaluable insights on mitigating personal guarantee risks and shares strategies that enhance ownership for entrepreneurs seeking to acquire small businesses. This candid conversation offers a fresh perspective on navigating the evolving landscape of deal-making.

Ishveen Jolly is the CEO + Founder at OpenSponsorship. OpenSponsorship is a marketplace that connects brands to professional and amateur athletes. The platform covers multiple sports in 120 different countries.Ishveen and I talk about how she built her business and the NCAA’s recent policy change that allows current and future athletes to generate revenue from their name, image or likeness. This is a massive change in the US sports marketing industry and a bit of a wild west landgrab as schools, athletic departments and brands look to find new and creative ways to help student athlete generate money. We talk about the opportunities and challenges this rule change offers students and how brands can capitalize on them.Ishveen received a BA and MA from Oxford in Economics and Management. She was recognized as an Inc Top 100 Female Founder and Forbes 30 Under 30. If you love sports or technology or just want to learn more about the future of collegiate sports marketing, then you will want to tune in.Discussion Topics:(1:17) Our favorite celebrity athletes.(2:28) OpenSponsorship elevator pitch & origin story.(11:51) Athletes using social media during the Olympics.(15:26) NCAA NIL (name, image and likeness) policy change.(23:59) Advice for brands looking to partner with student athletes.(39:00) Oxford University Angel Fund and raising capital.(42:50) Advice for how Universities can better prepare students for NIL opportunities.(46:17) Rapid fire questions.

Tommy Sowers is a true renaissance man with an incredible resume. He is an entrepreneur, academic, politician and a decorated Military officer with an 11-year career in the Army, having achieved the rank of Major. He has taught at West Point, the University of Missouri and Duke. He also served as the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.Tommy is currently the President of flyExclusive, which is the fastest growing private jet charter in the United States, located in Kinston, North Carolina. Tommy and I discuss the future of private aviation and how COVID-19 has impacted the demand for private jet ownership. Tommy also talks about cofounding GoldenKey, a venture backed firm which disrupted the buying and selling of homes. The company raised $3.7 million in funding and was sold in 2018.Tommy graduated first in his class at the Special Forces Qualification Course, and we talk about how his military training and time as a Green Beret prepared him for diverse leadership challenges. Tommy completed his undergraduate from Duke University and earned his MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics.This episode has a lot of great insights on leadership, dealing with adversity and adapting to different work environments and situations. Also … if you have dreams and aspirations about flying private or owning a jet, you’ll want to tune in.Discussion Topics:(1:47) Duke basketball & being a seven-foot Army Ranger.(4:45) Private jet travel and sales during the COVID era.(14:14) Investment trends in the private aviation industry.(20:56) Adding innovative technical jobs in North Carolina.(26:15) The economics of jet ownership. Does it make financial sense?(29:00) Becoming an entrepreneur, founding GoldenKey and raising venture capital.(35:54) University education and teaching styles.(41:40) Special Forces mindset to help with career and life transitions.(49:35) Veteran career transition advice.(53:33) Rapid fire questions.

For this podcast, I plan to tell the story of why I got into ultrarunning. I was never a runner, but I decided this year to completely immerse myself in it. This year, I have finished 5 ultras, the last of which was a 100 miler that I podium at, but after finishing the race I suffered kidney failure.  I spend 5 days in the hospital and almost had to be put on dialysis. I basically developed Rhabdomyolysis where the muscle breakdown from running 26 hours straight poisoned my kidneys. I think this story is valuable to the podcast because I have learned a lot throughout the entire process, from setting a stretch goal, to training, to developing a working excel model for my race, to over-coming setback and learning from mistakes.  At the beginning of 2021, I interviewed Dan King, the founder of ReadyTalk who is also the World’s Fittest CEO. That discussion really opened my eyes of how and why physical fitness can make you a better leader and sharpen your resolved to handle stress and challenges.If you are interested in ultrarunning, pushing yourself to physical limits, embracing challenges or just learning a little bit more about what makes me tick, I think you will like this episode. There is definitely some wisdom that you can apply to business and life. It is my most personal yet and I feel it has been helpful to showcase some of my vulnerabilities, which I hope is a leadership quality in and of itself.Discussion Topics:(2:20) Why I decided to get into ultrarunning.(4:20) Motivating factors for running long distances.(10:55) How to train for ultras.(19:24) Overview of the actual 100-mile race.(26:07) Suffering and overcoming post-race acute kidney failure.(28:43) Lessons learned from this entire process.

Chris Bingham is a successful entrepreneur, specializing in eCommerce operations, supply chain and logistics. In Q4 2020, the world experienced Shipageddon where the pandemic significantly increased demand for online goods while straining global supply chains. As we enter Q4 2021, we should expect to experience Shipageddon, the sequel, with even greater challenges, as brands experience inflated ocean freight container costs, container shortages, congestion within ports, lockdowns in factories, temp labor shortages and more.Chris and I talk in-depth about scaling eCommerce operations, surviving the holiday shopping season, growing and selling a business as well as the future of MBA programs. If you work in eCommerce or are thinking about a career in logistics and operations or are just fascinated with global supply chains and how messed-up they are right now, I think you will enjoy this episode.  Chris has an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Campbell University and has been a start-up coach at UNC for over a decade.Discussion Topics:(1:33) Tobacco Road basketball rivalry.(6:00) Founding and ultimately selling Riley Life Logistics.(12:14) Sleeping in your warehouse and scaling a business.(17:41) Scaling a warehouse labor force during Q4.(25:12) The biggest change in eCommerce logistics over the last decade.(28:51) Running two companies at once.(33:12) Dimensional weight calculations and shipping automation.(36:58) How to renegotiate your shipping rates.(44:25) Launching Ship Simply to help eCommerce brands grow.(50:52) Shipageddon and its sequel.(1:01:58) Business school advice.(1:08:33) Rapid fire questions.

Dave Hunt is the inventor, Founder and CEO of Crossrope, weighted jump ropes with a mobile app that lets you work out anywhere. Dave and I talk about bootstrapping his business and recently making Inc. 5,000 fastest growing companies. We also discuss the explosive growth of connected wellness devices and the at-home fitness market and how Crossrope differentiates itself from companies like NordicTrack, FightCamp, Peloton, Tonal, Mirror and Whoop. Dave and I also discuss the benefits of influencer marketing, brand building, customer acquisition strategies, building company culture, recovering from injuries and more. Prior to starting Crossrope, Dave was an Aviator in the Navy for almost a decade. He is a graduate of Babson College’s Entrepreneurship program and is currently completing a Masters program in Entrepreneurial studies at M.I.T. Connected at-home fitness is a high-growth and well-funded market with fierce competition. Dave’s insight and perspective provides valuable wisdom for anyone in the industry or direct to consumer product marketing in general. His story of founding and growing Crossrope is also very inspirational for any startup entrepreneur. Discussion Topics:(1:42) Recovering from serious injuries.(5:01) Physical fitness as a requirement for CEOs and stressful jobs.(10:56) Jump ropes as a highly efficient workout.(13:44) The importance of making workouts fun.(17:15) Business growth during the pandemic.(19:29) Crossrope’s competition and the home fitness landscape.(23:40) Managing logistics issues during explosive growth.(26:34) Building a brand and community engagement.(30:11) Customer acquisition and working with social media influencers.(37:40) Bootstrap or raise money?(45:30) Strategies for competing in the connected fitness device market.(56:43) Education advice for entrepreneurs.(1:00:14) Rapid fire questions.

Mike Lingle is a software developer and entrepreneur who currently mentors founders and has build tools to help build better financial projections for startups. Mike co-founded SlideRocket, which at the time of launch was a revolutionary cloud-based presentation software. SlideRocket was acquired by VMWare within 30 months of the company’s initial VC funding.Mike studied at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson College, where he teaches classes on startup financials. Mike has mentored over 1,000 startup founders and shares his wisdom for increasing a founder’s chances of success. We discuss SlideRocket’s launch and eventual exit, how engineers can become successful entrepreneurs, how to build and create better financial models and the future of business education.  Discussion Topics:(2:00) Pausing to pursue a dream passion project post-exit.(6:30) Start-up to exit with SlideRocket.(24:12) Advice for engineer entrepreneurs.(27:40) Recruiting technical founders.(29:56) Guidance for building better financial models.(45:08) The future of business school education.(50:50) Common mistakes made by young founders.(53:21) Rapid fire questions.

Trevor Ewen is the Chief Executive Officer at Southport Ventures, an acquisition fund which focuses on buying profitable mission critical, B2B SaaS businesses. In addition, Trevor runs Southport Technology Group which builds custom product & software tailored to the needs of small to medium enterprises. As an experienced software engineer, Trevor has overseen full-stack teams in clean energy, insurance, finance, and media. Trevor has implemented a unique hybrid model for his search fund which has allowed him generate revenue to subsidize his search and help generate deal flow.  We talk about the pros and cons of running a self-funded search, launching a search fund with a partner, developing proprietary deal flow technology, and more.  If you are interested in entrepreneurship through acquisition and buying a business, you will want to tune into this episode.Trevor has a BS from Northwestern and an MBA from London Business School and Columbia Business School via the joint, global program.Discussion Topics:(1:45) What is a search fund and what skills do you need to be successful?(7:10) Columbia Business School experience for searchers.(9:28) Advantages of international search funds.(12:56) Pros and cons of a focused investment thesis.(19:42) Acquiring B2B SaaS businesses.(27:03) Valuing a business early in the process.(36:06) Launching a search fund with a business partner.(42:44) Using proprietary software and interns to help with deal flow.(49:30) School and launching a search during a pandemic.(1:01:38) Hybrid search fund hedge model.(1:14:02) Rapid fire questions.