Build and Exit

How can customer service affect your business sale? Buyers looking at your business would have more confidence in their investment if they saw customer satisfaction was high. So, making sure you not only have satisfied customers but evidencing it is key. In this episode I am joined by customer service expert Geoff Ramm. He is the creator and author of Celebrity Service & Celebrity Service Supe...

Have you planned for the worst?   Imagine you’re at death’s door and know you have no plan for what will happen to your business if you die.   This is the exact experience one of my guest’s clients faced. And the worst did happen. Sadly, she passed with no plan for what would happen to the business once she was gone. Not a situation anyone wants to find themselves in.   In this episode I am joined...

What would you do to make your business a success?   Would it include jumping from a broken-down train to hitch hike to a product pitch?   Well, that’s what my guest in this episode did for an idea that didn’t even work out. Todd Sullivan grew up in an entrepreneurial household and has lived this way ever since. He is the CEO and Managing Partner of Exitwise, a company that helps businesses sell....

Selling a business comes with risks, but the buyer tyring to swindle you right at the end would challenge anyone’s nerve.   My guest in this episode, Sam Oliver, shares his experience of successfully selling his business and going through an earn-out clause. He discusses the challenges he faced when the buyer suddenly changed the processes at the last moment.   He shares what happened with dispute...

Gender bias exists when applying for funding in the venture capital industry.   It’s a fact, women are less likely than men to not only succeed in getting funding but for applying for it in the first place.   This disadvantage is something that has driven my guest in this episode, David B Horne, to help rectify. David is the Founder of Funding Focus, a social enterprise whose mission is to level t...

What’s the worst thing that could happen during an acquisition?   Up there at the top must be finding fraud from the seller.   Kemi Egan is my guest in this episode, and she found just this during one of her acquisitions. A seller was using a fraudulent pension scheme discovered by HMRC. Even then during the legal process the seller, and their defence have denied any wrongdoing despite evidence to...

Many sellers have no idea how resilient their business is going into the sale.   This can massively impact the final valuation of the business, but you can avoid this if you have things set up the right way to sell.   In this episode I am joined by Al Zucker a Lawyer that helps entrepreneurs and firms raise, acquire and exit successfully. He has seen a lot of bad deals, and he gives insights into...

You can cash out of your business tax free, so you get the amount you need to retire and support your family’s future.   The problem is many don’t know how to get there.   In this episode I am joined by Marc Adams, a visionary entrepreneur, acclaimed author, who explains how to do just that. Marc is an expert in business transformation, and as the CEO of Acquisitions 4 U, Marc specializes in helpi...

Acquisitions can be an opportunity to change your career.   But what if you quit your job and the deal falls through?   You’re left with no job and no deal.   This is exactly what happened to my guest in this episode, Steve Lawrence. The seller decided not to go ahead at the last-minute leaving Steve in the lurch.   Steve shares the ups and downs of his acquisition experience from his first failed...

Imagine not even knowing you are about to go bankrupt.   Many business owners don’t know what is going with their accounts. With £5 million pounds of debt and another £1 million in stocks that anyone could have taken, this was the reality for one business.   In this episode I am joined by Judith Hamilton and Christine Nicholson, 2 brilliant women working in the exit planning and financial world. W...

Most businesses are built from people’s dreams. The challenge is taking it from that dream to reality.   In this episode I am joined by Nigel Carley who has achieved this through creating The Pinelli Group, as he approached retirement. A company that sells properties in Italy through fractional ownership.   Nigel fell in love with Italy over his career with Alfa Romeo and through hard work and inv...

Financial freedoms means different things to everybody. Achieving it means living the life you want but imagine having it and then losing it all.   In this episode I am joined by Meena Adnani, who worked hard against the expectations those around her had. She was judged, because of being a woman and also because of her cultural background. All of which she blocked out to reach her dreams and achie...

Imagine going from waitress to financial freedom all through acquisitions.   That is exactly what my guest in this episode, Della Kirkman, achieved. She found a way to buy small businesses and grow them organically to build and exit. She is now on a mission to supports 10,000 women to build wealth through acquisition.   In this episode Della reveals how she achieved financial freedom through acqui...

Acquisitions would be far easier if all sellers were educated on what’s involved.   Knowing what happens post-acquisition is part of the learning that needs to happen to secure a successful deal.   In this episode Kush Birdi and I discuss the importance of KPI based target setting and why you should audit the legal aspects of your deals. We also share why being truthful is so important for the sel...

Imagine being in £100K of debt because of a scam.   This is a nightmare situation for any business owner who puts their trust into others and is exactly the position my guest, Kath Jones found herself in.   She is the founder of Think Wine Group and ended up losing £100K after her agent scammed her and the funding she got to salvage the situation never came through.   Kath shares how all of this h...

Not being aware of the financial or legal implications of a deal can have disastrous consequences.   From intellectual property protection, staffing issues to outstanding debts, there are many aspects of a deal that need to be checked as part of your due diligence.   In this episode Kush Birdi and I discuss where due diligence can impact deals and our personal experiences working with both sellers...

Heads of terms are a key aspect of any acquisition.   The buyer and seller need to agree on these to show serious intent for the deal. But there are many key issues both parties need to be aware of. In this episode Kush Birdi and I discuss our experiences working with heads of terms.   We also share how the buyer and seller can become aligned and why this is so important. The common problems that...

There are many risks to consider as a buyer in acquisitions.   Not being prepared can have severe consequences. You need to do your due diligence and plan every aspect to ensure its success.   In this episode I am joined by Kush Birdi to tell you all you need to know about the legal consequences buyers can face and how to ensure you are covered all the way through your acquisition process. From ri...

Have you checked your brand’s intellectual property?   Imagine having £7million of investment held because you found another business already had your name. This is exactly what happened to a company my guest in this episode, Matthew Cusack, is working with.   Matt is Managing Director of National Business Register Group Limited (NBR), an Intellectual Property business, and is responsible for driv...

You must get used to hearing “No” when trying to raise funds to start a business idea. Knowing that eventually you will hear the yes you need is all the motivation you need to keep going.   That was the belief my guest in this episode had to get his idea off the ground. Robert Riza is the Co-Founder and CEO of RacketPal, a platform built out of a love for racket sports.   He talks about what it to...

This is part 2 of a special episode of The Build & Exit podcast where the tables get turned and Julie is in the hot seat. Julie was interviewed live on NTV to tell her personal and business story.   In this episode Julie gives the business side of her story, talking about how her business journey started, the advice she has for people looking to become entrepreneurs and the fundamentals that e...

The first 72 hours of taking on a new business is always eventful. But a salesperson syphoning leads, and the police called in to stop diggers tearing down buildings at a school must be up there with the hardest first days of any business owner.   This was the reality for my guest in this episode, Adrian Knight. He had a lot of firefighting to perform within his acquisitions that led him to really...

Achieving financial freedom is the ambition of many that are building to sell their business. But knowing how to get there is a whole different ball game. Understanding the financial side of how to build and exit a business is key to making this dream a reality.   My guest in this episode is Fiona Hudson-Kelly, who has sold businesses for multi-million pound deals. She has experienced selling thro...

This is a special episode of The Build & Exit podcast where the tables get turned and Julie is in the hot seat. Julie was interview live on NTV to tell her personal and business story.   In this episode Julie gives the personal side of her life story. You’ll find out about her passions from dogs to being out on the open water. She tells all about how the loss of her mother at an early age impa...

Distressed business deals can be a quick and high earning way to grow by acquisition. It took Steven Pettigrew 4 days to close a distressed deal and since then has grown a business of 80 people.   In this episode Steven gives his insights into how to grow through distressed acquisition deals, managing seller relationships, and the strategies behind industry deals.   Steven Pettigrew is an entrepre...