The Secrets of Successful Scale-up Financing: How to Finance Scale Ups

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Join us for our engaging panel discussion titled "The Secrets of Successful Scale-up Financing: How to Finance Scale Ups" where we will delve into the critical aspects of funding and scaling unicorn companies. This session will explore strategies and insights from leading experts, focusing on the financial pathways and innovative funding models essential for businesses looking to grow sustainably in a competitive landscape.

Moderated by Nicole Enslein, CEO of Sublime Communications, this panel will feature a dynamic lineup of thought leaders who specialize in navigating the complexities of financing growth. With Nicole’s extensive experience in marketing communications and her proven track record in driving growth for Fortune 500 brands, attendees can expect a vibrant discussion packed with actionable insights and perspectives on fostering successful scale-ups.

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Transcript

(00:01) [Music] tests okay see Alys we got Alysa Isabelle Emily and Mark and is that in the right order no so we got Alyssa Emily Isabelle in the Mark is that right all right guys uh I'm going to do the best I can to sit in for uh for Nicole um my name is Matt bird I'm the CEO of ESG news uh this panel is about uh this is a this is secret uh scaleup financing for for startups correct yes so I'm going to do the best I can from my vantage point the one thing about ESG news is that we monitor virtually every deal uh both
(00:48) sustainable and traditional worldwide every single day over 2,000 Publications so we we have a little bit of insight in into funding and the mechanisms that that move that uh today's panel it's interesting because from each of their Vantage points uh it's there's an argument to be said that from uh from a coaching that executive capital is going to be the differentiator from a SE from a from a from a strategy standpoint access to Capital is a differenti differentiator a recruiting standpoint you always want to recruit the talent
(01:21) and um the uh ath Isabelle right yes and uh you know everything's access to Capital what I'd like to do is uh have everybody introduce yourself and what you do and we'll move along then we'll we'll get into some some questions hi everybody my name is Alyssa con I'm an executive coach I also wrote a book called from startup to grownup and I have a podcast also called from startup to grownup so really my life's work is about helping Founders in particular but really all people on the personal growth Journey that it takes to grow as leaders and I
(01:57) would say on this topic you know sort of if I think about the scale the scaling of startups I really focus on the human aspect and it's not like I'm an expert on how to raise Capital except for this most Founders at some point in their Journey especially raising Capital experience extreme self-doubt impostor syndrome things that get in the way of building their confidence in order to be the human being and the founder and the leader they need to be to raise Capital so I very much helped Founders sort of get out of their own way at various
(02:29) times critical times in their startup journey and their executive development leadership journey and certainly in their funding journey to help them raise the capital they need to build a business of their dreams and to build massive successful businesses hi my name is Emily salvis um I'm the CEO and founder of streamline Global uh we are a large um film Finance Company um I financed close to a 100 films and I think today you know what I'd like to focus on more so than the ins and outs of how to finance a film because you know this is not the
(03:12) room for that um is kind of what what you need to be as a Founder in order to make your business successful and in order to grow um and all of the it takes 10 years to become an overnight sensation and um in those 10 years there's a lot of there's just a lot that you go through as a Founder which is why my voice sounds like this um because it doesn't stop and like that there that this The Secret of scaling up is like you don't get to stop that's it like you don't get to have a day off if your clients need you so
(04:04) well that sounds exhausting um I have the luxury of sitting on the other side of watching people keep going I'm a private equity and late stage Venture investor I'm also the co-founder of magnify this is a company I co-founded in 2017 and um it was acquired in 2020 not at a huge scale level so I didn't get to um spend 247 on it um but but launching it from the ground up was certainly quite a lot of work so we now invest in companies that are about to exit or about to go public so about to be acquired by a private Equity Fund or a
(04:47) strategic acquire and companies that will go public through an IPO or a spack we have launched a fund raise for a fund recently after we've taken a number of companies public previously uh had a platform of spaxs and have taken uh us companies public and European companies public in the US we target companies that are tech companies for the most part and profitable because these are the companies that are now most likely to exit in the public Equity markets hey everybody um Mark sadovnik I'm the managing partner of Fifth
(05:24) Element group um quick background deoe um uh big on hockey working with hockey teams um uh headed up a global leadership development organization and then got into executive Search Fifth Element group was launched about six years ago at the UN headquarters in New York on International women's day because our initial Focus was women leadership women empowerment Women Health Etc and that's grown significantly um we do two major things we work with all types of clients but a lot of Founders startups growth companies all stages um to help them
(05:56) number one amplify whatever impact they want to make but it's got to be a combination of an economic and social impact speaking to preaching to the choir here but that's what it has to be we trademarked the term leaders who care and that came from experience of seeing that leaders who really did care about their employees about the community about what's going on in the world did better in business and everything else at the same time obviously not everybody but a significant number of them and um that allows us to represent our clients
(06:22) as Leaders who care because we actually have proof that they care which then more importantly allows us to attract around the world the very best talent who aren't looking for jobs but they're really interested in Opportunities and um and that means they want to bank great money and they want to have purpose in their life as well so it comes together really really well um one topic that's big on their mind right now these days is Health among others um I'm privileged to be a venture partner with Tower capital for example who you've
(06:51) seen around and and others but um working with Founders is is is a joy and and everything else that goes along with it um I'll just say one last thing put into conversation um we always say for a Founder it's like giving the baby to the babysitter for the first time when they ought to hire the person that can scale it you don't want to drop the baby they'll have a concussion or something um but it really does feel like that and it's emotional so we're doing a number of president searches right now for Medtech companies and others you really
(07:18) have to have somebody that will Embrace and Thrive to even to both your points um in that environment and their spouse or partner will Thrive that they're in that environment as well as well so there's all these little things that that come into play and they've got to have a chemistry like no other IBM can afford a bad hire these companies cannot and so that's uh a quick start to what we're talking about it's great to be here fantastic thank you uh let's start from the left and we'll move our way down uh Alyssa you were talking about
(07:49) challenges CEOs face when raising Capital why don't you start off off there sure I mean um you know when I when I meet with founders and I've worked with um series preed companies actually and mostly series A and B all the way up to post IPO you know my book is divided into three sections managing you managing them you know the people your team and managing the business because whenever I deal with a Founder they come to me with a problem like oh we're not making enough sales and therefore we can't tell the right story
(08:23) to venture capitalist or oh this person on my team is not scaling or whatever and you know that to me is normal but it always comes back to what conversation have you failed to have with these people on your team or what expectations have you failed to set for the business overall and that's where we kind of look at what's the inner dialogue there happening I'll tell you a story one of the founders that I work with a very well-known company um he was actually fantastic at hiring people the and great people fantastic at building at at
(08:53) grading customers but he kept not being able to land the deal when he needed to raise a series C and then later later on his D we really worked on the story he was telling himself in his head so when he was talking to customers he really had this vision of where we're going and what we're doing and what it's going to do for you the customer when he was selling employees he really had a sense of why it was so important to leave a large company and get on this rocket ship with him when he went to V VC's to venture capitalist he had a story in his
(09:23) head which was I'm going hat in my hand and begging for money you can imagine that was not a very powerful story and was not compelling to any investor and so we had to really help him think about the model he was using for customers and for employees and others and take that and able to translate that to when he went to investors that he was able to show up that powerfully so on the one hand you say ah your selft talk that doesn't matter apparently it does matter because he couldn't raise enough money to keep the business afloat of course
(09:54) bad things happened and you know the ups and downs of of um startups But ultimately he was able to raise multiple rounds of funding and that's why the company stay in business you all know this and that's why they were able to be successful so the voices in your head are very significant um to being able to raise money and it starts with that as far as I'm concerned so not to use voices in her head as the transitioning point but Emily you got one right now yeah uh all of you right now entrepreneurialism is a is a personal
(10:28) journey and uh you had touched on something when when you were when you were doing your opening so why don't you dive into that personal journey and and and how you how do you find your how do you punch through yeah I mean you punch through by keeping on punching um so I started my company uh from my rent controlled studio apartment that I was paying $1,200 a month for and um I had an idea I put poster boards up on my closet doors from the 99 cent store which was what I could afford at the time and I came up with an idea for um a loose idea
(11:15) for a financial model that um would help people save money on taxes while also getting investments into films and so I brought that to you know people who are attorneys and CPAs and eventually grew a client base but you know in the very beginning it was it was hairy you know it's it it takes a lot um I remember the first client we ever had was this guy who was a doctor in Missouri um he had made a bad investment and someone had stolen his life savings for the second time his wife was about to leave him um she was
(11:59) pissed and um and you know we came in and we basically made him whole and for a long time that was you know people would say have has anyone done this before and I'd be like this one guy this one this one guy with in in Missouri and eventually we got CPA firms on board eventually we got big law firms on board um but it took years and you know I'll say also like in the beginning as a female founder like look I'm I'm successful I'm not complaining about this now but like in the very beginning like it was really
(12:41) hard to be taken seriously like and it took having people on my team who vouched for me um to be taken seriously and eventually with enough track record you are taken seriously um but that takes years you know it takes time no no no keep keep going okay um so you know then you start scaling right so then you're like well I've got so much work I need an assistant um I can't do my own scheduling it's taking up 80% of my time um and it's costing the company money because it's time that I could be out you know speaking with investors so
(13:25) you hire an assistant and then you need a producer to run things on the production side and so you get that and then you need you know you need somebody who knows how to do Financial modeling um you need a CFO you need a COO you need all these things and there's no like nobody handed me a Playbook and said here's how to make a company Emily like there there are books of course and I've read books but like it's kind of like going I it's kind of like going to grad school where it's like yeah they're going to teach you stuff but you're not
(14:00) going to get it until you're in it um and you know you you hire good people you hire bad people um you have to deal with the Fallout of the bad people that you've hired um you know people not everyone is honest um you know people do bad things and it's and eventually like as the founder if you have the integrity and you really care it's up to you to make things right and keep the company going and that's what scaling is like scaling is problem solving on bigger and bigger and bigger levels um that no one has given you a
(14:47) road map for so yeah well speaking of of scaling and bigger road maps Isabelle you you you reached the CEOs at a point of liquidity point of essentially as as you're transitioning through an IPO or a change of control they're maturing right um tell us a bit about where you enter into this journey so we tell early stage Founders we know that we so an investor will understand that an early stage founder can run a company typically they know the industry they have a problem they're solving for and we tell them we
(15:30) we understand you know how to run a company but do you know how to raise capital and that will matter for the growth of an early stage company but when it comes to growth companies we actually want the opposite we know the founder can raise Capital because they got there but can they actually run a company and it flips back to that question so there's really a a Moment In the Journey of the company and that can be early or later but there's a moment in the company when we want the management to be management that can
(16:04) accompany uh through the next phase of growth and especially when it comes to a public exit because it's basically a different job and that's why we see frequently a change in management senior management and the CEO at that pivotal moment in the company's Journey but unfortunately a lot of company think about that when they're about to go public so they're about to file for an IPO and they realized the board realizes that the CEO who founded the company might not be the right fits as a public company CEO and and it's too late by
(16:34) that time it takes a couple of years to look for the right CEO to put them in place to put them on a path of um really understanding the company and being able to market the company to public Equity investors it's a marketing job in large part it's a communication job it's communicating with the internal internally internal communication and IR communication communicating with research analysts and communicating with the street very different than figuring out problems um so and sometimes it works and there have been a few examples but
(17:09) in the vast majority of cases it doesn't and there there needs to be a professional CEO and then when it comes to raising Capital whether at an IPO or before an IPO there's a huge element of luck just like there is in early stage companies um I co-founded an early stage company and had come from many years investing in Venture Capital had a network and we were in a tremendous Market we got very lucky and we raised Capital efficiently we knew we had a road map we knew what we were doing we were repeat entrepreneurs and followed a path and
(17:48) we're successful in raising Capital quickly but we got lucky to be in such a good Market in contrast look at the last four or five years a lot of large scale tech companies have not been able to raise capital and we saw a significant dichotomy in the last four years in company in sectors that are maturing within Tech so that's fintech for example Insurance Tech Health Tech those are sectors or even cyber security fragmented sectors with lots of small players and the next phase of growth is consolidation within the industry and
(18:25) those companies are not growing through technology anymore it they reli Less on Tech Innovation so Tech fintech is a good example that a lot of people can easily understand 10 years ago 15 years ago a payment platform was Innovative and it was a new technology and now it can be built off the shelf it can be bought off the shelf and it's easy to replicate and harder to scale so what we end up investing in is a marketing team and a growth management team rather than a technology very different multiple very different growth
(19:02) model that's where cost cutting skills coming into play and communication skills come into play um and those are the ones that have been successful in the last four years so we saw this dichotomy of larger companies becoming even larger by buying the smaller ones and the smaller ones that we're in a race to compete with the larger players lower and lower their valuations and eventually be acquired at at sometimes pretty depressed valuations so there is an element of luck but how you approach it is and how you capitalize on on a good Market
(19:38) versus a bad Market because there are ways to capitalize on a bad Market as well can make a huge difference with regards to success in raising Capital all right Mark you looking at me I'm looking at you why don't you bring this this this topic home on obviously we this is leading up to the executive human capital and uh and through the financing can I just say ditto ditto ditto yeah um like that um there there's so much there um you everything everybody said Is Right on the mark and and especially most Founders not all but
(20:12) most Founders don't really know how to scale and they're scaling between Z and 50 Z to 100 kind of like you were alluding to and then 100 to maybe 500 and 500 to gazillion um there's different people that generally have to do that and not always does the CEO or the CFO or the CMO like to be replaced because at that time man things are really growing now I want to I want to stay but they may not be the right person at at that time um and the founder a lot of times it really does a lot of times there's Engineers that are
(20:38) founders and they can't do the marketing or anything like that so you got to very often at the beginning we'll help them bring on an Advisory Board even before the board board um that can help them raise Capital that can help them be advisory which what they're supposed to do um and there can be a board board board if you will um that has to be really really really chemistry with the CEO and a really good understanding what their responsibilities are for real and make sure that we talked about honesty and everything make sure that a board
(21:09) member isn't a sabur and thinks they could be a better CEO or that they really are up to advising the CEO while he's super busy on everything else about things that he or she hasn't had the time to think about I'm trying not to duplicate the right stuff that everybody said and um and for example we're doing two president services for two different Med tech companies right now the founders are different people perit Tech so we have to find different people to to match it and um and then we have to find um the other side of it um what
(21:40) impact are they making what pain are they solving if you will but even equally more important what impact are they actually making that a lot of young um Executives um have been maybe through an exit already um they're not necessarily doing it for the money they want to make the big hit not the salary that's another thing by the way the people that are interested in that type position those types of things are not the ones that say well what's my salary is their first question the first question is how much AI do I get and
(22:06) that's the attitude you want them to come in with obviously because they're they're taking a stake um but it's um I guess if if I would summarize well the impact part is that they want to know that in one med tech company I'm working with it's home care selfcare it's going to go Global because their technology has been proven it's really going to hit home they love that they some of them love the fact even more that they're going International because they want that too too and they have the experience for that another one we're
(22:31) working on um detects a lot of diseases in advance to help prevent and that's a big topic right now too you're dealing with Health Care Systems and everything and um so you may need the industry experience I have a lot of clients that say please show me people without with a different industry experience we want different perspectives and by the way AKA diversity is more than just gender and this it's it's different experiences different especially if you're going global different things like that that you have to look at we even accidentally
(22:58) on purpose call the spouse or partner to make sure they know the person's looking to relocate and take on this position in the first place because you don't have if you don't have the support of your spouse or partner to your point about all the time working it's um it's not going to work either so there's so so many elements that that go into play that are that are and it's really kind of the reason we we created that term or trademark DET term trade leaders who care because um the founders you know got to have that persistent passion to
(23:26) keep going and that's what's going to if being authentic like you said when they're pitching Alyssa if they're being authentic it's it's a lot easier for them to get the investment it's a lot easier for them to attract the employees Etc and they're more natural and one thing I've also found is if an investor says you've got five minutes a lot of Founders can't do it in five minutes and you really hope you find an investor that really wants to listen to what's going on and person that spends so much time getting it to
(23:55) this point you're going to miss an opportunity as an investor if you don't let the founder really tell you why they're doing this in the first place and um so and by the way it works for employees too C can I just jump in on the word authentic I I of course I love that word and I think we should all be ourselves and I think there's a tension between being yourself like oh that's just me I'm not that well spoken or that's just me I don't know how to manage people or whatever and the need to grow as a founder and as a leader so
(24:21) you absolutely have to be authentic because to your point about the two CEOs you were me the two Founders you were mentioning they I'm sure they're different with different strengths weaknesses natural personalities cultures that they've built quiet exactly and you've got to find the right person however for all of us we need to expand our comfort zone to be able to learn new skills for all of us when we're learning something new it's really uncomfortable doesn't feel authentic so we've got to be able to be authentic and
(24:48) be ourselves but also create the meta skill of learning and growing rapidly because the journey requires rapid growth as you go so it's complicated I think Alchemy about staying yourself but also truly pushing yourself to grow new skills so that more things can become authentic to you you know I've got a question and we we started getting into the transition conversation and as an entrepreneur as a Founder as an entrepreneur it's sometimes difficult to think we might not be the right person how does a board or how do you prepare a
(25:23) Founder to transition out because the next phase is bringing somebody else in please it was brutal for me when my company was acquired and it was intense years of raising capital building the company and going through the exit the exit itself was really time in intensive and it was a very abrupt ending um that I wasn't prepared for and people thought well congratulations you sold your company you made a lot of money you're going to what take a break retire or whatever um um not retire but take a break for sure and um and the break was
(26:03) not fun it was stressful I didn't know what I was going to do next I didn't know if I did the right thing selling the company or not um I I was I was kind of lost with no Direction so it was it was not um the level of excitement that you could that you could expect so and I would imagine that's hard for a lot of Founders especially who are pushed out of their company um but but I think there's tremendous value in recognizing what someone is able or willing to do deep down to your point in Lissa because a lot of Founders don't
(26:39) actually want to do the work they want to get the credit they want to be a public company CEO but they don't actually want the communication marketing job that it requires so that deep dive internally is is really what a lot of Founders need to do before they try to push themselves and and to a board or to a group of investors to be the continued leader of the company I just have one thing yeah it seem we've got a bunch of questions on this on this point too yeah just one last thing I get a lot of corporate people that say I'd love to go work for
(27:14) the startup and these are smart guys and ladies and whatnot and they they said no I I can be handson I can do this and I keep talking with them and and um oh they love startups because they're going to grow this we're going to make a lot of money we're going to do this and that and then I'll throw in when your laptop breaks what do you do well I go to my it Department we don't they don't have an IT department at this startup and and my secretary is awesome you don't have a secretary and you know all the this is
(27:38) real life stuff that they have to think about and and sometimes sometimes they don't and again the the Family Support is actually so critical because of the time that person has to spend and travel and it sounds like well of course they'll support but we actually have when we're getting close to finalizing an individual to be hired for board or whatever we literally ask them to go home and visualize themselves going to the job like okay you woke up you're doing this you do that you're going to the office you're staying at home you're
(28:09) making calls you're doing this somebody told you no 10 times that for money Etc is that where you really want to be and it's probably at the minimum it's the most they've ever thought about it really happening because when you're dating and being corded it's all really exciting when you have to make the decision holy cow I got to do it that becomes real so visualizing it can can make the difference I I promise we'll get to the questions do you want to jump jump in I mean I'll I agree with everything that everybody said um you know I think with
(28:41) with scaling comes a lot of learning and responsibility um I would say the difference between a founder and a CEO founder is that you you are the ultimately the one who has to solve the problems and oftentimes they're not your problems like somebody did something somebody didn't do their job whatever it doesn't matter you're the one who has to figure it out and that's a very like what my job is like today versus what my job was like when I founded my company and it was very kind of I don't know like dreamy and exciting
(29:31) and new and novel and you know your first big successes come in and then you know and then you're in Puerto Rico and uh an A-list director is freaking out you have to fly home and cancel your family vacation and eat the cost like that's what being a CEO is and so I mean I would never work for someone else I don't think I would be able to um but you know raising Capital I'm I'm good at raising Capital um I'm very good at raising capital and we've done a lot of impressive films like you know I've got one shooting right now right now this
(30:18) second in uh Kentucky um with Gus Van Sant directing who did Goodwill Hunting and milk and my own private Idaho um starring bill Skarsgard and some other big name actors that haven't been announced yet so I'm not allowed to say them but they're like A+ list um you know I've got one shooting in March with Kevin cner that's like a $35 million um like action movie about a banese prisoner who breaks out and steals Idols or what like you know I've got some fun stuff going on we went to the Academy Awards for the trial of
(30:55) Chicago 7 we've had successes but like people see the successes and people see the Instagram version and people see you know the face of it but they don't see the 5 a.m. wakeups and the 2 a emergencies and the phone calls and the you know the lawyers and the accountants all being on a call and bleeding out money to handle PR stuff like it's hard and so if you're a founder and you and you want to be a CEO you've got to understand it's a very different job description um yeah it's a tough Journey there no questions why we're talking about this
(31:38) all right I if you don't mind we're going to ask I think the the audience has a few questions and I think we're going to pick up from a different thing we'll get you one second ma'am uh you want do you want to someone give her a mic or she's Canadian she can speak loud don't need resp hi thanks for all this um my name is Jennifer I'm a startup founder and CEO whichever that means from your perspective but I come from a long line of very successful entrepreneurs and back then you know my grandfathers and fathers and uncles and
(32:12) so forth they founded their companies and they successfully ran their company so back then if you needed financing you went to the bank and you say I need a business loan this is you know how I get my customers and this is what I'm investing in and this is how I'm using the money and they survived by making money with clients and customers and that's how they all did it that's how my families did it you know and so now I now that I'm the founder um the environment is like very different there's VCS and investment it's kind of
(32:46) a different game than starting a company and having customers and so I've just wondering from your perspective given these two types of different models of starting a business um how do you feel about that and do you feel that um being a founder and then actually not being able to run your company anymore is sustainable will this game actually Pitter away at some point and more traditional companies you know like families like the buyer comp family you know will that still be a thing or is it just going to be a big race for
(33:26) money I mean just want to say like I identify with your story um my dad is a big entrepreneur my grandfather created MasterCard my greatr uncle was The Wizard of Wall Street Gerald lobe got all of his clients out of the stock market before it crashed and wrote bestselling books about how to invest safely so like that wisdom has been passed down unfortunately the cash has not like I I've I had to build it right would have loved some of that MasterCard money um credit yeah um when I call MasterCard I'm like hey my card isn't working and they're
(34:09) like I'm sorry it'll take two business days and I'm like I I could have owned you anyway um but yeah raising Capital look I I did my company differently than I think a lot of people did I built my company deal by deal I Own 100% of my company and that's that's the only way that I saw fit because when I was building it in the ve in the very beginning I thought you know I don't trust anybody else to run it the way that I know it needs to be run and like even though I don't know how to do I don't know how to be the IT department
(34:52) like um I know that I'll figure it out and to me the the opportunity and and risk and cost of taking on VCS versus just bootstrapping it to me I would rather bootstrap it and suffer through it and like make it work then the easy the easy way which is what I think which is and I get pitched VC stuff all the time too because I'm kind of in that World um not in a big way but in the right worlds of VC and when I hear these kids you know they've got their new tech idea it's an AI it'll it's AI for dry cleaning or what I'm
(35:40) just making that up but like can I have $3 million do I'm like no you can work you can work so that's I don't know I don't know if that helps but that's my answer so it it depends on the industry Tech and and the growth of tech specifically has changed that Paradigm there is an expectation now that at least in Tech when you start you have to deliver something a product and to do that you need Capital it used to be that entrepreneurs would go get a loan but to get a loan you need collateral and to get collateral you need revenues or
(36:24) assets and in Tech you don't have that until you have something to sell so of course Tech and the growth of tech across um different asset classes and the investments in Venture cap overall in private Equity but more specifically in Venture Capital um ha has really changed um in terms of its scale and its relevance in our economy Tech has taken an increased importance in in across all sectors and its significance is is now so important that you can no longer go back to that model unless you're not in that industry and and by the way we like
(37:11) investing in companies that have that model that are exploding in their need and they really need the capital because they just they're exp they're growing so fast that they don't have enough salespeople the CEO is picking up the phone and calling clients himself and and they're they're they really need assistance to grow those are the kinds of companies and the reason we like to invest in companies because the the the dollar will have a significant impact and there's less likely to be a cost cutting exercise when the company is is
(37:44) growing in that way but but there is an imperative to grow through investments in technology not in the industries that I was just referring to which are um scaling plays rather in technology true technology growth like AI chip manufacturing and others um we so so this is good but there is also a need as you grow to as we talked about earlier to change your job and there is a need for partnership So when you say that you would never work for someone when you do grow a company to the point that you have investors you have a board you have um
(38:23) you always have someone to report you work for them for sure yeah so you always have someone that you report to and the mistake that we often see in Founders is a failure to treat bored or investors as partners and rather treat them as the enemy that's right and that's why it's important to choose if you can who comes on your board in the context of an investment um because you don't want to be in a situation where you feel like the board is telling you what to do you disagree it's contentious and it creates it occupies your brain it
(38:56) creates a whole other layer of complication and and so and Ur emergencies that you need to attend to so we want to get rid of that to free up space for Founders to be able to engage in a productive way with the board and investors in in really truly think of them as partners Doo um again um so not to be redundant but um 100% which I kind of mentioned before having that relationship with the board which is something we try to make sure they that chemistry because some board members do try to say well I can really do better
(39:31) and they do it in an under underlying way we do have some and in tech for sure it's moving so fast that you can't wait to get more capital and so many have are able to and almost have to compete by going global faster than they ever thought before also based on like this Medtech product I was talking about Will Go Global and they need Capital to be able to do that um we do have some Founders though that are super happy in the revenues they're making and there's about to make and they're making and they want to keep doing their business
(40:01) and so and they're fine with that they're fine if it doesn't scale globally or whatever and and happy and um and then it also depends if they have kids or not that want to get into the business and what's the succession plan there if they're not going to sell it or do do the kids want to take over and what do they do it's it's all these variables come up and so I I think and debt is a big play too you might not want to go for the capital rate but maybe Deb's the right way to go so but it is moving so fast to your point that
(40:27) sometimes you have no choice if you because you're building value and if you fall behind you're going to lose value thank you I think it was a fantastic question I know we have a gentleman over here that has a question pass microphone thank you so much uh I think that was a great preparation all your three points are basically counting to my question you said I want to own my company you said I sold my company and I actually was lost what to do next and you said Founders want to continue the company I sold my company to a pretty
(40:59) Global famous Media Company I've fivefold increased the revenue and profit I want it back yeah okay and I see tons of sessions about how to start a company unfortunately I exited my company and do you have any advice how to get it back and I'm kind of still in good relations with my investors so there's a whole asset class around that and it's special situations there are investors that will see value in partnering with someone who has in-depth understanding of the industry or of a country or of a companies bankruptcy or
(41:37) any other unusual situation where they can be additional value extracted yeah and build and and I would just say you are a cautionary tale so one of the founders that I work with he had a number by the way he bootstrapped and bootstrapped is becoming sexy again especially with sort of the over the hangover of VC and too zero interest rates and sort of too much money and too much dilution and so a number of the founders I work with have really focused on bootstrapping and they do go slower and also they're more satisfied and
(42:10) there's like a lot of benefits from it right so he we' he got lots of offers to buy and and merge and all these things and he went out and talked to five entrepreneurs he really respected and it was like I think five who had sold and five who were still running their company and and the five who were still right their company were in it and they were excited and they had all these problems and all the things the ones who had sold their companies were kind of like on the mountain investing their money their private office and were kind
(42:38) of bored and 2011 they said I wish I hadn't sold and so I think it's so I hear you guilty yeah and so just to say um you know you might I would also say that um anyone who wants who I've ever talked to who wants to get their company back and there have been many um it's like you can't go home again so I think you might want to just really articulate for yourself what do I really want do I want the purpose the meaning the adrenaline did I love the business right what are my values what is really meaningful to me and what is going to
(43:12) drive purpose in my life now and figure out what is the sort of calculus of the or the Alchemy of elements from that self-exploration that's going to help you go onto your next thing a little sadder a little wiser but actually there might be something in store for you which is even better I want to I would just want to Echo that quickly if that's okay like if you're um at some point your current company will you know you'll be ready for your next big thing and it sounds like you know you sold your company and so now
(43:52) what now what am I going to do with my life who am I you know I I assume some of at least some of your identity was wrapped up in that company because when you're the founder and the CEO it is it matters it's like a piece of you and so what I would say is that because you built those skills you will never lose those skills like those will stick with you forever and so while the work product may look different while the industry are sector may look different you know you're in the perfect place here to go shop for
(44:33) what's my next big thing and you know I think it's really important to to listen and to learn and that's what I've been doing a lot this week is like you know as I enter as I enter my 40s like what what will my skill sets be best suited for how do I keep um my existing company running smoothly while also building as a person because I have my own goals and dreams also and I'm sure you do too so use those skill sets whatever they are whatever your magic is that led you to be able to be someone who's so fortunate
(45:16) to sell their company and like build the next big thing and build it bigger and better and the one thing that I want to add to and you know what my company has done and what I think think is really helpful for an ex founder new founder to think about is what is a seemingly unsolvable problem in the world that I can solve with my contacts and my special skill set and like how do I bring the right people together to make that happen but if you look at something that at any problem the problem that I looked at was
(45:54) that the way that films are financed doesn't make any sense and so I came up with a way to make them make sense but if you're able to come up with a problem that everybody else is taken as the status quo it's just the status quo that you know um you know AI is out of control like okay well how how could you solve that or or Healthcare whatever whatever sector Works um but you you will build and you will build it bigger and better the second time thank you Emily I I I HBO came out with a documentary series that that dealt
(46:34) with this issue I think it was called succession so you could season three or season four I think they address this issue specifically that's right um do you want to pass the microphone off yes thank you I need to rush now to another me thank you so much was a question for you have you tried to buy back have what have it said because because if you say you're 5x if you say you're so motivated I see no reason in the world that you couldn't maybe find a pool of investors to do an MBO lbo whatever you call it but to buy
(47:06) it back have you tried so I said I will stop growing the company otherwise I'm not motivated anymore yeah and then we had kind of let's call it fight in a positive way I got some extra secondaries to keep growing it and now it's even bigger I basically skipped or prolonged my put call by another 3 years and I really feel I'm working for them and I'm not working for my company okay and uh I disagree a bit on the point that the next big thing is even bigger I see it more like kids I have three children I love them all and I want this company to
(47:46) be successful and I'm already founding another one I'm not taking Venture Capital I'm really thankful for the first Venture Capital but kind of the second is 100% bootstrap but I still want my baby back yes that's the point that I think we've got only about one more minute left you had a quick question can you make it quick you said when um you said um when you sell your company you're basically losing a part of who you are right um do you believe that it's essential that let's say you know who you are before
(48:17) you let's say get into building your own company and how many people have you seen that like don't know nothing about their life do end up going and building something great which again it's amazing and like that's where I see myself hopefully getting to eventually in life uh but I'm in this really like deep exploration like point in my life I'm I'm 24 at the moment it's like hopefully like that's the next thing but what's your thought on that like if you can keep this like one minute um don't even answer what's what's my thought on
(48:46) what's the sound bite what's my thought on like why people like let's say when they sell their company they don't know who they really are like how do you kind of have a like a life while building a company or how do you have a life that you're kind of passionate about things that you love doing except of building a company basally is that I mean honest honestly you kind of don't like you kind of don't it's like having a kid like he said it's like having a kid and if you I mean I don't have kids so I don't know
(49:21) what having kids is like so if I've offended anybody I'm sorry um it's the closest thing that I know to having a kid other than having a cat or a dog um it doesn't stop and it is wrapped up in your identity and um it is important to take that time that and this is advice I'm giving to myself too it's important to take that time and have a personal life that um is part of your identity as well y very I'm very conflicted with that answer because on one hand as an investor we want to invest in Founders who have wrapped themselves um with the
(49:56) company and are1 and think about the company every day when they wake up at the same time as a human I have to say that's a problem um you there's been there was for a long period of time an epidemic of people tying their identity with where they worked I'm a I'm a lifer at GE or GM or whatever this is you know my in-laws had um their company as Christmas ornaments and that's that's a problem because what happens when that's taken away and swept from under your feet your whole identity is gone so I'm conflicted you can't be by your company
(50:29) sorry you can't be we can use you can live multiple lives if you will and even I work with a lot of athletes even entertainers you get defined as well but we shouldn't be def that's not who we are it's part of who we are it's hard but that's that's what you got to be you you can be you can be multiple people different parts of your career and just to wrap up as I've been asked to do um what no matter what you want to do self-awareness and really minding for who you are and assessing your values and assessing what's going to work for
(50:56) you and that's going to change over time as you've heard all this too it's a very valuable activity to do that self-reflection and self-awareness can I say one last thing very very quick I want to I want to repeat something I want to repeat something that my mentor's mentor told my mentor which is that you need thinking time you need alone time that's the biggest thing take time to be with yourself no phone no friends no nothing go be by yourself in nature and connect with yourself talk to the ocean that that's good advice H just
(51:30) a brief note especially for the women in the room um and a little bit of a side note but um it's it's same thing with children so you mentioned children um it's equally as and healthy um to tie yourself your identity to a company as it is to your children especially for we all know I'm sure women who uh their kids go to college and they're totally depressed because that tight their identity with the kids so it's actually a good analogy now he's not going to thank you all for coming yes exactly thank you all for coming I I I found
(52:00) some insight in today so so thank you thank you all please give a round of applause [Applause] [Music]