John Warrillow is the Founder and President of The Value Builder System, a cloud-based assessment tool that business owners use to assess their company’s scalability. He has helped more than 55,000 business owners improve their company’s value by up to 71%.
John is also the author of Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You, which has been recognized as one of the best business books by both Fortune and Inc. Magazines. He also wrote The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business In Any Industry and is the host of the Built to Sell Radio where he interviews founders about their exit journeys. He just released his latest book, The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top, this 2021.
John Warrillow, Founder and President of The Value Builder System, is John Corcoran’s guest in this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast where they talk about the art of selling businesses. Warrillow explains the difference between strategic and financial buyers, the concept of business owners pushing versus pulling when selling their businesses, and the difference between valuing a business based on revenue and on EBITDA multiples.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- What inspired John Warrillow to write his latest book, The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top
- Why 8-figure businesses are more attractive to private equity groups
- The difference between strategic and financial buyers and which type of buyer sees more success after sale
- Should business owners tell their teams that they are selling the business?
- The concept of business owners pushing versus pulling when selling their businesses
- Warrillow talks about selling his businesses and how an entrepreneur can decide on the best time to sell
- How to manage emotions and expectations when selling a business
- How to look at EBITDA multiples, and the difference between valuing a business based on revenue and on EBITDA multiples
- The current selling trends Warrillow has been seeing among business owners
- The people Warrillow respects and admires in his industry and those he acknowledges for his achievements and success
- Where to learn more and connect with John Warrillow
Resources Mentioned:
- The Value Builder System
- Built to Sell
- Built to Sell Radio
- John Warrillow on LinkedIn
- Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow
- The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry by John Warrillow
- The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top by John Warrillow
- Jay Steinfeld on LinkedIn
- Jay Steinfeld on the Built to Sell Radio
- Blinds.com
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:14
Welcome to the revolution, the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we ask today’s most successful entrepreneurs to share the tools and strategies they use to build relationships and connections to grow their revenue. Now, your host for the revolution, John Corcoran.
John Corcoran 0:40
All right. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran here. I am the host of this show. And you guys know my story. I am a recovering political hack and recovering lawyer. I spent years working in politics including as a speechwriter with stints working in the Clinton White House for California Governor and also working in Silicon Valley for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. 10 years ago, I discovered this medium of podcasting and I’ve been doing it ever since because I get to talk to all kinds of smart individuals like my guests here today. And over 10 years of hosting this show, I’ve had the privilege to talk with top CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs of all kinds of companies, organizations ranging from YPO, EO, Activision Blizzard, Lendingtree, you name it, and all kinds of great relationships that have come from it.
And today, I’m really excited. I’m a big fan. And I can’t say that for every guest that I have. But I am a big fan of this particular individual. His name is John Warrillow. He’s the founder of the Value Builder System, which is a cloud based assessment tool that business owners use to assess their company’s scalability. He has helped more than 55,000 business owners improve their company’s value by up to 71%. He’s also the author of the great book, “Built to Sell” you got to read it if you haven’t already. Both Fortune and Inc. Magazines have recognized the book as one of the best business books. John also wrote “The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry”. And he also hosts the great podcast, “Built to Sell Radio”, where they interview founders about their exit journey. You’ve got to download some of those episodes. They are really just great, great content. It really does the medium well. And his latest book, John is going to tell us all about it today, “The Art of Selling Your Business”. It’s really cool to have you on here today, John. I’m really excited about it.
Of course this episode, as always, is brought to you by Rise25, which helps b2b businesses to get clients, referrals and strategic partnerships done for you podcasts and content marketing. You can learn more at rise25media.com. John, I’m so excited to talk to you about this here today because I’m a fan of your work. But let’s start right with the new book, like what inspired you. You’ve got the podcast, you got the highly acclaimed previous books, why drag yourself through the hot coals again, or putting out another book?