A notable pattern among successful entrepreneurs is their journey through multiple failures and modest successes before achieving a substantial business exit. While some may perceive certain entrepreneurs as overnight successes, the reality often involves a series of ventures, each contributing valuable lessons that pave the way for a major triumph.
One compelling reason for considering the sale of your business is the opportunity to start anew, armed with the wealth of knowledge gained from building your current company. Selling allows you to have a clean slate for designing and implementing the lessons learned into a fresh idea.
What would you do with a clean slate?
Michelle Romanow, co-founder of Evandale Caviar, exemplifies this entrepreneurial journey. In her early 20s, Romanow, along with two friends from her engineering class, ventured into the caviar business. Their vision was to supply high-end restaurants worldwide. However, the luxury restaurant industry faced a significant downturn in 2008, leading to the failure of Evandale Caviar.
Undeterred, Romanow and her partners regrouped and launched Buytopia, a deal-of-the-day website, learning valuable lessons from their previous endeavour. As Buytopia evolved into a successful venture, the partners began exploring a third idea inspired by Romanow’s observation of large companies inefficiently using paper coupons.
From nothing to $25 million in 12 months
This new concept materialized as SnapSaves, a mobile app that notified shoppers of special offers and provided cashback for products featured in grocery receipts. Investing over $100,000 a month from Buytopia into SnapSaves, the founders quickly developed a market-ready product in 2013. Within a year, SnapSaves gained popularity among consumers and advertisers, attracting venture capital investment offers with an implied valuation of around $25 million.
While entertaining these offers, Groupon expressed interest in acquiring SnapSaves. After negotiations, Groupon doubled their initial offer, leading to the acquisition of SnapSaves less than a year after its launch.
The third time’s a charm
The underlying lesson from Romanow’s entrepreneurial journey is the value of early experiences, failures, and modest successes in creating the foundation for a true triumph. Successful entrepreneurs often clear the path to significant success by navigating through initial ventures, learning crucial lessons, and applying them to subsequent endeavours. In essence, getting the first few businesses out of the way sets the stage for a more profound and impactful success.
If you’re looking for your path to a big exit, you can contact us here for a consultation.