How to Build a Billion-Dollar Business

CHAPTER 32FOR SALE!

The sale process started in March 2015. We gathered the executive team, allocated them roles and got to work. Goldman Sachs looked at the results that were coming in and estimated the value of the business to be around $700 million — a far cry from the $30 million (after debt) that had been touted three or four months earlier. It seemed, however, that Trevor still wanted to smooth our growth profile out to $70 million and have it progress at a slower rate than what the business was actually doing. I did not agree with this approach. The next day Adem told me that Trevor and Michael D. had approached him to step into my role! Adem, ever loyal, declined and said that if that were to happen, the entire executive team would walk.

Pitching the business

We split the team into groups to manage the various aspects of the sale process. Michael D. and I were responsible for managing the prospective bidders, and George was responsible for legals and led the ‘deal team’, which was a cluster of people from marketing, sales and legal tasked with keeping the data up-to-date with new due diligence developments. Goldman Sachs was responsible for generating interest from qualified bidders. To ensure the business wasn't distracted, only the deal team and the executive team knew of the sale process.

We did a pre-deal roadshow before the sale process began to get a feel for demand. We pitched the business quite broadly as we felt that our buyer could exist beyond Australia. ...