Beyond A Million

Nick Bradley, known as 'The Exit Guy,' helps entrepreneurs and investors scale via M&A to create high-value exits. Over the last decade, he has built, bought, and sold 26 businesses with a combined valuation of $5.2 billion. He's been the CEO of 7 different companies, ranging in size from 15 to 400+ employees. Today, Nick shares what he's learned in managing over 100 acquisitions, including the ins and outs of private equity, negotiating exits, and navigating powder-keg boardrooms. We talk about Nick's journey from an 18-year-old fitness trainer to leading a $2.3 billion deal to his eventual decision to quit the world of private equity entirely. You'll also hear about how Nick used ultramarathons to train his mind for the boardroom, how he prepares companies for a sale, and how to sell a business without going through investment banking. Key Takeaways with Nick Bradley The evaluation steps Nick takes when helping founders position and negotiate exits. Nick's 2 requirements for business owners who want to grow and scale quickly. How Nick sells businesses without going through investment banking. Why Nick believes PE firms place too much emphasis on financials when evaluating a company (and the areas they don't consider enough). Strategically tweaking your emotional state to align yourself with the outcome you want. The potential risks PE firms take when replacing the original founder with a scale-up CEO. Nick's equation for driving exponential growth for any business. The 2 types of entrepreneurs Nick sees and where each type excels. The internal dynamics of private equity that led to Nick leaving the industry. The interplay between endurance training and winning in business. How attending all of Tony Robbins' events for a year transformed Nick's way of thinking and gave him the tools to achieve new levels of success. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Mike Filsaime is the CEO of Groove Digital, one of the fastest-growing software platforms for digital and e-commerce marketers. As an online marketing expert, educator, and consultant, Mike claims to have done more $1M launches than any other marketer in history. In this episode, Mike shares his journey from college dropout to launching, managing, and scaling SaaS companies that have done over $175M in sales. He talks about the pros and cons of different pricing strategies, his process for increasing the lifetime value of a customer, and how his approach to running companies has changed after multiple successful exits. You'll also hear Mike's "best tip" regarding products and offers, what he views as "the 2 most powerful things in marketing," and his main focus when it comes to scaling. Key Takeaways with Mike Filsaime Lifetime access vs. ongoing subscription pricing and how each can affect the lifetime value of a customer. How does a consumer's mindset change when buying a product vs. buying an offer? The value Mike sees in the freemium model and how to optimize it. The metric Mike is currently focused on for scaling. How Mike leverages and evaluates open-source platforms to make SaaS development easier. How marrying multiple pricing models can increase the lifetime value of a company. The equation Mike calculates when running paid ads. Mike's early entry into the SaaS space and how he believes consumer preferences have changed as the space evolves. Weighing work against retirement and finding purpose after achieving financial goals. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Keala Kanae is the founder and CEO of Fullstaq Marketer and went from working in a coffee shop to making millions as an affiliate marketer. He launched his own courses and coaching program and scaled to 60 employees and $20 million in revenue in his first year—the majority of which came from a single YouTube funnel. In this episode, Keala joins me to talk about navigating the challenges that come with scaling your business, how he builds his sales funnels and closes high-ticket offers, and his step-by-step email marketing blueprint that has helped him hit a 59.1% open rate. You'll hear about what Keala believes is the best leverage an affiliate offer can have, how to pick KPI data that can help your business, and how to adapt business models for increasingly intelligent consumers. Key Takeaways with Keala Kanae How Keala scaled to $20M in revenue and 60 employees in his first year The step-by-step guide Keala used to get his email open rates to 59.1% An inside look at the challenges that come with scaling rapidly Best hiring practices for scaling beyond $1M Email marketing mistakes that will negatively impact your open rates—and how to avoid them A key metric that can help guide your hiring decisions as you scale How Keala builds his sales funnel from low to high-ticket offers How to efficiently monetize leads by segmenting your audience to align them with the offer that suits them best Why raising prices on front-end offers can be a big mistake and how you can use the Amazon model to drive long-term value Prioritizing KPIs without getting lost in the weeds (and the crucial KPI segment to keep your eye on) What are the four core concepts of affiliate marketing? Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Perry Belcher is an investor, direct response marketer, and serial entrepreneur who has built multiple startups throughout his career. Most notably, he Co-Founded Digital Marketer with Ryan Deiss, a digital marketing training company that coaches over 300,000 students and hosts the largest marketing event in North America, Traffic & Conversion Summit. In this episode, Perry shares audience-monetization tactics from his rollercoaster entrepreneurship journey. At age 20, he owned 42 retail stores before going bankrupt at age 22. Soon after, he rebounded to doing $3-4 million a month before having his assets seized by the State of Tennessee. Finally, Perry used the "Randolph Hearst" model to build and scale his digital marketing business. You'll learn multiple strategies for creating income streams from your existing audience, how creating a specific customer avatar can lead to unexpected revenue opportunities, and how you can use "dead" traffic to create beneficial business relationships. Key Takeaways with Perry Belcher Maximizing LTV of your audience by building a specific customer avatar. How to cross-sell your existing audience by using the "Randolph Hearst" model. Evaluating and pursuing other ventures when your main business is doing well. How Perry changed his sales strategy to win more customers amidst a recession. Why is the U.S. tax structure favorable for entrepreneurs? Determining when it's time to add additional offers outside of your core product. Multiple ways to monetize your audience lists. Using referrals to provide value and foster mutually beneficial business relationships. How one of Perry's Funnel Hacking students became a millionaire from a one-location pooper scooper business. The evolution of the digital payment space and how different generations prefer different payment methods. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

JeVon McCormick is the CEO and majority Co-Owner of Scribe Media, a multi-million dollar publishing company that helps people write, publish, and market their books. Scribe was ranked #1 Top Company Culture in America by Entrepreneur Magazine and has worked with 2,200 authors including The Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Former CEO of Chipotle, Monty Moran, and David Goggins, whose bestselling book Can't Hurt Me, sold over 2 million copies. As someone who was named Best CEO in Austin, TX, I wanted to talk to JeVon about his approach to managing Scribe's business operations. You'll learn why he believes most founders are following a broken playbook, the roles and responsibilities that he's focused on as a CEO, and his people-first leadership style that allows Scribe Media to continue to scale. Key Takeaways with JeVon McCormick Hiring for character instead of where someone went to school. Why JeVon dislikes phrases such as "attract and retain" or "human capital" when referring to the people who work for you. Why JeVon celebrates staff who decide to leave for new opportunities. Should employees have to give two weeks notice when quitting? Creating SOPs and making sure no individual holds all the "Institutional Knowledge." Why startup founders need to be willing to abandon the CEO title if they're not the right fit for the role. What makes a great CEO? Why JeVon believes Tim Cook is one of the greatest operators of all time. The roles and responsibilities of a CEO. Find out why JeVon believes society has weaponized the word "diversity." The 3 C's that JeVon uses to find out what the company is doing great. Hear Scribe's work-with-you process for writing books for authors. Understanding the distribution of sales across audiobooks, kindle, and print. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Los Silva is an entrepreneur and advisor who has helped hundreds of companies in eCommerce, SaaS, Real Estate (and more) to grow, scale and exit their businesses. He owns multiple agencies in the eCommerce, social media, and creator spaces and has spent over $100M in advertising, helping numerous brands scale to 8 and 9-figure sales. In this episode, Los shares his story from hustling to sell video projectors online, to leveraging his network and building eCommerce brands that scale. You'll hear Los talk about the power of brand. He explains that in his early career as a digital marketer, his primary focus was on launching high-ticket offers. While it was a quick way to make money, he realized sales could drop just as fast as they could jump, resulting in a volatile business model. Today, he builds brands that last, making them more attractive for future acquisitions. We also discuss using social media to drive sales, what to do when a business partnership fails, tactics to qualify leads, and more. Key Takeaways with Los Silva The high-ticket sales funnel Los uses to sell a $35k/year consulting service. Paid and organic advertising tactics to target your ideal clients and drive more sales. How Los uses paid preview events to qualify leads and generate new business. Is your money better spent with a marketing agency or a publishing company? Find out which one is incentivized to actually help grow your business. Los shares his approach to moving on when partnerships fail. Hear how Powerhouse Brands helps business owners build, scale, and exit their companies. The downside to building an offer instead of building a brand. Los' prerequisites for acquiring new companies. Seeing beyond top-line numbers to understand the actual performance of a business. How Los went from losing everything during the 2008 market crash to launching Startup Jungle with Ryan Deiss. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Tero Isokauppila is the Founder and CEO of Four Sigmatic, an omnichannel CPG brand specializing in nutrient-dense foods like mushroom coffee and plant-based protein. Founded in 2012, Four Sigmatic is predominantly bootstrapped with under 40 employees and has grown into a multiple 8-figure business. In this episode, Tero tells the story of growing up on his family's farm in Finland, where his grandparents brewed mushrooms during the Second World War when coffee beans were scarce. He learned to appreciate off-the-beaten-path ingredients—like Chaga—and leaned into that experience to share his Finnish traditions with an American market eager to explore healthier coffee alternatives. You'll hear the direct-to-consumer path he took to gain traction early on in the US market, his process for collecting real-time consumer feedback, and how he streamlined operations by outsourcing manufacturing and fulfillment. Key Takeaways from Tero Isokauppila The origin story of how Four Sigmatic started and scaled to multiple 8-figures. Pivoting from retail to direct-to-consumer (sub $10M) and the early warning signs that Four Sigmatic had something special. Is doubling revenue every year with a physical product sustainable? How Tero used influencer marketing to gain traction early on in the US market. Tero's process for optimizing a product offering by collecting real-time consumer feedback—and why too much feedback can sometimes do more harm than good. The difficulty of starting and operating a CPG business and why Tero decided to outsource manufacturing and fulfillment from day one. A pro tip on how to find great mentors. Formulating your own product versus white-labeling. Shocking facts about ingestible supplements and foods that most consumers don't realize. Hear Tero's helpful tips for buying safe and reliable products. A simple hack for conducting competitive research for your business. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Darius Mirshahzadeh is a serial bootstrapper, podcaster, bestselling author, and the Founder of The Real Darius. While he has started, scaled, and sold multiple 7 and 8-figure businesses, his largest company to date, was as CEO and Co-Founder of The Money Source—a mortgage lending business that he grew from 30 to 1,000 employees and $209M in annual revenue. He exited the company in 2020. Throughout his years as an entrepreneur, Darius has ranked #9 on Glassdoor's list of Top CEOs of Small and Medium Companies in the US, was named "#3 Best Place to Work" by San Francisco Business Times, and landed #40 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies. He's the host of The Greatness Machine podcast and author of The Core Value Equation: A Framework to Drive Results, Create Limitless Scale and Win the War for Talent. In today's episode, Darius shares stories, strategies, and insights from building companies and hiring 5,000+ people over his lifetime as an entrepreneur. You'll learn how he filters for top talent when hiring, the systems he uses at different stages of company growth, and how he leverages core values to increase ROI and scale 7, 8, and 9-figure businesses. Key Takeaways from Darius Mirshahzadeh Growing from 30 to 1,000 employees and $209M in annual revenue in 3 years. Managing the ups and downs of the super volatile mortgage industry and why Darius sees himself as the Lebron James of scale. How to build the scaffolding to support different levels of company growth. Designing an environment to scale and using systems to measure and manage performance. 3 important responsibilities of a high-performing CEO. Intentionally filtering for core values when hiring. Why "good" is not good enough when hiring for higher level roles. Hiring and grooming from within versus hiring externally. At what point in your business do you need to build core values? Darius's 3-step framework for designing core values that people actually follow. Who needs to be part of the process of designing a company's core values? Can the core values change over time? Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Ryan Pineda is a serial entrepreneur and real estate investor who started flipping houses in 2015. In the span of 2 years, he built a social media following of over 1.5 million people, teaching others how to build wealth and freedom. He now owns 500+ rental properties and has bootstrapped 9 different businesses, each generating 7 to 8-figures per year in revenue. In today's episode, I join Ryan in his Las Vegas studio, where he shares how he went from flipping couches on Craigslist to building a growing ecosystem of multiple 8-figure brands. You'll learn that the consistent throughline to Ryan's success is his unwavering belief in what he sets out to accomplish. In this episode, we dive into a number of topics around how he starts, scales, and structures his companies, along with how each venture builds and feeds off one another. We also talk about his expertise as a content creator and how he leverages social media to funnel leads into businesses to generate more sales. Key Takeaways with Ryan Pineda How Ryan hired 100+ people and leveraged technology to bootstrap and scale 9 different businesses generating multiple 8-figures. Creating an ecosystem of businesses that support and uplevel one another. Hear how Ryan structures his leadership team across his various companies. How to start new ventures without getting distracted. The high-margin, low-risk industry that Ryan is doubling down on. Owning versus partnering. Profit sharing, perks, and incentivizing employees. The advantages of a holding company. Long-term vision versus playing day-to-day. Ryan's outlook on meeting and connecting with the most influential entrepreneurs and celebrities. The #1 trait that Ryan believes you need to win as an entrepreneur. The content creation playbook Ryan uses to warm up his audience, generate leads, and make more sales. A breakdown of Ryan's entire content team and social media strategy The trend toward unscripted and authentic content. Evergreen content versus trending topics. Hear about Ryan's early years as an entrepreneur, from barely scraping by as a realtor to flipping 50 homes in a single year. Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥

Matthew Bertulli is the CEO of Pela—a green tech company founded by Jeremy Lang that creates consumer products from environmentally sustainable materials. The company was ranked #9 on the list of fastest-growing companies in Canada and earned a valuation of $100M in 2020. Matthew and Jeremy carved out a new market category when they launched Pela Case, the world's first 100% compostable, eco-friendly phone case; now a multiple 8-figure brand. They continued to expand their product line and more recently launched Lomi, their electric kitchen composter that turns food waste into dirt. According to their website, Pela's customers have prevented the equivalent of 48,433,866 plastic bags from entering our oceans. In this episode, I talk with Matthew about his experience starting and scaling companies. Interestingly, his first business was steadily bootstrapped over 10 years, eventually selling to a PE firm for 8-figures. On the flip side, Pela is VC funded and rapidly growing. You'll get to hear his strategies for building a brand people want to talk about, why the investors on your cap table matter, and how he applies a bootstrapped mindset to running a VC-backed company. Key Takeaways with Matthew Bertulli Bootstrapping and scaling his first company (Demac Media) and the private equity acquisition deal that resulted in an 8-figure exit. How Matthew helped develop an entirely new market category by commercializing the world's first compostable phone case. Pela Case is now a multiple 8-figure business. Launching Lomi—a home appliance by Pela that magically turns food waste into dirt. Deliberately crafting a marketing message so that other people will repeat it. The factors that influenced Matthew and his partner to transition from a bootstrapped company to venture-backed. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan Matthew's company uses to incentivize employees. How becoming financially independent impacts how Matthew makes business decisions as an entrepreneur. Why Matthew believes that the experience gained through bootstrapping makes you a better entrepreneur. Does the credibility of your VC investors impact how much you can raise? Subscribe to the Podcast We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find some golden nuggets within this interview. Trust us, it's there! If you want episodes delivered straight to your inbox, consider subscribing to the show and we'll email you each time a new episode is released! Thanks for tuning it & keep being awesome. BAM! 💥