Chris Savage - Buying Out Your Own Company

Transcript

1. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Buying Out Your Own Company https://linktr.ee/savagethoughts
2. Hello! 👋 I’m Chris Savage CEO & Founder at Wistia https://linktr.ee/savagethoughts
3. Hi, we’re
4. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC In 2017, we raised $17.3M in debt to do a leveraged buyout of our own company
5. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC How did we get here? And what happened next?
6. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC How did we get here? 🪚
7. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Started bootstrapped Started in 2006
8. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC 2010 Raised $1.4M in Angel Money
9. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We focused on getting profitable Once that happened we started focusing on long term stuff
10. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
11. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
12. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
13. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We hit $10M in Revenue with $3M in EBITDA
14. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We started running at a loss 💸
15. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Looked pretty good from the outside
16. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Looked pretty rough on the inside
17. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC “We talk a lot about short- term revenue now. Watching revenue and reacting to it is good. Basing all our work around its near-term movement is bad.” - VP of Engineering
18. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Missing a forecast ⛈
19. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Missing a forecast ⛈ -150K -75K 0K 75K 150K 225K 300K January February March April
20. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Where are we now? 10 years in $17M in ARR -$4M in EBITDA 82 Employees
21. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Three offers to sell 💰
22. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
23. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC What do we do now? 🤨
24. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC The Buyback 👔
25. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We did a tender offer 💸
26. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC What happened next? 🐎
27. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC The re-alignment began 🛠
28. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We introduced profit sharing 🍰
29. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Painful reality 😰
30. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
31. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC 1:1s with everyone 🗺
32. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Positive changes 🚀
33. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Culture coming back
34. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Retreats
35. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
36. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Growth 📈 Revenue growth rate increased Gross margins improved by 4% $10M swing in EBITDA in one year
37. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We were aligned, creative, and energetic 🔋
38. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Hiring was easier ✅ Everyone business focused ✅ People believed in independence ✅
39. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC We underestimate the power of focus
 and alignment
40. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC A few of years of smooth sailing⛵
41. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC COVID 🦠
42. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Our market became early stage again 🌅
43. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Our strategy was becoming unclear 🤷
44. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Video hosting and analytics for SMBs Our Strategy ♟
45. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC All-in-one video marketing platform for B2B mid-sized businesses Our Strategy ♟
46. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Our Values ⚖
47. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Invest more 🤑
48. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Re-introduced Equity 🪙
49. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
50. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
51. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC
52. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC It’s working 🏎
53. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Paid off our debt 💸
54. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC What have I learned? 🧠
55. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Things take longer than you think We underestimate focus When you make big changes, go for it
56. SUBTITLE, NAME, ETC Thank you! 🙏 https://linktr.ee/savagethoughts