WatchPitch Podcast: For Start-Ups & Investors

For this Episode, our 6th this season, we are going to the Sauna House. Now you might be pausing right now, thinking huh, a Sauna House? You mean where you sweat, it’s hot, you take a cold plunge and get back in, and sweat some more? Yep, The Sauna House. Founder and Owner Andrew Locklin, after many entrepreneurial businesses, including a helicopter rental operation - you’ll hear more about that in a moment - turned to the ancient and time-tested tradition and experience of the sauna...and is now enterprising that for a national launch in 2022. He started the business the year before COVID and as you can imagine, had to shut it down, during COVID, but also with a loyal team, figured out a way to re-open and is turning a profit with scaling plans and momentum that is taking him nationwide

This is a new lifestyle and healing direction for Americans who are admittedly, a bit behind on what Europeans know full well, about the benefits of sauna. Andrew gets personal with his own discoveries as a business owner, his journey and some sage advice for navigating the passion that is at the origin story of every start-up entrepreneur and business owner.

This episode with Andrew covered so much turf and territory that many of us as entrepreneurs and business owners face. What’s particularly valuable here is a commitment to culture, from the inside-out. As a Founder and Owner, we have to inform our organization, our business operations and our passion around what we value most in order to be successful and rooted in the vision and mission of our passion to operate a business. For Andrew, people, planet and profit are at the center but I am also going to add one more element we discovered togethet in this podcast - a personal commitment to well-being. Without that, it’s clear that suffering is going to be part of the equation of our business experience. And most certainly, with a business focused on well-being, there is a daily reminder of that commitment.

We are indeed, on a threshold, a re-start and new beginning, looking forward against a challenging past...but a future with new opportunities to embrace.

Thanks for joining me, Trey Scott, and our guest, Andrew Locklin for Season 5, Episode # 6 of the WatchPitch Podcast and You Tube Channel program.

Our guest today is Simmons Lettre, Founder of Charter Board Partners. She regularly consults with the formation of Advisory Boards and Boards of Directors for Charter Schools, nationwide. Charter schools, in many respects are start-ups in the business of education. Charter schools are also innovators, by design, in a field that has been around, well, for centuries. The leadership of these organizations is key to their success and discovering best practices by applying emotional intelligence and design principles from experts at Stanford University are all part of our discussion that underscores how culture eats strategy for lunch. Give this a listen...as you reflect on your own organizational culture!

We learned from Simmons the importance of connecting the dots from our personal self-care and well being along and a sense of good flow, or friction, to determine for ourselves as leaders, how best to pivot when needed. And sometimes this means a closer look at what we are designing into the culture of our organizations...and the wisdom of having some fellow visionista’s or advisors and coaches nearby to help us along the way.
Thank you for listening !

Our guest today is Malinda Gagnon CEO with Uprise Partners and this, Part 2 now of an Interview with this group’s shared leadership with her husband, Brian Gagnon, in Episode 31 of our WatchPitch Podcast. We dive a little deeper into the metrics of what moves investors towards their investing; resources, time and expertise into a start-up. And perhaps you would be surprised to learn that some of this goes as deep as your soul. If a Founder and their team are not operating from a place of trust and a shared understanding of what true north means, to everyone, once faced with success or failure, this could spell for a less than brighter future if their understanding of this compass bearing is not shared. Give this a listen, you will be inspired and especially delighted to hear how a couple manage to invest their time together into future high growth businesses in parts of the country that are under-served and under-represented.

We learn from Malinda how a company’s soul must be at the forefront of understanding by everyone on the team, sharing common values to help guide the business through both successes and failures as well as the importance of having advisors who you can lean in on for counsel. Starting a business is tough and not for the fair-hearted, but rather for those whose passion can fuel their ideas, their teams and their advisors with a willingness to connect through thick and thin.

Welcome to Season 4 of the WatchPitch Podcast where we continue with our particular focus on exits... for start-ups, entrepreneurs and business owners...an exit strategy that could be the result of a Merger, an Acquisition or the outright sale of your business. Our focus is on what everyone needs when you are poised for an exit...a valuation... of exactly just what your business is worth. Redwood Valuation Director Tim Montgomery, a company with bases in San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Atlanta will surprise you in this episode as that number, that valuation, is more subjective than you think. What are the factors a valuation team is looking at ? Well we will discover how much the adage that investing in the jockey, more than the horse, is more accurate than you can imagine. The arc of the exit just isn’t being talked about enough and that’s why we are here...so, let’s jump in and get started!

So yes, there is a formula for determining value, especially when it is linked to 5-years in the future for investors. So if you are an owner, a Founder, building your business, if you aren’t planning for building your business to last, rather than just planning for your exit, your valuation and the interest of investors will fall way short of your expectations. Bottom line: build a team and business to last. We are thrilled you watched and/or listened to this WatchPitch Episode as we continue to explore the world of exits, mergers and acquisitions for business Founders and Owners ! Thank you for listening and/or watching the WatchPitch channel and podcast.

Welcome to Season 4 of the WatchPitch Podcast where we continue with our particular focus on exits... for start-ups, entrepreneurs and business owners...an exit strategy that could be the result of a Merger, an Acquisition or the outright sale of your business. Our guest today is David Madison, a serial business owner with 30+ years of Finance experience who is the guy you go to if you want to buy a business, or sell it. At the core of his guiding principles is the three-legged stool of any successful exit: a solid performing business independent of its owner/Founder, a buyer who knows how to execute that business and the culture fit involved with the blending of any Merger or Acquisition. Transition risk is real and in this episode you will learn more about it and how to lower that risk. The arc of the exit just isn’t being talked about enough and that’s why we are here...so, let’s jump in and get started!

Red flags, yellow flags and green flags for any exit strategy are real. Understanding how red flags can kill your exit strategy is reason enough to plan ahead and eliminate them so that what you have left is a structure for transition with your business that supports your exit...and, your partner’s newly acquired business. We are thrilled you watched and/or listened to this WatchPitch Episode as we continue to explore the world of exits, mergers and acquisitions for business Founders and Owners ! Thank you for listening and/or watching the WatchPitch channel and podcast.