Podcast Interview – Life After Business

I recently connected with fellow entrepreneur Ryan Tansom for an interview on his podcast, Life After Business, to talk about my entrepreneurial journey – the failures, the successes, fundraising, changing business models, finding your stride, and more.  You can listen to the full discussion here:

https://lifeafterbusinesscom.castos.com/episodes/-16085

and here’s a nice summary (copy / pasted from the GEXP Collaborative Life After Business website):

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The co-founder of HAAWK, Inc. Ryan Born joins me for today’s episode. Before HAAWK, Ryan was the founder and CEO of AudioMicro, Inc. AudioMicro was a media rights management company. Its most successful venture was AdRev. Ryan explains what that service was and why he felt it worked.

We take the journey with Ryan through AudioMicro’s beginnings, the pivots, the changes in the media rights industry, and what life was like after AudioMicro changed owners. This episode is a great example of the struggle and the hustle many entrepreneurs face on a daily basis.

What you will learn about:

• Ryan’s early career as a CPA.
• His time with WireImage and what it taught him.
• The only two things that generate wealth.
• The changes in the media rights industry.
• The problems Ryan saw with the system.
• How AudioMicro and microstock changed the system.
• How Ryan raised the capital for AudioMicro.
• The mistakes he made early on in the business.
• Ryan’s advice for building an effective pitch.
• Why EBITDA is important and not important at the same time.
• Other factors that buyers look at during a sale.
• Why you need to break even as soon as possible.
• The struggles AudioMicro had in the beginning.
• The list of avenues AudioMicro tried that didn’t work.
• Why you need to choose your investors wisely.
• How AdRev worked.
• Why Ryan didn’t hire an investment banker for his sale of AudioMicro.
• The indicators that it was time to sell.
• The dance Ryan and his investors did to get offers.
• How getting the best offer is like playing poker.
• The benefit of having a knowledgeable team around you.
• What happened after AudioMicro sold.
• The beginnings of HAAWK.
• The thing Ryan is doing differently with HAAWK.
• Ryan’s parting words for the audience.