#146: How to Sell a SaaS, E-Commerce or Digitally Native Company

My guests today are Chris Shipferling and Jason Somerville both of Global Wired Advisors. Chris and Jason have a combined background in merger and acquisitions and digital marketing. Global Wired Advisors specializes in e-commerce businesses looking to diversify into traditional marketplaces. Chris and Jason tell me how they take their experience, that usually is used for huge, monstrous companies and make it accessible to the lower end of the multi-million level companies. They share some examples they have seen within their business and the opportunities that many businesses seem to be overlooking. Including traditional brick and mortar businesses making their brand available to the online market path.

What you will learn:

• Chris and Jason’s backgrounds and meeting a need for their clients.
• The more choices you offer, the more value you can provide a buyer.
• How Global Wired Advisors is different from traditional M&A.
• The hit and miss nature of the e-commerce space.
• The change in thinking within the market regarding risk-pricing.
• How the market, in general, is evolving.
• The various strategies to diversify your business.
• The 3 keys buyers look at when considering purchasing your business.
• The importance of educating yourself before selling.
• Jason and Chris’s process when they start with a new client.
• Things you can do to prepare your business for diversification.

Takeaways:

If you are a brick and mortar business call someone like Quiet Light Brokerage, or Global Wired Advisors and discuss your options. The online space is a cheaper option that won't last for long. If you are on the flip side on the online e-commerce side then start taking your business in a more traditional direction. There is a lot of opportunity for diversification.

Links and Resources:

GEXP Collaborative
GEXP Accelerator Program
Global Wired Advisors
Life After Business Podcast

About Chris:

Chris Shipferling is a Founder, Managing Partner and Head of Business Development for Global Wired Advisors. Chris began his career 15 years ago in consumer product sales and has held various Sales and Digital Marketing Executive roles at companies ranging in size from $20 to $300 million. Since 2013 Chris has focused on high level consulting for multi-million dollar omnichannel, digitally native, and Amazon-based private label and re-seller brands. Chris is adept at both Vendor Central and Seller Central Amazon businesses and that experience is why Chris has come on board with Global Wired Advisors. Chris brings rich multi-channel digital expertise, helping both sellers and buyers reach their full potential by maximizing sales on their native platform before and after the sale. Whether entering or exiting the internet space, we seek to make that transition as profitable as possible for both sides.

About Jason:

Jason is one of the Founders and Managing Partners of Global Wired Advisors. Jason began his career in investment banking almost 20 years ago and spent the first ten years of his professional life executing capital markets transactions for Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies. After completing hundreds of transactions with a total value of over $150 Billion, he became a serial entrepreneur. For the next seven years, he bought, built and sold small and medium-sized online and traditional businesses. In 2016, he started Global Wired Advisors with Joe Hogg, Chris Bodnar, and Chris Shipferling so that, together, they could use their depth of capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and e-commerce business building experience to assist internet entrepreneurs with exiting their businesses at the maximum possible value.