7 Exits in the Pursuit of Passion

Today we’re talking to Travis Steffen. Travis has exited seven companies so far, and he’s going to share what he’s learned along the way, including lessons learned from a botched exit. He will help us understand what builds a successful business. We will also touch upon following our passions and how to find happiness as an entrepreneur when you’re always chasing the next best thing. He’s got some great tips, so you won’t want to miss it!

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• The first time Travis decided to become an entrepreneur and how he funded his first company.
• The types of businesses that Travis has run and how he got into them.
• Travis’s mindset as he gets into his businesses: What is he trying to accomplish? Does he keep the end in mind? Travis discusses how he used opportunities as stepping stones.
• One particular example of the sale of a company that Travis wishes he’d handled differently, including what he’d do now that would significantly increase the value of the business when it came time to sell.
• Travis’s thoughts on how people can switch industries based on his experience.
• How people can free themselves from what they’ve built: Travis recommends steps to follow.
• How Travis’s different exits have changed his mindset on what constitutes a successful finish.
• Travis’s definition of meaningful work and happiness as well as where he finds his fulfillment.
• Travis’s best advice for the exit journey, before and after.

Takeaways:

1. It’s important to systematize internal processes. If you’re doing things more than once, figure out a way to never have to do it again.
2. It’s important to find your passion. We are always chasing the numbers and the competition, but it’s more important to figure out the “why.”
3. Buyers just want an investment. They want cashflow with a good ROI. Know that your baby will eventually be someone else’s investment.

Links and Resources:

The Value Advantage

Viral Hero

Bax.co

About Travis Steffen:

Travis Steffen, author of Viral Hero, is a serial entrepreneur with 7 successful exits (and a few crash-and-burn failures) to his name. As a growth engineer, he specializes in building products that grow themselves.

After nearly a decade of running startups, Travis began to adopt a different way of building products by building the viral loops first, then finding product details that fit inside those structures. After seeing this strategy work, he set a goal to gain a deeper understanding of viral marketing mechanics so he could create a resource to teach founders and growth engineers how to use creative product architecture to grow their companies – rather than burning giant piles of cash. The result is Viral Hero – which has recently also expanded into an agency and accelerator.

Travis currently lives in San Francisco, and serves as the Head of Growth at Lottery.com – which he’s gone on record as saying will be his “viral Mona Lisa”. He also loves poker, Muay Thai, space, fantasy football, cryptocurrency, and a good rack of ribs.