From a $500 Launch to a Multi-Million Dollar Exit, with Mitch Skyer

Owners who think they need more capital to start: hear how a $500 launch became a multi-million dollar exit. Justin Goodbread sits down with Mitch Skyer, who co-founded a transportation technology company and later sold it, to talk about building, partnering, and exiting.

In this episode: Mitch Skyer was a consultant in the transportation space when one of his clients needed to track when people got on and off a bus. He cobbled together a database himself, then met a technology owner at an Atlanta networking meeting who looked at it and said they could build it better. They offered the client a lifetime license in exchange for funding the build, and that first client became the start of the company Mitch and his partner Scott grew together.

They talk honestly about the early years: praying to make payroll each month, losing time down engineering rabbit holes before finding product-market fit, and why Mitch deliberately chose a partner who covered his weaknesses, even living in Dave Ramsey country where partnerships get a bad name. Mitch and Scott had no exit plan until roughly two years before their sale. COVID-19 changed that. As Mitch puts it, they realized their risk was infinite but their opportunity was not. The company was growing, but it was never going to reach $100 million or $500 million on its path.

From there they cover a year of due diligence fatigue, the emotional swings when one partner is up and the other is down, the pride of hearing a buyer value what they built, and what they did for their people afterward. Justin ties it back to the AMAA finding that only about 4% of owners are happy after they sell, and to a client stuck at a $3 million revenue ceiling who added about $1 million in transferable value before taking an offer.

About Mitch Skyer: Mitch Skyer co-founded a transportation technology company with his partner Scott, growing it from a single funded client build into a business they sold after deciding their risk outweighed their remaining upside. He later earned the CEPA designation through the Exit Planning Institute and now helps owners prepare for growth and exit.

What you'll learn:

• How a consulting problem with one client became a technology company
• Why Mitch chose a partner who complemented his weaknesses
• What the early years of making payroll taught him
• Why Mitch and Scott had no exit plan until about two years before the sale
• Infinite risk, limited opportunity: how COVID-19 triggered the decision to sell
• What due diligence fatigue feels like while you keep running the business
• Why only about 4% of owners are happy after they sell, and how to be one of them
• How a firm stuck at $3 million added about $1 million in transferable value

Key takeaways:

• Our risk was infinite, but our opportunity was not.
• You do not have to be the best in the world at the start. You have to commit to learning your customers' needs.
• If your business runs entirely on your personality and daily knowledge, that is not an asset. It is your ceiling.

Who this episode is for: owners of small and service-based businesses thinking about selling a business, bringing in a business partner, or planning an exit they will be happy with.

Built from a small start to a big exit? Apply to tell that story: https://www.decamillionairedecoded.com/ If you advise owners who are approaching a sale, the Million Dollar Advisor training shows how Justin built and exited his own firm: https://youtu.be/84rh5RNuvvM Exit planning programs, including CEPA programs, can bring Justin in to speak; details are on his speaking page: https://justingoodbread.com/speaking