The 9-Figure Exit: Scaling a Restaurant Tech Powerhouse with Kevin Rice

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth? With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business, and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business. You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit -- In this episode, we dive into the remarkable journey of Kevin Rice, co-founder of a premier digital consultancy that achieved a massive nine-figure exit in late 2021. From teaching himself to build websites in a college dorm to leading a team of over 250 people, Kevin shares the gritty details of scaling, failing, and eventually winning big. Key Takeaways: The Power of Hyper-Niche: How shifting from a generalist agency to focusing exclusively on the restaurant industry ignited their growth trajectory. Building "NomNom": Why creating proprietary Intellectual Property (IP) changed their valuation and boosted their new business close rates to 80%. The "Second Job" of Selling: Why founders must be prepared for the grueling reality of running a company while simultaneously managing a full-time acquisition process. Surviving the Pandemic: How doubling down on digital transformation (online ordering and loyalty programs) helped their clients survive COVID-19 and grew their business by 100% in 2021. The Banker Advantage: Why Kevin highly recommends hiring a professional banker to create competition among buyers and maximize enterprise value. -- Kevin Rice is an entrepreneur, operator, and leadership thinker with a track record of building and scaling high growth companies from the ground up. He has grown a startup from just a few people into a multi hundred employee organization with a successful nine figure exit. Kevin is also the host of the CEOs and ABCs podcast, where he explores how high performers can lead effectively at work while showing up fully in their personal lives. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmrice/ CEO’s and ABC’s Podcast - https://www.ceosandabcs.com/ -- Timestamps: [00:33] The "Garage Start": Meeting his co-founder at Cal Poly and starting out in a dorm room. [03:34] The Pivot: Narrowing the focus to the restaurant industry after a 2016 layoff. [05:58] The Differentiator: Developing "NomNom" IP to move beyond the "we have the best people" agency cliché. [08:16] The Failed Deal: A raw look at an acquisition that fell through the day before Christmas. [13:14] COVID-19 Impact: How the pandemic accelerated the need for digital dining and fueled massive growth. [18:16] Lessons Learned: The mistake of trying to run two different business models (SaaS vs. Service) at once. [24:24] Personal Reflection: Kevin’s advice on being present for family while achieving high-level success. -- The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/