If They Can Be Worth $400 Million, You Can Have An 8-Figure Exit

What's up team? Before we dive in, I want you to go to capitalism.com start. This is where we put all of our best free stuff on starting and building a seven figure business. So if you are looking for the right business to start or you haven't yet crossed seven figures, go over to capitalism.com start. This is our starting page where we put all of our best stuff for free. And there's actually a 10 part series on there that'll walk you through the methodology that I use to build businesses that I can scale and sell. So go there now. It's capitalism.com start.

Hello my friends. Welcome to capitalism.com I'm Ryan Daniel Moran and I am really excited to be with you today. I just got off the phone with somebody who is the founder of a company that I invested in, a company, a company called Outstanding Foods. They do plant based chips and pork rinds and other like snacky foods. They're a really cool company. We featured them in the 1% box a couple of times once or twice. And the CEO, the founder's name is Bill. And we were doing an episode, one of our case studies for the capitalism incubator. And the Capitalism incubator is our six month hands on training for building a business that you can scale or sell. And that training is called eight figure exits. And it's all about building a business that has the capabilities of being scaled and sold to eight figures. And Bill was one of the case studies on there. And when we stopped recording the case study, he said something really interesting to me. He was talking about the vision for the exit that they were gonna do for Outstanding Foods. And I'm a small investor, I own like less than 1% of the company. But it's still exciting to hear about a company that is thinking about an exit. And he was just kind of talking me through some of the different options that they had. And he dropped this knowledge bomb on me that has me all type of jizzer jazzered up today. He says, hey, are you familiar with Laird Superfoods? And I was like, yeah, the coffee creamer company, they do coffee creamers and some other like low carb stuff. And one of the founders is Laird Hamilton, I think the famous surfer. He doesn't run the company, he's not the CEO of the company, but it's named after him. And they do about $19 million in revenue, which is nothing to sneeze at. That's a great company. But that's probably only a handful of employees and that's distribution in probably Whole Foods and a few other big stores. And they sell a Decent amount on Amazon.com $19 million in revenue isn't setting the world on fire, right? $19 million is having good distribution, good visibility on Amazon and he's a food company, so the profit margins of that probably aren't huge. Well, I didn't know this, but Laird Superfoods has just gone public as of a few weeks ago and they went public with $19 million in revenue, which is very low revenue to go public. And their current market cap is $425 million. $425 million.

On a $19 million company. This was a brain gasm for me because it made me see just how big the opportunity that you and I have been sitting on is. It was one thing to see the E commerce game be an easy way to sell products online and then it was another to see that these businesses could be sold for eight figure paydays like I had. Very thankful to have that eight figure exit. It set me up for life. But then there's this other completely different level in which there are acquisitions being had in the mid nine figures at companies no bigger than many of the companies and founders that you know or that you have heard on this podcast or that you interact with inside the 1% community. There are people in your circle that run companies that do 10 to 25 million dollars in revenue just by having decent visibility, distribution, maybe a couple influencers, a good positioning on Amazon.com I mean there, there are people like if we just look at kind of the people here in the network. Jeff Lieber is kind of our Amazon guy, not quite on staff, but in our midst. Today you could start a company, give Jeff Lieber the reins to your Amazon store. You could then hire somebody from the community to do run your E commerce, partner with a couple of influencers, raise capital to fund the whole thing and have a nine figure business. This is just amazing, the opportunity we sit on. I've become acquaintances with Trevor Blake. Trevor is the author of Three Simple Steps which is my most gifted book of this year. His follow up book is called Secrets of a Successful Startup and he talks about what he calls the hub model. The hub model in a business is where he raises money and then he just hires out agencies to do the different parts of the business. So he never has an employee, but he just has agencies that report back to him. And he has used that model to have 18 figure exit and 29 figure exits. Never having an employee, but using the money that he Raises to create relationships with agencies and people to run all the operations. My brain is just spinning after seeing the valuation of Laird Superfood, Creamers and Trevor's hub model, my brain just can't slow down. So that brings me to the context of what I wanted to chat with you about today because I've been able to isolate a few things in common that companies that really break out have all in common. And this has come up when talking to several of the case studies inside of Cap Inc. The capitalism incubator. So far we have featured Moise Ali, who built and sold native deodorant for $100 million. Brian Lee, who founded LegalZoom and ShoeDazzle and the Honest Company and Art of Sport. And he was the principal investor behind Honey, the app, which sold for $4 billion to PayPal. We featured Bill Glaser, who has a nine figure exit on his resume. An eight figure exit on his resume. No, I'm sorry, they're both nine figure exits. And now he's building Outstanding Foods. We featured Trevor Blake and then some case studies that have come from our community who run seven or eight figure businesses. And all of these companies have a couple things in common. The most important thing is this. The company was founded with a very clear vision or mission in mind. In our little world, we love to talk about revenue numbers, profit numbers, sales, and how big a company is going. But the companies that do extremely well are not founded for the purpose of just taking sales. They are founded for the purpose of some greater mission or vision. So in my buddy Trevor's case, his vision was to come up with treatments for rare types of cancer that didn't have any side effects. That was the vision, that was the mission. And even though there wasn't a clear roadmap on how to get there yet, that was his intent and that was what he cast his vision on. And it was that reason that he's been able to build a very, very successful company. In fact, the company that he has now he estimates to be worth about a billion dollars. Now, he doesn't own all of that, but he owns a nice chunk of that. So that will make him, you know, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If you take the example of the person that I was just speaking with, Bill Glaser, who built outstanding foods, his vision was to make plant based eating fun and easy. And so there's a bunch of different products that can fit into that. Neither one of those men were stuck on this idea of having the perfect product, but having a great product. Is part of the overall mission and vision of the company. And so often in the Amazon community, the E commerce community, the Internet marketing community, the focus is all on choosing the right product or having the right sales mechanism and in order to make money. And that's great, go make as much money as you want. But the ones who make the most money are not the people who have that focus. They have the focus on creating a clear vision or having a clear mission for the company. Oh my goodness. I'm just realizing how small I have thought and so many entrepreneurs have thought when they are coming at this from the perspective of what's a good product to sell or what is a good market to get into. The real question is, what is the vision that you want to bring to life? If you had unlimited capital and you had unlimited expertise and you had unlimited time, what is the vision that you would like to carry out? Because the answer is that there is unlimited capital. Capital is easy. There's capital floating around all over the world. I told our capitalism incubator students this past week, we're working right now on putting pitch decks together. And even if they don't want to raise money or they don't want to partner with anybody, having a pitch deck is a very good way to raise awareness and PR for a company. So we're making them do the exercise. And when it comes to the end of the pitch, I told them, if you don't know what to put at the end of your pitch deck, value your company at a million dollars and say that you're raising $250,000 at a million dollar valuation. And some of them say you need $250,000 to build a company. No, you don't. But it's time that you start thinking about your company as a million dollar company that is on its way to an eight figure valuation. And if you do that, you will start building for it. And in order to get that, you need to have a very clear vision and mission in mind in order to justify the valuation that you want. So so many people will look at this and say, there's a good opportunity here for me to sell this product. And I say that is the wrong way to look at your next opportunity. The right way to look at your next opportunity is what is the vision that you want to bring to life? Because all of the resources out there, the money, the people, the time, the talent, the products, they're all out there. Your job is to be the assembler of that. It's to bring resources together. I quote him all the time. But my, I like to call my mentor, he would just call me his homie. Brian Lee inspired me so much to sit in the owner's chair. To sit in the owner's chair and to say, I'll raise the money over here, I'll bring in the CEO over here, and I'll bring in the team over here. And those pieces will come together to build out the vision for the company that I have in mind. I'll come up with the idea and I will sit in the owner's chair and I will bring the resources together to be able to carry out that vision. So your vision and your mission is the thing that is probably missing in your business, that is preventing you from having the type of customers that you want, having the type of clients that you want, having the type of exposure that you want. And if you fix that piece, all other dominoes follow after that. Now, after that, the next clear thing that is in place is an acquisition strategy, a strategy for acquiring customers.

I pick on Amazon sellers a lot because I know there's a lot of you that listen to the show. And the reason I pick on them is because Amazon sellers tend to get so platform obsessed that they miss that. The purpose of business is to acquire customers and to keep customers. And when you are only selling on Amazon, you are not doing either of those things. You're just trying to get a piece of Amazon's customers rather than creating your own customers. Now, if you have a clear mission and you are well capitalized as a company, there's a bunch of different acquisition strategies that will allow you to get unlimited number of customers. I mean, you could just go sponsor a bunch of podcasts, you might lose money in the process, but you'd acquire some companies, you acquire some customers in the process. The goal is not to be profitable from day one, but to acquire the amount of customers that you need to be able to sell more products, have future launches, and have them be so revved up about your company that they tell all the people that they know that they're the ideal fit for your business. So your initial launch can be profitable. It doesn't have to be profitable. It simply needs to put you in a position to get your ideal people following you, buying from you and recommending you. And that's how you will hit the ground running at the beginning of a business. Now, in order to do that, you need to be very well capitalized. Well capitalized means you either have access to debt, you have access to equity, you've done a Raise or you are well capitalized by you putting in the money yourself. I have come full circle on this where I, I now see the benefit of raising money at the beginning of a business. Whereas before I was a little bit more protective about controlling my business. And I'm even thinking about going back and doing raises for the companies I'm a part of, including capitalism.com because I realize now that if I had a few million dollars of other people's money as equity in the business, I'd move a lot faster. I would be more accountable to the vision of the company and I would go out and acquire the team that I need to execute the vision that's in my brain. Because the truth is, even though I've had an eight figure exit, I use that money to make sure that I would never have to worry about money again. And if I roll all of that into the company, though, now I'm worried about money again and I don't want to play like that. So if I do a raise, then I can, I don't need any of the money myself. I can put it all into the company. I can invest into the company to ensure that we hit our numbers and, and we're on track. I get the right team members and we're in a position to win. So companies that really break out have a clear vision or mission. They have a clear acquisition strategy, they're well capitalized and finally they have strong teams. You overvalue your skillset as an entrepreneur. If you are doing the detail work and the grind work of your company, you have overvalued what you bring to the table. Your job is not to be figuring out every piece of the business. It is to set the overall vision and mission of the company, to make sure you never run out of money and to ensure that you have the very best talent on your team. That's your job as an entrepreneur. If you're doing anything outside of those three things, and I'm speaking to myself when I say this too, you are not performing the tasks that are required for you as a CEO to win. Your job is not to ensure that every department has everything they need. It is the department's lead. That's their job. It is your job to set the vision, ensure that there's money in the bank account, and to ensure that you have the absolute best talent. If you do those three things, you put yourself in a position to have an eight or a nine figure exit like Laird Superfood does, like Brian Lee does, like Bill Glaser does. Like Sarah Blakely does, like the entrepreneurs who are truly creating change and getting rich in the process. I'm so fired up about this because I'm seeing the light bulbs come on in the students that are going through the capitalism incubator. Because I'm watching what happens when I bring the knowledge from my network of entrepreneurs who have built breakout companies and giving it to new, hungry entrepreneurs who, who are excited about casting a new vision. And you bring their knowledge to the minds that are fresh and doing something new. And we live in this marketplace where we're still in the second or third inning of the e commerce boom and we're now starting to get recognized by the rest of the business community from companies that are going public, companies that are doing raises, companies that are having acquisitions in the eight and nine figure range. I mean, look at Beyond Meat, for goodness sake. Beyond meat is worth $10 billion and they're barely even profitable. And it's because they have the distribution. They're in the right market at the right time. They were a market leader. They're not even the best in their industry anymore, but they have brand. And when you combine those things and you live in today's marketplace, you can really build as big a company as you want. And you don't even need that much capital. You don't even need a team. And I'm just seeing the world move faster and faster and faster. And so if you are on the sidelines right now, the thing that is probably stopping you is a lack of a clear vision about what you want, about what type of company would excite you, about what type of company would really motivate you to bring about change in the world. You're probably stuck thinking about products. You're thinking about what's going to make you money, what's going to set you free. If you punt what you get out of it right now and you just imagine that you had unlimited capital and you had unlimited expertise and unlimited time, what would you want to bring to the world? What change would you want to see happen in the world? What types of products would you want to bring out in the world? What problems in your life would you like to see addressed? Because I promise you that the products and the capital and the people and the team and the expertise are already there. You don't have to make them. You don't even need to find them. You need to cast the vision for what it is that you want to build and watch what shows up. And so if you do nothing with, with any of this Please set aside some time next weekend when you have nothing else going on and you go outside and you just journal about what it is that you would want to bring to the world. Assuming that you didn't have to make money, assuming that you didn't have to get it right, assuming that it never had to work, what change would you like to see pioneered? What would you like to do to see that change come out into the world? And if you do just that, then you'll be starting to lay the foundation of the type of company and the type of change that, that you would like to see in the world. And the result of that is that all the capital and the relationships and the resources will start to flow your way, regardless of your past experience, your past skillset, what your resume says, what your past failures have been. If you just look forward at the change that you want to make. We are sitting in the unique time right now that the marketplace has come your way, that the opportunities have come your way, and that the barriers to entry are lower than they have ever been. We are in the perfect time to be the type of entrepreneur that you have looked up to your entire life. But it will not come by you copying them or by you trying to be them. It will come by you setting your own vision for what it is that you want to do in the world. And all of the resources that exist in the world that are waiting for good entrepreneurs to do something with them, they all line up to come to you. If you would like my help, if you would like our team's help. Our next round for the Capitalism incubator will be opening in January. You can go over to capitalism.com Inc. That's Inc. To get on the waiting list for the next time that we're open. But in the meantime, please, please, please just make the decision to build the types of businesses and pursue the types of opportunities that get you amped, that make you excited, that make you feel alive, that make an actual difference. There's so much money in the world. There's $400 million flowing to a company that does $19 million in top line revenue and their products aren't even all that different. There's a bunch of competitors like them, and yet they're public doing a nine figure valuation because they're a good brand. You have the same type of opportunity, you're just as qualified as any of them. It might take a few years for that vision to come to life. So now is a really good time to set that vision. I'm rooting for you. We're in your corner. If we can support you, we'd consider it a privilege. You can get on the waiting list for CAP Inc. At capitalism.com Inc. In the meantime, I'll see you guys on the next episode. Have a great day. There are two kinds of people in this world. There are members and non members. If you are enjoying this stuff, you have got to join us inside the 1%. 1% members get access to our courses on building businesses and investing the profits. They get access to experts who are bringing in lessons on a regular basis, some of the best in the world. And they're joining regular calls with myself or members of my team to keep the community growing. The 1% is a community of entrepreneurs who are actively building businesses and investing the profits. And every month you get a community newsletter to see what's going on in your community and what the opportunities are to create the change that you want to see in your world. Join us at capitalism.com the number one that's capitalism.com one.