{"id":419,"date":"2025-03-04T07:58:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T08:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/?p=419"},"modified":"2025-03-06T12:47:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T12:47:51","slug":"waving-goodbye-to-your-business-from-startup-to-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/portraitsbylorie.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/waving-goodbye-to-your-business-from-startup-to-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"Waving Goodbye to Your Business: From Startup to Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Ed Johnson, CEO & Co-Founder of uRoutine<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

As someone who has recently gone through a startup \u201cexit\u201d, I thought it might be helpful to anybody else considering it, to share the journey and a few key considerations. Before I provide further context, I will start by confidently saying that selling a business is an experience like no other.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

When Gabriel and I founded tech startup PushFar, we were driven by a shared passion for creation and innovation. The thrill of building something from the ground up, seeing it take shape, and watching it impact people was what fuelled us. I know lots of entrepreneurs who are in the same camp \u2013 seeing something you build, being adopted and used by others and watching it grow.<\/p>\n

However, as the business matured, revenue grew and our client-base expanded, our roles evolved in ways we hadn\u2019t fully anticipated or considered. The day-to-day excitement of problem-solving, product development, and fast-paced decision-making gradually shifted into something a lot more structure and process-driven. Which, you might think, is a good thing and a safe haven from the usual chaos that goes with startup life. However, it\u2019s an entirely different beast. And while that\u2019s a natural evolution for any successful startup, it forced us to confront a difficult question: was this still what we wanted?<\/p>\n

The Decision to Exit<\/h2>\n

Selling a business is almost never a straightforward decision, less so, I expect, when the business is doing well and growing from strength-to-strength. As a founder, this is particularly true when it\u2019s something you\u2019ve poured your heart and soul into. PushFar had grown into a thriving company, with a strong client base, solid revenue, and a clear path forward. Investors were happy, clients were happy, we should also have been happy \u2013 and to a certain extent we were. But internally, both Gabriel and I felt that our roles were shifting in a way that no longer excited us in the same way it once had.<\/p>\n

At the core, we are entrepreneurs, and this is something I didn\u2019t fully appreciate until I went through this journey. Now I know, though, that we thrive on building, creating, and innovating. As PushFar expanded, our responsibilities became more about managing sales, customer relations, operations and tech support rather than the hands-on, rapid iterating of the business we loved. There\u2019s absolutely nothing wrong with that \u2013 it\u2019s a sign of a well-run business \u2013 but it didn\u2019t align with what we enjoyed or took pleasure from.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that point, we began exploring our options. One possibility was stepping back from daily operations while appointing a new CEO to run the company. That way, we could retain control while allowing someone else to handle the more structured aspects of the business. Many founders choose this route, and it can be a great way to ensure continuity while pursuing new ventures. But in our case, after careful consideration, we felt that this wasn\u2019t the right approach. We wanted to ensure the business continued to grow under leadership that was fully invested, without the complexity of divided ownership. And, frankly, we knew we were ready for a new challenge.<\/p>\n

So, Let\u2019s Get Acquired<\/h2>\n

Once we made the decision to sell, the next step was finding the right buyer. We wanted to capitalise on the successful business we\u2019d built, find a good return for our investors and crucially to hand over the reins to new owners who could carry on the business and oversee great growth. We had built something we were and still are incredibly proud of, and we weren\u2019t willing to hand it over to just anyone. After exploring several options, we ultimately partnered with ScaleUp Capital, a UK-based private equity firm that we believed could take PushFar to the next level.<\/p>\n

The acquisition process itself was such a valuable experience, and we learned so much about it, which is ensuring that we set up our next venture (more on that later) with the right framework from day one. Selling a business isn\u2019t just about agreeing on a price and signing some paperwork \u2013 it\u2019s a detailed, often lengthy process that involves due diligence (there\u2019s a lot of that), negotiations, legal considerations, and emotional highs and lows. There were moments of excitement, frustration, and even doubt. Were we making the right decision? Were we truly ready to step away? But as we moved forward, it became clear that this was the right path for both us and the company.<\/p>\n

Saying Goodbye<\/h2>\n

The strange thing about acquisitions is that whilst there\u2019s usually the \u201cdeal day\u201d when you sign the paperwork and handover the rights to your business, there\u2019s often an earn-out period or deferred period \u2013 sometimes referred to as \u201cgolden handcuffs\u201d. You are effectively tied into the business for a year or two. So, you say goodbye, but you stay with the business, going from employer to employee. The day the acquisition was finalised was both exciting and also, probably more so, a sigh of relief after all the work that goes into the deal process. On one hand, it was a celebration of everything we had achieved and finally capitalised on. PushFar had become a success story, and the exit validated all the hard work we had put in. But on the other hand, it was a slow goodbye \u2013 a realisation that we were no longer in control of something we had built from nothing.<\/p>\n

Letting go, if you\u2019re not prepared for it, can be one of the hardest aspects of selling a business. Through the exit process, I spoke to several founders who had been through similar experiences, to find out what it was really like. Nearly all of them said the same thing \u2013 when you know that it\u2019s coming and you\u2019re mentally prepared for it, the whole process can be a breath of fresh air. When you\u2019re trying to fight it, to a lesser or greater extent, it can be painful. When you spend years pouring your energy into something, it becomes a part of your identity. Nowadays, I would argue, more so, with personal branding and social media. In many ways, a business exit can feel like a loss \u2013 not necessarily in a financial sense (quite the opposite with a successful exit), but in terms of purpose and routine.<\/p>\n

One of the most unexpected challenges that I found was finding structure to my day, once the deal was done. I was still an employee with PushFar for more than a year and a half, after we signed the contract, but I went from owner to employee and the dynamic shifted a lot. I was far less busy; my role slowly but surely was handed on to others as part of the succession plan and I had far more free time than I knew what to do with. In the startup world, your schedule is dictated by the relentless pace of growth. Once that disappears, there\u2019s an emptiness that\u2019s hard to describe. It\u2019s an adjustment period, and I now understand why so many entrepreneurs struggle with what comes next.<\/p>\n

Finding Purpose (Again)<\/h2>\n

Gabriel and I knew we weren\u2019t the type to retire early or sit back and relax for too long. Far from it \u2013 that\u2019s the reason we wanted to sell PushFar, after all. The excitement of building something new was already calling us. And so, a month after our official exit, we have already embarked on a new journey and a new venture. Namely, uRoutine.<\/p>\n

uRoutine<\/a> is a social routine and accountability platform, designed to help people to achieve more, find motivation and improve productivity. It\u2019s still in its early stages, but already, the feeling of building something from scratch again is exciting. The ideation, the problem-solving, the fast-paced decision-making \u2013 this is exactly what we love.<\/p>\n

One thing we\u2019ve learned through this process is that entrepreneurship isn\u2019t just about business success. It\u2019s about the fun and thrill of creating. Some people are happiest when running a steady, established company. Funnily enough, before our exit, I thought that I might quite enjoy being the CEO of a steady, established business. This process has taught me otherwise. Others, like us, are driven by the process of bringing new ideas to life. Recognising this about ourselves made the decision to sell PushFar even more clear in hindsight. It wasn\u2019t just about cashing in on success \u2013 it was about making sure we were doing what truly fulfilled us.<\/p>\n

Key Lessons on Exits<\/h2>\n

For any founder considering an exit, below are a few key lessons that I took away from this experience.<\/span><\/p>\n