What's the Secret Behind Sharon Brown's 9 Acquisition Successes?

Summary

In this conversation, Jon Stoddard interviews Sharon Brown, an accomplished entrepreneur and investor, who shares her journey in acquiring companies, building a network, and navigating the complexities of M&A. Sharon discusses her strategic approach to acquisitions, the importance of initial conversations, and how to effectively close deals. She emphasizes the need for a solid playbook, understanding financials, and the value of community in the entrepreneurial space. In this conversation, Jon Stoddard shares his insights on building strategic relationships, acquisition strategies, and the importance of understanding seller motivations. He discusses leveraging sponsorships for growth, reflects on his first acquisition experience, and emphasizes the significance of working above the business to ensure smooth operations. Jon also touches on future directions and opportunities in the investment landscape, highlighting the need for strategic thinking and adaptability in business.

Takeaways

Sharon has purchased eight companies, focusing on tech.
She emphasizes the importance of building a network for deal flow.
Initial conversations should be about relationship building.
Understanding financials is crucial in assessing opportunities.
Closing deals quickly can be advantageous.
Networking within the Epic community has been beneficial.
Sharon's approach includes being clear about expectations.
She believes in the importance of follow-up after initial calls.
Building rapport is key to successful conversations.
Sharon encourages taking action and moving forward with deals. Building relationships is more valuable than just financial gain.
Acquisitions should focus on undervalued assets for growth.
Understanding seller motivations is key to successful deals.
Leveraging sponsorships can provide quick returns on investments.
First acquisitions can be easier than anticipated with the right strategy.
Working above the business allows for better management and growth.
It's important to have a clear vision to avoid bottlenecks in operations.
Strategic partnerships can enhance deal structures and outcomes.
Flexibility in business models can lead to unexpected opportunities.
Future investments should align with personal interests and market trends.

Watch the Interview:

Transcript:

Jon Stoddard (00:01.198)
Well, welcome to the top &A entrepreneurs. I have Sharon Brown with me today. And I'm very happy to have her because I just listened to her on an epic call. I understand she's a hot. Well, first of all, welcome, Sharon. Thanks for being here. Good to see you, John. So I don't know if anybody's been to Sharon's LinkedIn profile, but it is killer. mean, from Stanford to.

MBA to whatever. You just got to go visit Sharon's LinkedIn profile. is awesome. And Stanford dropout, I'm happy to say. I was making too much money. I'm just kidding. That's cool. So where are you with this? How many you, I had listened to you on that Epic call and how many companies have you purchased? I've purchased eight. Eight. Technically nine, because one is just now. So I think the call that you may have joined, I shared a

that journey a bit. And for me, it's just worked well in a sense of focusing on what matters. And that means even getting traffic assets. It's like something I would have never dreamed before. I was one of those people just building from the ground up everything that I got involved in. But my plays are in the SaaS space. My background is in technology. And I got to tell you, even though I once had a

a big in in the content space years ago. I kind of abandoned that. It just wasn't something that interested me anymore and it just was a drain. But even investing in content assets as a play, as a roll up into all the other things. So yeah, it's been a great journey. So when did you start acquiring companies? Is it before or after Epic? No, I didn't actually start acquiring.

in the elite investor sense, as I like to say, since connecting with Roland. And I didn't know anything about Roland before. So was really just, this has been great. I've been an investor and an angel investor in this. I started that journey around 2012, but really 2014. So I have a portfolio of companies and they're all tech. And you can see it on my profile, SharonBrown.co.

Jon Stoddard (02:21.836)
of the types of things and specific companies that I invest in. So I'm really proud of my angel portfolio, but that's not something that I intended to do long-term. And it was really, you know, my longer-term play was to do the acquisitions and it just accelerated it. You know, obviously with COVID, I probably would have never found Roland and you know, the rest is history. So. Yeah. What's a, what epic course for you? I was two, two. That's early.

Yeah, yeah. What about you? Which way were you again? yeah, that's great. Already on 12. So saying yeah, that's lovely. Keeps rolling. Yeah, I love it because it really does expand the community. And I'm not sure how your cohort has been or how you've connected with others. I know you've been reaching out and that's the right way of doing it. I think staying connected with so many people and recognizing we're all part of the same.

family, the same group. And it's a great way of just meeting new people, but obviously potential collaborations, but not even that. know, people have reached out to me and I feel comfortable reaching out to people with, have a specific question on a specific thing that I'm working on and needs some assistance with. Obviously you want to respect people's time, but I think that's the beauty of it. And so I hope that

other people, different cohorts are doing that. I agree. I I reach out to people on LinkedIn and I can ask to say, hey, see you're new to Epic or you're in Epic. And I'm an Epic alumni and it's great course. Starting out with working with people. But be sure to ask questions early on in any of the meetings with Roland or anybody else because people drag on and you will run out in an hour fast. Trustee.

That's so awesome. Well, I tell you, I started the virtual cocktail thing and, you know, started to blow up the evergreen portion of your podcast. But during COVID, and, you know, I was in lockdown, I'm sure with like a lot of folks, it was just a great way every three weeks, three to four weeks, getting people in what I call the virtual cocktail.

Jon Stoddard (04:41.55)
session and just to connect and we do like small group breakouts and the whole idea is that anybody's welcome as long as you've been part of the epic community and some so it's not just you know the beta group of cohort to you it's everyone's welcome and invited and that's been great because even the people from the later cohorts who've been joining because it's once again it's about facilitating that that community and I think that yeah so when is that what day and

How do I get they vary, right? So the one thing you definitely want to get that link pal, if you don't have it, yeah, definitely I want to make sure you do that. I'll put it in when I release the video. Yeah, I'll do that. Absolutely. I'll get you the proper links as anyone can connect on that. And it's been wonderful because for that reason. Yeah. So let's go back to some of your, let's go back to that first acquisition. Now, I know you did angel investments and

you know, in Silicon Valley, I follow Jason Calconis and all those other guys, David Friedberg, and you just watch them. But there are so many chances of this not taking off. And sometimes the owners blow it up, whatever. There's a million ways to die in the West, and especially in startups. How did you just like, you first saw this first acquisition, you said, I'm not going to invest in it, but I'm going to buy it. But was it?

20%, 40%, 80 % or what did that look like? Yeah, so for my first acquisition, everything has been 100 % and that's part of that has been, that's been very strategic. And part of the reason for that is because really I've been setting up what I call the infrastructure for my company and making sure we can move things, you know, have the flow of how things need to get done. And then I'm absolutely looking for

partners as I expand and do other types of acquisitions. So yeah, so for me, I really did follow that blueprint from the challenge. So remember that five day challenge for everyone who knows, know, that five days, I took it very seriously. So even though I didn't, I literally didn't find out about it until like the day before. And I was like, okay, well, whatever, you know, it's just a few bucks, let's do it. And just went all in.

Jon Stoddard (07:03.828)
attended everything live and if you're really paying attention to what Roland is communicating regarding just even deal flow. Okay, if you need 100 leads and eventually that will boil down to where you should end up with maybe two to three options viable. So I went out and really dug into that and say, okay, where do I start with this?

You know, so going back to where did you start now that LinkedIn is a limit on 100 Connections? Like, yeah, I got to tell you, so I started with my network. I have over the years just through speaking engagements and different things have have a pretty, you know, have my LinkedIn. I used to really, really was people I knew. And now since a elite alum.

Epic, I've actually, you know, connect with anybody for the most part within reason. So, so I went to my network and just to, you know, mine that and see what was possible. And it was just painful because, you know, once again, just about developing deal flow and seeing what was the right process to do that. And then part of that was hiring someone on my team who actually had the responsibility to.

do the reach out. So now we're automating. This is back to my whole, you know, how how strongly I feel about integration and really integrating that into, you know, how are we going to do things? And so thinking about what my criteria were in terms of what I wanted to invest in. And that was tough because I have a number of different areas, but you know, really getting that list. So hiring someone, put together a list, scrubbing that list.

And then we did that whole connection in terms of reaching out her responsibilities to reach out on LinkedIn for people. So you're right. So even though you only have, for example, a hundred people and you don't wanna abuse their community, because the worst thing is if you get locked out, then you're locked out. So that's no worries. No one says you have to upload, know, 2000, 1000 connections at once. So part of her responsibility was

Jon Stoddard (09:21.134)
you know, reaching out on a daily basis. So obviously it was a hundred at a time and it was amazing the responses I was getting. then that started an entire process from reaching out, scheduling the calls on those initial meetup. And then I would have those conversations and it's really been wonderful because I was doing probably in the early stages, probably somewhere up to about seven or nine a week.

and then it started ramping up a little bit and then there you have it. And part of that was just mining the list, if you will. And following through. Yeah. This is very awful because I heard Adam say this, that one of the biggest challenges to everybody at Epic is getting the pipeline. Starting the pipeline, doing the pipeline, just getting a hundred calls in there. like, you my son asked me, how do I get better at basketball? Well, get out there and shoot.

Yeah, exactly. I got to tell you, and you know the thing about it, John, so what I have found is that there are quite a few people who might be struggling with that same issue, because it's real. It was real for me. And I guess unless you maybe come from a a solid sales specific background and you have all that set up and you know, for me, no, not so much, you know, even though I've been involved quite a few big engagements in my day, but not

this sort of rigor of what you do need to have set up in order to do it at scale. So what I have heard and found is that there are people who are, maybe they're like, I've reached out to five people or a couple of people. That's not gonna get it done. So they're holding onto a very small pond. But I always say this in an essay kind of tongue in cheek, but it's true. Either you believe.

you know, what Roland has shared in terms of, right, what those numbers look like, what the metrics look like to get the deal flow or you don't. And so you think about that whole idea of once again, you limit yourself unintentionally. And I understand you might be really close. You might feel that you're really close to a deal, but that leads to that whole concept. If you remember, he shared before, I think it's hilarious because it's true, deal heat. You hold onto something so much because you're just so sure it's going to close or you're.

Jon Stoddard (11:42.006)
And then it just keeps dragging and dragging and dragging on. There's nothing wrong with that, but why not open that up? know, open it up. So that's exactly what I did. Just open it up and see what happens, see what lands. And so let me just share something else I think is not spoken about enough. And I think it's very useful. So I opened it up because I had to get my playbook down in a sense of I was still, you know, everything down to, know, what kind of, how did I want these calls to go? What kind of...

you know, communication, what kind of things that I want to ask for. So you want to do not throw away calls, but, you know, really recognizing that you, you've got to, to, to write your own script. And I don't mean literal script, but I mean, really understand what that process looks like. So having those, even those initial calls, even though it might not be a deal that you're super passionate about has been, is can be meaningful. And in those early stages,

I uncovered some fantastic information, just one, surprising great relationships with people, which is wonderful. So even though I knew there was potential line of deal there after speaking with them, but then also learned some things, even about tools or resources or different things like that that maybe I hadn't thought about, or it might be a great place for something else or someone else in the Epic community.

So that deal's not right for me. but I know John is looking for this. Let me, and so I've even done that and have connected people with deals that might be better for them. So there's a lot to be said for it. Yeah. Do you ever read that book called Give and Take where that guy, they talk about the guy goes like, if I can't help you, I'll spend five minutes with you to free you somebody else. And they say he's the most connected guy on LinkedIn or in Silicon Valley.

Nice. No, I've to, yeah, I'd love to know what that is. What's it called? It's in the book, Give and Take. Give and Take. Okay. I will, will give that a go. That's yeah. I love that. I love that philosophy. And my point is why not? You know, while you're trying to build your, your infrastructure, build the pipes, as I say, part of it is going to be the journey of, of learning what makes sense for you and your company, your investor profile and all those things. And so, yeah.

Jon Stoddard (14:05.122)
reach out to people and you will be surprised. I have been, I gotta tell you, I've been really surprised how conversational and easy the conversations have all been. And I don't use a script, know, just like almost like you and I are, you know, we're speaking now. I keep it very conversational, very easy. And I know in a relatively, you know, after a few...

minutes, maybe 15 minutes or so, whether it is an opportunity or not. But even if there's not an opportunity, made a great connection. And once again, you never know if there's someone within my investor community who might be a great match down the think your experience with investing in startups helps you kind of have that conversation and figuring out where they are financially or mindset, wherever it is.

Yeah, that's a great I don't know. And I'm not sure, John, I thought about that, too. It didn't come easy for me. I had to think about it. And because why you're not going to do a deep dive on someone who you're just getting in the call with. So I had to frame my brain of that's not the first call. Right. What does the first call need to be? First call needs to be around the relationship. The first call needs to be understanding.

their journey a bit, but not letting it get sucked into the weeds. Because people will open up the kimono a little bit if you've built a relationship and you're like, hold on, too much, too fast. So meaning, I want to know if there's an opportunity. then I go into what I'm potentially looking for. I'm also very

crystal clear with that before setting up the call. How's that look like? Or how's that sound? mean, is it a call or a regular call? No, I do. And this is interesting. This is probably outside of the playbook. I've created my own I know it's OK, because you can ask Chris Daigle and say, no, he does it this way. do it this way. Yeah, I got to tell you. I don't even do a Zoom video. I do Zoom audio.

Jon Stoddard (16:28.814)
Zoom audio, okay. Ask me why. Because I'll go right into it. I wanna listen. I don't want the distractions. I don't want them to be distracted. I don't wanna be distracted. And it's just, what I have found, it's about lower barrier, right? This is just Sharon. We're just having a chat. We're friends. We're not friends, but we're just having a chat. And I wanna see how.

I can help you how we can help each other and if there's opportunity. So my, and this is part of, you know, maybe different things I've done over the years in terms of, you know, presenting and speaking. You, know, real world, you do want all senses involved, right? You want the visual and all, but in that first meet, the one thing, recognizing there's a level of anxiety for the person with whom you're speaking, unless you're talking about a big player.

Right? know, maybe they've, it's not a big deal for them. They've done, but for the most part, so why not build that first conversation and take away one of those points of, you know, anxiety and just have the conversation. And it's more importantly than what's that follow-up look like. And then of course, then that's about, you know, getting together, meet and greeting and moving forward from there. And you're very clear.

at the first call what you're looking for. yeah, and even before so because.

I think this is the thing. One, you want to be crystal clear that you're not handing out money. Because why? That realistically is what people might be thinking. they see investor and like, great. I don't know how many about you, but I get a ton of queries like that a day. And it's just, so you really want to level expectations. But quite frankly, I don't want to waste my time, and nor do I want to waste someone else's time.

Jon Stoddard (18:31.63)
So I really communicate in terms of what I'm interested in as a growth equity investor and getting into it like that. But really the conversation is more about them as well in terms of understanding where they are now and what are some of the challenges and then more importantly, what are they looking for? And then right from there, this is one thing I'm not sure, at least with some of the,

a few of the people I've spoken with in Epic, one of the things that I do that might be different. I go right into that next step is.

sending the financials. That next step is, obviously if there's an NDA, oftentimes you'll find it even in that first call, I've gotten some pretty useful information and even numbers to know if there's an opportunity there. And then that next step is, so now I know if they're serious, right? Because do they now, we send them a link in terms of where to upload certain things.

of they uploaded that the financials, great. I know we're serious. Was there a level of follow-up that we had to do in terms of why? But I let those things sit. And I think that that's part of, back to I think a very useful thing that Roland shared. Sometimes a deal, it'll come back. So maybe someone may have gotten cold feet or whatever, and it'll come back. It'll come back where there's a way to reaching out down the road as well. So what kind of questions are you asking them that

or opens up to say, this is potential I can help to, I could probably acquire the company, help them out. What does that look like? Yeah, and it really does vary. I think the short answer is it comes down to

Jon Stoddard (20:30.83)
how are things currently, like understanding how are things currently working for them, what's working for them? So I get into numbers and that first conversation, I have gotten, I think maybe one person was like, you know, I'd really like to have an in-date to discuss it. That's fine, but I get right into it. So what did you do in revenue last year? Where are some of the areas, you know, we talked.

you know, they understand they're coming to this call because I'm an investor looking to. I'm going to be asking serious questions. ask serious questions. And I have and that probably comes from, you know, me doing really big deals and in my corporate life and even my own company in the past that I think one of the things sort of that straight conversation leads to straight understanding. And so but also if you built the rapport.

back to building the rapport, there should be no problem with that, right? No problem with that opening that up. And then also as an investor, you should have no problem if someone says, you know, I'd really like to have an NDA, that's fine too, right? But there's nothing wrong with me asking. So that's been my playbook. I ask in that initial call. And then once again, then that leads to, and then we're really talking about

We're talking about, it depends on the type of player, right? But we're really talking about what are they dealing with right now? That's the pain point. And then part of that then is, okay, great. Let me share with you some of the things that would really help get it to the next level. So let's set up a way for us to connect together and this is what I need.

And I don't get to a whole laundry list of things that here I'm going to need this and this and this. Like a playbook here. Do this and this and this and you'll be a $10 million company. no, no. And actually, let me just clarify. I don't even do that. And when I say when I, so from the point of I'll share a little bit around, okay, I see that you are having, you know, a manufacturing issue or I could see that you're you're having a growth issue with X, Y, and Z. So maybe we'll talk a little bit about that. Maybe I'll provide some perspective, but I'm

Jon Stoddard (22:51.456)
instantly then getting into, great. I do see there's a way of working together. These are the things that I'm gonna need to put the financials. So I'll take a look at that and then we'll get on a call together and we'll talk, know, then I give them sort of the next steps. So I just specify in a general sense, here's some of the financials that I'm gonna need. And what I'll do is I'll send you, we'll send you, you know, a list of the things and here's a link and where you can upload them. Yeah.

Yeah, let's go back to that that first deal. Yeah, have to ask you this. Do you have any incentive to feel like you could try to close a deal shorter period of time? you know, hey, I want to, know, Tiny Capital is a cool little model and they got over there tinycapital.com, you know, and he goes, Hey, we close deals in 30 days, you know, warm up and do it in a week. Okay, like, wow. Yeah. And you guys, do you have any incentive to try to close a deal faster? Was it just, hey,

There's no real, that's an arbitrary timeline. That's a great question. Because some of us like me, like, you're sales guy, guess, you've always been done numbers, like, you know what, I need to get this by the end of the month. yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I feel I got to tell you. So initially, absolutely. I wanted to close the deal like yesterday. And I was, you know,

I was very serious, very deliberate in the sense of, once again, even from the challenge, trying to get it, get something. So I realized I was putting almost too many layers. And so was like, come on, let's come on. So let's just close a dang on deal. Right. And, and, and then I think we've all said that. Yeah. But I, but it's so true. mean, are you, and this is a question for everybody. Are you putting.

way too much in vacillating and going all through all these decision models to decide what you should do and when. I've spoken to some members who, man, they just keep ping ponging back and forth.

Jon Stoddard (25:01.868)
just do something. And I'm like, just do something. Make it so. It's like polling, like, hey, comment down below if you put too many layers into this process. The answer is yes. Exactly. Exactly. So my point around that is in terms of my background and even how I think about things in terms of being a certified business analyst and thinking about making sure systems are in place, at some point you have to move

keep moving the ball forward, right? So I didn't look to have, when I said I was trying to put the infrastructure and the pipes in place, I wasn't looking to have everything in place to move forward. And I even used Peter at some point as well. We were part of the initial group that that offer was for a pipeline just to gauge how things were done on that end and to see if there was anything that we could add to what we were already doing. So my point is just whatever

the lowest bar to entry is take that and then add to it, evolve it for the next deal and then the next deal and the next deal. So to answer your question, absolutely. I was driven to get a deal done soon. And I recognized early on where I was putting way too much pressure on yourself.

All right. yourself. Absolutely. And having things done in a certain way that I'd like them to be done. So I think getting it done. And now to ask for it in terms of deals, even for the next few deals, let me just say that there has been depending upon the opportunity, John, absolutely. I can sense I get a sense from speaking with someone and you can really get it in terms of communicating. Do I need to be?

putting pressure points in certain way because I do want to close this faster. Like there was one deal, I had a contact on a Friday, it was late night, it was really last minute, all of us very sudden and I'm last minute like literally we're in a chat talking and the deal was evolving before my eyes. I was like, my goodness, like who planned on this? And I closed that deal that Sunday.

Jon Stoddard (27:24.078)
And part of me wanting to close the deal is because he recognized that, wow, I hadn't thought about really selling, but wow, this is a great opportunity. And then part of it was now is he thinking, boy, I could probably do well by opening this up to other investors. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. So yes, you want to gauge whether.

it makes sense to just do what you need to do to close it and close it quickly. So, and then interestingly enough, it was a traffic asset. There was another traffic asset that I had reached out to around the same time, because I was surprised at how quickly I closed that. And that next Friday, I closed another one. It was almost the same type of same type of thing, same reason behind it. So you do want to pay attention to that, I think.

I have one, a part of my outreach, there was one company, it's a very, they have a pretty big player in terms of who they partner with. And so the owner recognizes the value that I can bring and he wants, he does want to build a relationship and is interested more into my advisor role than money, which is check. But my goodness.

he is so prime for getting exactly that from a number of different investor advisors and probably even PE. So that would be one. If it's right, going, I would look to put the heels down a little bit more to get that deal closed sooner rather than later. There are other deals that I'm working on. you know, I'm not to say I don't care, but meaning.

We have so much going on right now in terms of integration, integration, on these. Some of them happen, like I said, much faster than I would have imagined. But it's not just getting the deal. If you're not deploying it and optimizing and doing all the things you need to do sooner rather than later, it's just almost like I money set on the shelf the way I look at it. So there are other deals that I'm not pressed at all. I'm glad because I'm at that place right now where I don't feel like.

Jon Stoddard (29:43.118)
gosh, I got to get another deal right now because I have so much going on right now. Yeah. So sounds like this master plan is coming. I love it when a plan comes together. Love it when a but the plan has to come without a pain, Nobody ever said that. So back to this, how this first acquisition, was it a software company or? Yes. So just curious, a lot of people.

sometimes are stuck on, well, you have this master plan and I need this platform company in the middle here. But sometimes, you know, you got to think outside the box and go for the outside and the carts and the spoken wheel parts of it. Yeah, got to tell you, that's that that I am 100 % on board with. So this one was software. But more importantly, I love not just the play.

in the nutrition space with which it's in, but also I'm going to be able to use that backend for what I have going on in the dog space. And so that's wonderful, but you're spot on. There are other investments that I've done that it's just around here somewhere. And so it's about, wow, I see the beauty of where it can fit in down the road, or I see the beauty of where it can fit in to another.

another particular opportunity. A great example of that is what I'm doing in the gaming space. And, you know, something that I just love and there's certain properties even that I'm looking at or have acquired that man, you can really see how it can open up to other things as well. Interesting. So let's go back to that first deal again. 100 % right? Yes. Yeah. And it was a software company.

So what kind of structure or price terms was that? Are you bringing money into it or is it a 100 % earn in kind of deal? No, was 100%. It was 100 % and off the table, I was able to do sort of a DDP. But it was such an easy deal. quite frankly, it was what I've been looking for and I think that's been working for me is going for what I undervalued.

Jon Stoddard (32:05.102)
quite frankly, assets. And that's exactly what this was. So yeah, could have sold it for a heck of a lot more, but I offered him, I think a pretty fair deal because he did quite frankly, at this point, he's just burning cash and not really, doesn't quite know, didn't know how to.

tap into the value of the asset. Yeah. Was it profitable or unprofitable? When you said burning cash. Well, burning cash for him, not as profitable as it could be. Yeah. I mean, easily. then some of that, which you'll find, I think for me works well. I've purposely, and I had this conversation with another Epic member, a couple Epic members actually in the virtual cocktails, that I've purposely

been very strategic and going, I'm not going for the hundred million dollar deals right now. It was about going for these undervalued, but easily places where I can instantly sort of plug and play and grow to scale. And while I'm once again getting the infrastructure in place and we are just about there.

in terms of everything that I think I would need and want in terms of having back office and all those things to be able to just, you know, it's not going to be a flick of a switch, but you get my point. In many ways, some, you know, getting a hundred million dollar deal can be easier than a smaller deal in my experience and, know, with we're working in other types of companies. But yeah, you still want to make sure you're ready and have everything in play that you need in order to make those.

This is interesting. If you sat on the other side, you were the seller, and you said, okay, I have somebody, a buyer wants to buy my company, but I'm not going to take any money off the table. But they're going to increase my, you know, my earnings, I'm going to make a lot more money, because you know, I'm at my skill level limit right now. It's kind of going to be a deferred down payment. So

Jon Stoddard (34:20.408)
Do you present some kind of master plan to this, to them, to what it's going to look like for them? hey, I'm going to, I'm going to, you're going be the platform company. We're going to do this, this, and this, and this. Your cost of acquisition is going to go down. Your access to millions and millions of more customers. And, you know, end of the day, two, three years from now, you're going to make a lot more money than you would by yourself. Well, so let me just be, so with my deals, I haven't had, I haven't.

I had to worry about that, if you will. So when I say a DDP, I'm talking about like 60 days. I'm not doing like a year and a half or anything like that. So I don't have to those conversations of telling them my strategy. Yeah, so 60 days, they're out. yeah. I'm 100%. Everything I have acquired, I own 100 % right now. that's interesting. OK. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's worked, you know, that's worked really well for me. And I'm looking forward to like, there's a couple of Epic members where we're going to look to do some deals together, where you have more people that can really support the deal, if you will, in terms of, of advisor support. So yeah, bringing their expertise to the. Yeah, exactly. So that my point around and sharing that is that's where.

I absolutely will be going into the playbook even more, the Epic Playbook on the different structures and different ways of structuring a deal. So on that seller, what is their motivation for moving out? Now, if you go through Epic, there's 10 reasons, 12 reasons, that is, they're trying to move out. What are you looking for? So what is the seller looking for you? Yeah, what's their motivation? So for instance,

I partnered up with another Epic member, Sabri, and we're looking at an IT company. And they want to take money off the table because he's got another opportunity, could be a billion dollar opportunity. I don't know that case, but he wants to take money off the table to apply it to that. Yes. Yeah. So the, with that first deal, his was simply like, this is painful. this is painful. Okay. I've built this great thing. and it's, it's well received.

Jon Stoddard (36:35.372)
I just can't get it to the next level. And I want out to use the money for another company. I, know, part of due diligence, I did see that he does have another company that in the furniture space of all things. And so great. And then I'm finding that the rationale for that stated for a lot, because I think there's stated and unstated reasons for getting out. You know, yeah. And so the rationale,

what I'm finding typically is because I have another opportunity, because I have another business that I want to pour my own. So how much do you gauge, you know, you know, the truthfulness of that, right? Someone's going to tell you what you, so you have to, you know, you just have to, to peek under the hood a little bit and see what you can find. But honestly, I don't care why you're getting out as long as I see it's a great deal. And once again, it's

there's some undervalued assets that I can turn around. Do you know this deferred down payment, did you come up with a strategy to apply some marketing, the four day cash machine, something like that, and then to pay for that? Yeah, so great question. So this is the thing. I been fortunate enough to tap into my, I guess, experience with

I've been leveraging sponsorships like crazy. Sponsorships. So that has been like, acquired a dog asset. And so I had 30 days to essentially turn it around. And I was able to get a sponsorship, two sponsorships within like a week and a half. And it's been an

Amazing. One of those sponsorships, for example, was Motorola for a dog company. So it's not. I don't think I would have saw that. You wouldn't have saw that. Right. So my point is for me, how I'm looking at a lot of this stuff is how, how quickly, even, even ones that I had had to put money out upfront and then maybe it's a small amount. How soon am I going to, how do I want to get that money back? I want to get back like yesterday. So I'm

Jon Stoddard (38:57.225)
actively looking and making sure I'm thinking through where's the money going to come from? I'm not looking for, you know, the drip, drip, drip or to be able to recur. Yeah, exactly. yeah, absolutely. And so that's been the goal of everything so far. And part of this is if you are getting a sense is me really getting the strategy down.

So when I do the big, you know, a hundred million dollar deal, if you will, then I know exactly how quickly we can move as a company, how quickly, what are the things I can tap into, where they're at. So that's been the most unique part. Like I said, even going back to my content days, who would have, I would have never drank that in a million years, but it's amazing what companies will pay even for content. It's amazing, you know, all the, who would have thought that

If you have a sizable Instagram following, for example, as a traffic asset that there are companies that want to pay a lot of money to tap into your audience. my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. I worked with a company that was making a T T and they hired Courtney, one of the Kardashians. okay. Yeah. Yeah. $300,000 a post. Wow. Yeah.

That's incredible. Now, none of us are trying to do, we're not. That's a sponsorship. You're not trying to be an influencer, right? If you're really legitimately running a company, how do you, how do you maximize that? So for me, it's about the brand sponsorships, the brand relationships. And you had that relationship with Motorola? No, not at all. So how did this, how did that idea come about? Yeah, it's so funny.

So one of the secret sauces for me is I, and in terms of why I even thought to do that, I used to, I once had a very successful luxury skincare company and we were in the Four Seasons and the Bellagio hotels and one of the first things that I did in terms of even like brand partnerships, believe it or was with American Express.

Jon Stoddard (41:19.105)
and that helped catapult the brand. And how I did that, I tapped into that blueprint the same now, which was simply emailing, calling someone up. And you would be surprised, shocked, and amazed at how well-received sometimes what you pitch can be. So that's literally what we've been doing. And now that...

we're really just gonna scale a lot of that because it is low hanging fruit. And that's part of, you know, a lot of the things that I have to look to do in terms of low hanging fruit, because there's some real technical things in terms of the companies that I'm looking to put into place that will even, you know, generate even more revenue. I've done nine of these and you are keyed into that more than all the others at this point.

or either that or I didn't ask him, but you're doing it the best. We'll see. I didn't hear it in any of the questions I asked, so you're doing it the best. yeah. Well, thank you. It's been a great journey, part of it. I've got to be honest with you. And if you've maybe heard my maybe the last epic training I did, and I'm very honest.

I didn't have this I share. If you remember that, I didn't have this in place, I had this in place, I didn't have this, this, and this in place. And this is what we're trying to get these things in place. Everything from all the way from deal flow all the way through the acquisitions. So once you get an acquisition, then what? And that's all of those things I think you want to consider, but just don't overthink it. So how did you feel after that first acquisition? mean, what were your?

I'm elated or like, now what do I do or what? No, no, no. For me, it was just like, man, that was, that was easier than I thought. And I gotta be honest with So you made it harder than you thought it was. Yeah. Let me tell you why. And this goes back to, man, it's just so real. John, I only, I, I absolutely swore to, even from the challenge, I'm definitely not doing anything, unless it's us based.

Jon Stoddard (43:34.347)
my only acquisition is going to be US based because it's just easier, right? You know, everything about it would be easier. So I was shocked and amazed that my first acquisition was a company in Denmark. Really? Yes. And so that's what I said. Really? Yeah. so your first acquisition is in Denmark. Yeah. That is interesting. Yeah. And it's so, it's so funny.

Back to the now and then you're going to see me write stuff. This is what I put down. First acquisition, Denmark. Yeah. It's so crazy too, because I, so back to your point of your question of, how did I feel? I felt like, S you know, you figure out what the S is. Okay. This was easier than I thought. And I didn't plan on this. And so the funny thing about it is like even funny, I kind of laugh with people who are part of the team that like,

there's still like localization issues like some of the things are clearly in Denmark language like transferring payment systems. So that was pretty funny. But where's most of their customers? it United States? Yeah, United States. Yeah. Okay. so so yeah, so but to the point of not limiting yourself, it's not may not be as painful as you think it's going to be kind of thing. Because obviously, I thought it would be painful to do something outside of us, us for the first deal.

and then recognize that, listen, you know what you know, right? So whatever your sweet spot is, whatever your thing is that you can do, do that. Is English? a hundred, please. You'd be, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think Americans were probably the ones that are limited in that. Well, it's, mean, it's like, I used to live in Europe with my...

dad when my dad was in the Air Force. maybe every tiny little state in Europe, the next one speaks in a different language. It's like going to Arizona and they speak different language in New Mexico and California. Yeah, absolutely. So it's been, that's been exactly the unique nature of what I would have never opened myself up to this early. Like I said, this was part of my like five-year plan, but just got accelerated because of

Jon Stoddard (45:52.681)
of COVID. You're on your ninth in your five year plan. Are you ahead or you ahead of the plan? Yeah. You know, that's so funny. I honestly don't have a, I don't have a number like that. never thought of it that way. And the reason, I think, I think the number is almost not relevant. and I don't know, I don't know about you, but I'm not impressed with people like, I made 20 seconds because whatever, you know, so my point is, yes, I have some that are SAS. I have some that are,

It's like, I would have never thought to do that as a way of generating, you know, bolstering a sass play, or, you know, would have, once again, I would have never thought in a million years I would have gone back to content, a content play, and how that's been great in terms of once again. you move everything here? yeah, everything. yeah, 100%.

Are you going to go to Denmark and any of these other countries and visit? No, there's no need for just for fun, but there's no need to because everything once again, that's and that's a key thing as well for me. Back to the whole integration piece. You've got to be rigorous and how quickly you integrate and getting things online in play.

in whatever country so that you don't miss a beat with revenue. That's partner relationships and whatever things need to happen behind the scenes. And that's all part of it. You literally will lose money with just a hiccup of some. Yeah, that's it. That was your last epic call. It was talking about the administration. Yeah, exactly. And it's almost stunning to see where the areas where it can happen, where you can just have something that gets

mixed or does it get transitioned over fast enough and then you've just lost how many days of revenue? Like, yeah. So are you working above the business where there somebody is taking over it and sending, know, Hey, don't come to me unless there's problems or, know, you're going to send your monthly numbers or are you sending it working in it and saying, you building it? Let me tell you, this has been my, the God send,

Jon Stoddard (48:13.577)
I've never heard that statement before. it amazing? Yeah, I've never heard It opens your mind in a whole different way, like, dog on it. Yeah, what are you There's one word. I'm like, I... Yeah, yeah. So let me share with you, everything I do, all the decisions, all the planning, everything is geared toward me working above the business. Period. Stop. And so...

I'm judging my success on how close I am to being there. So I am thrilled that back to the infrastructure and the pipes, have X % improvement in that area. There's some parts that I still have to be involved in because once again, new acquisitions have just come in and that, but ultimately the goal is I'm 100 % willing to have that person that I have in play who's going to

take care of all of that. But part of it is me working out the workflow right now to make that happen. I've gotten to a place, for example, where I have like a team member that handles like even back to the deal flow piece that I shared with you, I have someone that handles all of that. my- Are your team members now, are they're acting kind of like CEOs or presidents of the companies or? No, no, because I don't, for me, it's staying flat is good and we're not nearly that big.

level, if you will, that I do not necessary. But for me, it's just about the right tool for the job. know, I don't, you whoever that person is, can they implement what you need them to do when you need them to do it? And that's going to make a measurable difference in, you know, growth. Yeah. So, so as long as I can be clear and specific on what needs to get done, what the bigger plan is,

and it's their job to know how to do it and implement that. And I'm really, and one of the things that we're big on is I have a saying, just don't beat a bottleneck. That's my saying, don't beat the bottleneck. And even for me, like if there's something like- How do I know I am the bottleneck? you know, because why? If you've communicated what that full vision and the plan is, and even if let's just deal with like a specific day.

Jon Stoddard (50:37.919)
and you know you have to get something out for out the door. What are the things that need to transpire in order to get it out the door? Is everybody clear on that? Who's doing what and how? And so you automatically know when there's a bottleneck and who's the bottleneck. Don't be that person. Does something need to be signed off on? Does something need to be approved? Does, you know, is there something with the monetization that's gonna get delayed because

Sharon, Sally or Joe didn't do X, and Z. So that's kind of the big thing. Are the people that work for you, they W2s or independent contractors? Well, so funny enough, 2020 November, I have...

let go of my last employee, W2 employee. So we were set up for the work we did in our big integration companies. My company just wasn't set up in the way I needed to be set up now. So now my employees full time, know, still have a couple full time employees. But for the most part, I have people that I call team members who were

1099 who are, you know, even virtual, know, spread out. Everyone's virtual now, but spread out across the world because it's about finding the right people to do this one thing or these two things, these three things that need to be done. And all of that's part of the team. So I've just changed the model and it's the right thing. It was the right thing to do because it's working really well. And that's everything from who's handling

you know, different things on tech, who's handling certain things on deal flow, who's handling, you know, sponsor outreach or, or, you know, social media, you know, things like that, just having the right person to do different roles. Yeah, I, the reason I bring that up, because there's a, there's a guy on Silicon Valley, Chamath, he's that Facebook billionaire, he threw out the idea that he sees the possibility where everybody is independent.

Jon Stoddard (52:54.637)
contractor and it's all, I don't know if that's going to work for all companies, like let's say a GM or something, but everybody's an independent contractor. Yeah. I got to tell you, it's, you'd be surprised maybe that even some of the biggest companies, you know, definitely work that model as well. One of my bigger clients who, once again, we just sort of ended that relationship in 2020 where my employee was there.

you know, that his, I was hands off, like that was his role to handle everything that needed to be handled there. And their entire model was just using consultants, you know, for, this major part of the business. And we're talking about a really big European bank. And so, so for me, it's easy because for, for decades, I have worked this way and lived this way. And, and, and now,

It's just about now using this sort of epic investing or as an investor. I just had to think differently in terms of who are the right people I need to do what. I don't want to buy a job and make sure the process is right. Exactly. And then also quite frankly, know, to me, it didn't make sense to hire a bunch of full-time, you know, W-2 folks while you're, you know, trying to put the pipes in for what does that

What does your crack office need to look like? Sharon, I've already almost taken an hour of your time. It's been delightful. But I have to ask you, so where are you headed now? What kind of companies do look for? So a lot of times what happens is people will see this video, and your people are going to reach out to you and go, hey, I have this deal. Or if you want to work together and.

Yeah, yes. think you'll say yes if it's the right deal. It's the right deal, sure. And especially for integrated growth, I'm pretty broad in terms of the types of industries. But I pretty much am keeping my SharonBrown.co profile up to date in terms of the things that I'm investing, the industries, everything pets and nutrition and everything, you know, it's of course, SaaS related. By the way, Terry Williamson is doing a deal with

Jon Stoddard (55:16.917)
Roland Fraser for dog stuff. Did you know that? Did not know that. Very cool to know. Yeah. Yeah. might be some- doing the whole thing. They like the platform, the Amazon business, the content purchases. So keep your eye out for that. I love it. And that's so funny. I'm sure it wasn't the only one to think of that, of how explosion of- my God. Dog during COVID. I mean, there were so many, for crying out loud, shelters got wiped out for people.

wanting a pet. And weights. Have you ever tried to buy a weight? This is like trying to buy weights right now at any store, Big 5, anywhere you cannot buy a weight. You don't want to buy a weight on Amazon because it's a hundred dollars to ship it. You're right. Right. Right. Not a good look. That's funny. That's funny. Yeah. There's certain things, right? That's shifted a lot in terms of how we live and think just from what's happened over the past year. So,

Yeah, I got to wrap up because I'm taking all your time. want to thank Sharon Brown. You can find her on Epic and she's going to share with me her virtual meetings that she's going to be doing at some point. So I'll put this in the description. Brilliant. OK, sounds like a plan. Sharon, thank you so much for this. This has been a delight. Absolutely. Such a pleasure, John, my friend. Look forward to seeing you at the next virtual cocktail. We'll do it.

All right, take care.