$20M sales, sold for $50M
Shaan recaps Begelman's BizNow Media—a newsletter and events business covering commercial real estate—which did $20M in sales and ~$6M in profit and sold for $50M.
“Ryan started or helped start BizNow Media, a company that did a newsletter and events business, did $20 million in sales and about $6 million in profit, sold it for $50 million.”
Begelman's top framework: know exit multiples before starting. Trade expos sell for ~12x, newsletters for less, conferences in the middle. High multiples signal durability, barriers to entry, and supplier/customer diversity—so reverse-engineer toward high-multiple business models.
“Before starting a business, think about the exit multiples of that business. I wish I had done this when we started, when we got involved in BizNow. If I had known that trade associate, like trade expos sell for 12 times, but newsletters sell for less and conferences sell for somewhere in the middle, unless you— caveat there, newsletters at scale can sell for more. But I just didn't realize that. And so it's not so much that you're trying to sell your company, it's that high exit multiples mean something. They mean that the company is probably more enduring.”
Steal thisBefore starting, research exit multiples across the industry and build the highest-multiple, hardest-to-disrupt version.
Begelman's second framework: take multiple shots, but not at wildly different ideas (that spreads you thin). At BizNow they ran 12 newsletter flavors—same editor, processes, and best practices—then cut the losers and doubled down on the winner.
“take multiple shots on goal because most ideas don't succeed, but you don't want to take multiple shots on goal that are very different because now you're having the stress and you're spreading yourself too thin. So like, I'm not saying start the boring company and start, you know, Tesla at the same time. What I'm saying is with BizNow, we launched a newsletter business and we tried 12 different flavors of that business.”
Steal thisRun many permutations of ONE concept on shared infrastructure, then kill losers and double down on the winner.
To launch BizNow's $5,000 Escape event, Begelman got 3 impressive CEOs to commit only if others on a 40-name spreadsheet came. He handed each person the list, collected contingent yeses from everyone, then took deposits before ever booking the hotel.
“I went to the most impressive first 3 people that I could get a meeting with, and I got them to say yes, but they'd only say, they said only yes if the other people on my list came. I actually handed them a spreadsheet. I was like, here's, here's 40 crazy names. If I can get, you know, half of these people to come, will you come? And they said yes, contingent on that. Then I went to those crazy people and I said, hey, these amazing people said they would come if you'll come. Will you come if they come? And then they all said yes.”
Steal thisCollect contingent commitments from a named guest list, then close everyone by showing the list is filling—book the venue last.
Ryan Begelman and partner Elliott each put roughly $50,000 into BizNow Media in 2008, then over 7.5 years generated over $1 billion in distributions from profits and the eventual sale — with no venture capital, lenders, or syndicate.
“Like, you know, Elliot and I each put in about $50,000 at the end of 2008. So a little over $50,000 total. And, you know, and over the course of 7.5 years generated over $1 billion of, of distributions either from profits or from selling the company.”
At the time of sale, BizNow was doing roughly $20M in revenue and $7M in profit, and sold for $60M in cash — all bootstrapped.
“And he grew it and eventually sold it for $60 million in cash. And at the time of the sale, it was doing like $20 million in revenue, $7 million in profit.”
At the time of sale, BizNow was doing roughly $20M in revenue and $7M in profit, and sold for $60M in cash — all bootstrapped.
“And he grew it and eventually sold it for $60 million in cash. And at the time of the sale, it was doing like $20 million in revenue, $7 million in profit.”
In the same week he sold BizNow, Begelman co-founded Summit (which became a ~$20M revenue business), bought Powder Mountain, and built a $30M venture fund plus a nonprofit — all run as an operator without outside capital.
“we, uh, co-founded Summit, which became also like a $20 million revenue business with, you know, thousands of customers. And, um, and as you mentioned, we bought Powder Mountain, which is the largest ski resort by acreage, 10,000 acres of skiable terrain in Utah with 7 lifts and hundreds of employees in the winter and a development team. And, and we've sold, you know, I think, uh, like $160 million worth of real estate at the project. We also built a $30 million venture fund called Summit Action”
Begelman screens for high intelligence via top-30 university backgrounds, then layers a separate filter for hustle, favoring former party promoters, bookies, and drug dealers because smart-but-lazy people are common.
“I love hiring people who are, you know, drug dealers, bookies, you know, people who have hustle, people who are— I love party promoters, you know, I don't know what they're doing now during COVID but if you filter for high intelligence and you filter for— and the one way to filter for high intelligence is just look at people who are at top 30 universities. They've already done the job for you.”
Steal thisScreen separately for intelligence (top-30 school) and hustle (promoters, bookies, side-hustlers) — high intelligence alone often comes with laziness.