Ep 507 After the Deal: Why Adam Rossi Wanted to Undo His Exit

Ep 507 After the Deal: Why Adam Rossi Wanted to Undo His Exit

Author: John Warrillow August 15, 2025 Duration: 1:07:16

Adam Rossi built a 250-employee software company serving law enforcement and intelligence agencies. They routinely beat Lockheed Martin in head-to-head bids. 

Then a banker came back with five acquisition offers — each at the "absurd" number Adam and his wife had thrown out as a hypothetical. The winning bid came from SRA International, a publicly traded defense contractor, for a price that created generational wealth for his family. Adam took all cash and walked away with no earn-out. 

But as Adam discovered, the hard part wasn't negotiating the deal — it was figuring out what to do after it closed. 

 


For any entrepreneur, the idea of selling the company they've built is both a daunting prospect and a potential pinnacle of success. Built to Sell Radio, hosted by John Warrillow, steps into that complex space with a clear, practical focus. This isn't about abstract theory; it's a weekly conversation grounded in real experience. Every episode features a different founder who has recently navigated the sale of their business. The discussion goes straight to the heart of the matter: understanding the personal and strategic reasons behind the decision to sell. Listeners get an honest breakdown of what worked, from preparation and valuation to negotiation, and perhaps more importantly, the unforeseen pitfalls and mistakes made along the way. It’s that candid post-mortem, the lessons learned in the trenches of a transaction, that provides unparalleled value. By compiling these firsthand accounts, the podcast builds a comprehensive library of exit strategies and cautionary tales. Tuning in feels like gaining access to a private mastermind, where seasoned entrepreneurs share the unvarnished truth about cashing in their life's work. If you're contemplating your own eventual exit, this series offers the nuanced, peer-to-peer insights you need to think like a buyer, protect your interests, and ultimately, build a business that is truly desirable. Built to Sell Radio serves as an essential guide, transforming the opaque process of selling a business into a clearer, more manageable journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Built to Sell Radio
Podcast Episodes
Ep 548 Inside the Mind of an Acquirer: The Threat and Curse of AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:05
A lot of owners are losing sleep over AI right now. They watch search traffic erode, they see competitors automating, and they wonder if the business they spent twenty years building is quietly becoming obsolete. Jaryd K…
Ep 547 How to Get Your Partners to Buy You Out [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:05
When Sean Kernan wanted out of the financial advisor support business he co-founded in Dallas, he didn't shop it to outside acquirers, and he didn't wait for his five partners to make him an offer. He engineered the buyo…
Ep 546 $14M Raised, A Car-Changing Exit [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:47
There's an old idea in M&A called the Rembrandt in the attic. A company owns something valuable — a brand, a patent, a customer list, a data set — and nobody inside the business sees it for what it is. The right acquirer…
Ep 544 Why He Regrets Selling for 3.5X EBITDA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:56
Boris Berenberg bootstrapped Atlas Authority, an Atlassian partner that resold Jira and Confluence to mid-market companies and built apps on top of the platform, to high seven figures in revenue with 18% net margins, the…
Ep 542 The 15X Multiple That Let Him Walk Away in 12 Months [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:04
At some point every founder needs to ask a simple question: is it better to own a big slice of a small pie, or a smaller slice of a bigger pie? In this week's episode, we hear from someone who chose a smaller slice of a…