Ep 555 How to Avoid an Earn Out and Get Your Employees to Sell Like You, Featuring the World's Leading Positioning Expert, April Dunford

Ep 555 How to Avoid an Earn Out and Get Your Employees to Sell Like You, Featuring the World's Leading Positioning Expert, April Dunford

Author: John Warrillow July 17, 2026 Duration: 56:31

If you own a company, chances are you're its best salesperson. Put you in a room with a prospect and you rarely lose. But listen to your employees try to tell the same story and something gets lost. You've tried hiring salespeople. You've tried training them. The selling keeps landing back on your shoulders, and when it comes time to sell, an acquirer will see it too. Expect an earn-out or an equity rollover, golden handcuffs designed to keep the rainmaker locked in. 

Here's what most owners miss: you have a built-in advantage no salesperson can replicate. Your founder story defines the enemy, the problem, and why you built something better, and you tell it instinctively because you lived it. A new rep who tries to recite your story will sound like a fraud. The fix isn't better sales training. It's giving your team professional positioning, and nobody on the planet knows more about positioning than April Dunford. She spent 25 years as an executive at seven B2B technology startups, companies that were acquired for a combined total of more than two billion dollars, and her books, Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch, are the standard playbooks for explaining why customers should pick you over the competition.


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: 50

Built to Sell Radio
Podcast Episodes
Ep 542 The 15X Multiple That Let Him Walk Away in 12 Months [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:04
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Ep 539 Deal Collapsed at LOI, Sold for 6x EBITDA Anyway [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:42
Jay Richards spent five months deep in an acquisition process. He had a letter of intent. He had mentally checked out. He was planning what came next. Then issues surfaced in diligence and the deal collapsed. This week o…
Ep 537 Why this $5M Business Sold for $25M [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:38
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Ep 534 Why a "short list" of acquirers may be a trap [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:17
Andrew McConnell built a SaaS company that helped vacation rental managers price homes like airlines using dynamic pricing based on demand. He eventually successfully exited, but not before learning the hard way that bui…