Ep. 1 - Not Just Unicorns
Welcome to Exit-Ed, stories from grind to sale. This is the podcast where we dive into the journeys of founders who have navigated the path from building their companies to successful exits. We interview entrepreneurs from around The US and around the globe, exploring their experiences, scaling processes, and the lessons they've learned. We'll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. We're excited to have you with us.
Gabriela Smith:Let's get started, and let's get excited. Welcome to Exit-Ed. Let's talk about exits. My name is Gabby Smith, and on paper, I'm technically an attorney. But in my heart, I'm an entrepreneur who happens to be a lawyer, and I have walked the walk of an entrepreneur for many, many years, as legal counsel, and even more recently as an entrepreneur myself.
Gabriela Smith:I've had the privilege of working with founders from around the globe, people building across borders, industries, and generations. I've seen companies from their first messy contracts all the way to multimillion dollar exits. I've seen the lawsuits. I've seen the happy endings. I've seen the divorces, both in business and in personal life.
Gabriela Smith:I've seen the successes. I've seen the marriage between companies. And I've seen the deals that happened, but also the deals that didn't happen. I have seen a lot. And there is one thing that I learned.
Gabriela Smith:I learned that the journeys of entrepreneurs are never linear, very rarely linear. The life of an entrepreneur is never easy. And one other thing that I noticed is that the spotlight is always on the billion dollar exit. The light shines very, very bright on the unicorns, the magazine covers, the celebrity investors, the celebrity startups, the IPOs. It's all over the news, but those aren't the only stories.
Gabriela Smith:Those are not even the most common stories. That is why I started Exit-Ed. Exit-Ed is about entrepreneurs who built real companies and made real exits. You may not see them in the national spotlights, but these people are making their mark. They are reshaping industries, disrupting norms, and even driving change within their communities, spheres of influence, and so forth.
Gabriela Smith:Thousands of new businesses are starting every single day, And thousands of companies are scaling literally right now as I speak, some where they're going to go out and get sold, and some are going to get passed away. That's something that people don't think about. If you're building a business, you're either going to pass it off to your family, a friend, or something, or you're going to sell it. But whatever you're scaling, there's going to be an end as to what's going to happen to it, obviously, within your lifetime. So what are you going to do with it?
Gabriela Smith:So here, at Exit-Ed, we talk to those people building those companies. We talk to the entrepreneurs behind these huge, huge economy of businesses that are getting built and scaled every single day. And what I also found, besides I discussed a little bit about the spotlight and the sexy things, the celebrities backing companies, the investors backing companies. But most companies don't have that. And most companies don't come from somebody who built a company out of an Ivy League school with all the contacts that it gives you.
Gabriela Smith:Most companies are not built by people with rich parents or people that come from generational wealth or entrepreneurship, or inherited influence, the founders that we talk to are founders that created something out of nothing. They created a business idea. They created their own connections. They created a business process, and they created their own success. And again, they're not going to be possibly in the national spotlight in the next cover of Forbes, or maybe someday, but the ones that I talked to haven't been there yet.
Gabriela Smith:But they build some amazing things, and they build and they exit, and they do it really well. And when they do exit, whether it is for $5,000,000 for $50,000,000 some for $100,000,000 or more, it's a huge deal because it changes everything for them. And what does it change? Well, we'll find out. Well, I'm going to talk to them, and they'll tell us.
Gabriela Smith:These founders are all about impact. They're about achieving, changing their generation, changing their entire communities. And sometimes, it is also about proving something to someone else. We'll see. But above all, something that I've seen is that these founders want to have a good life.
Gabriela Smith:And here at Exit-Ed, we also will talk about the part that nobody sees in that process of scaling a company, finding the idea, creating the connections, creating the service or the product. And what is happening behind all of that effort? Well, we'll talk about the long nights, the personal guarantees to get those lines of credit, or get whatever loan you need to scale the business if you choose to get a loan. We'll talk about the uncertainty, the unfairness that business can bring sometimes, the fights that happen sometimes, which unfortunately are normal or can be normal sometimes, and I expect it even, The cheating, the conviction to keep going, all this grit that entrepreneurs have, sometimes they go without salaries. They even mortgage their homes, they get family loans, they just go all in.
Gabriela Smith:And sometimes we don't hear about that. Again, we keep hearing about this spotlight. We see about the beautiful part. But in this podcast, in Exit-Ed, we're going to get into the details. And one thing that we're going to learn is that entrepreneurs don't necessarily play it safe.
Gabriela Smith:I would say I have not talked to a single entrepreneur that wants to play it safe. And the other thing that I'm learning about the entrepreneurs, and we'll learn a lot about in this podcast, is, in fact, about the process of learning. And they go, of course, through the processes of building from founding the company to finding this market fit of the service or product to the hiring and scaling that the scare of hiring or even firing. The first time you hire, the first time you fire, how does it work? What's going through their heads?
Gabriela Smith:We'll talk about the broken processes in a business, the good hires and the bad hires, the delayed payments, the sleepless nights, all of it. We're going to talk to the heart of the founders, and we're going to learn about how to get exited. So welcome to Exit-Ed. This is the podcast where successful founders will share their untold stories behind building, scaling, and selling their companies. In each dynamic episode, I promise you we will go beyond the headlines, and we will explore the challenges, the strategies, and the pivotal moments that shaped the journeys of entrepreneurs around the world.
Gabriela Smith:This is real business built by real people. These are the founders who built something from nothing. I love that phrase. And at Exit-Ed, we will spotlight the true builders behind thriving companies, the ones you don't always see in the headlines but who are powering the heartbeat of the global economy. From the long nights spent grinding and high stakes conversations that led to their successful exits, our guests will offer practical insights, hard won lessons, and candid reflection for anyone on the path to success, whether you're an entrepreneur, or preparing for a sale, or an investor looking to understand founding dynamics or a business leader seeking strategic growth, this podcast is for you.
Gabriela Smith:Learn from those who have been there. Get excited. Thank you for tuning into this episode of Exit-Ed. We are passionate about supporting founders at every stage of their journey from scaling up to planning an exit. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean a lot to me if you would leave us a five star rating on your preferred platform.
Gabriela Smith:If you know a founder who would benefit from our insights or wants to learn more about exiting a business, let them know about our podcast, Exit-Ed. To stay in touch with us, you can follow us on LinkedIn, TikToks, and many other platforms. We are building a vibrant community of founders. See you next time. Thanks, guys.
