They Got Acquired - A serious wake-up call

July 14, 2023
​Read on web​

At 35, Jon Claydon was hospitalized with shingles.

“I was trying to do 7 jobs at once and completely burning myself out,” the founder of Streamline Marketing told us.

It was 2019, and Claydon had been working 16- to 18-hour days leading his affiliate marketing agency. The painful rash had spread to his esophagus. It was so bad the ER doctor told him he could have died.

Around the same time, Claydon noted an industry trend: Big holding companies were rolling up affiliate marketing agencies similar to his.

He decided selling was in the best interest of both the company and himself. But it took him more than a year to get there.

In 2020, Claydon sold his 30-employee company for low 8 figures, including cash and equity.

Our story reveals:

• Why Claydon decided not to use a broker or investment bank initially — then ended up hiring one
• How a failed deal eventually led to a new opportunity
• Why he second-guessed his decision even after signing an LOI

​“It was my wake-up call:” How this founder’s emergency led to his agency sale​

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Life after the exit

This Twitter thread offers the kind of wisdom you only get in retrospect:

Parts of this thread that stand out:

• "If you're in the right room once, you will be there again."
• "Everything is an opportunity."
• "You will feel pressure to have another big hit to define the first one. This is lame. As you work on things you love, a trend will emerge that helps define your career."

You can read the whole thread here.

And if you want more insight into what to expect after you exit, here's a post we've published on that topic:

👉🏽 What no one tells you about selling your business.

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​

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P.S. ICYMI: We launched our Agency Deals Report this week!

It includes case studies of nine agencies that sold, and it's free. ​