Why she was OK with selling for 1x revenue

January 19, 2024
​Read on web​

Ever considered selling your company to one of your employees?

That’s the route Sarah Gonzales took when she sold Tungsten Prep, a tutoring and test prep business with 7 figures in annual revenue.

A former diplomat who started the business when her family wanted to stay put in the United States, Gonzales grew it to 500 customers at the time of the sale, served by 30 part-time tutors.

She decided to sell after COVID’s impact on the online tutoring industry. While the pandemic created huge opportunities, it brought new, VC-backed competitors into the space that acquired customers at a loss, which made it challenging for Gonzales to compete.

But she didn’t want to sell to a company that would gut their brand and curriculum. So she took another route:

She sold the business to her first employee.

“It’s hard for an individual to match what financially other companies could do,” Gonzales said, but the match in terms of values and continuity for the brand and employees was more important to her.

The business sold for just under 1x revenue. Here’s the full story:

​How a diplomat-turned-entrepreneur sold her tutoring business to her first employee​

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More sellers should prepare for *this*

No matter how much you respect the buyer of your business...

They will ALWAYS run the company differently than you did.

No buyer will ever do things exactly the way you would.

So before you sell...

Even if you're staying on in some way...

Prepare yourself to *really* let go.

Want to go deeper on this topic?

We've written quite a bit about the emotional journey of selling a business, including how to prepare emotionally to sell and what nobody tells you about selling a business.

See you next time,

Lexi Grant
Founder & CEO
​They Got Acquired​