The Exit - Presented By Flippa The Exit - Presented By Flippa

This week on The Exit: Jordan Dargue, investor and co-founder of Lifted Ventures, began her career in the construction industry before making her way to tech software. Throughout her experiences in various industries, a common theme she noticed was a disproportionately low number of female founders, particularly in venture-backed endeavors.

With her company’s angel network and VC education, her mission has become to even the playing field by helping female founders raise the capital needed to scale early-stage startups.

When deciding whether to fund businesses, she pays particular attention to the founder’s background and story, the team, the problem they are solving, and their understanding of the market.

For female founders looking for investors, she recommends frequently attending events and speaking with investors early.

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.


Jordan Dargue, is a founder, senior executive, investor, NED and seasoned investment expert. Her boundless passion for innovation, coupled with a remarkable track record of achievements, positions her within the realms of growth and investment. Jordan is Co Founder of Lifted Ventures. Lifted exists to increase the flow of early stage capital to female founders and promote the significant business benefits of backing women. The Lifted Ventures flywheel has an angel network at its core, alongside education, community and consultancy.

LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/jordan-dargue-59438433

Lifted Ventures Website - https://liftedventures.co.uk/


For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit



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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Donald Thompson, founder and CEO of The Diversity Movement, shares insights from his numerous successful business exits, starting from his role in iCubed, which was acquired by Adobe, to leading multiple spin-outs and acquisitions.

Donald recounts how his team at iCubed, post-acquisition, bought back the company, grew it, and later sold it again. This became a foundational strategy over his career and led to multiple large-scale exits.

He attributes his success in these endeavors to cohesive entrepreneurial-minded teams and emphasizes the value of delayed gratification by taking equity over only a salary.

For those looking to exit, while it’s important to be prepared to answer questions about your business for due diligence, deeply understanding the buyer's growth strategy and how your business fits into that can significantly enhance negotiation outcomes.


Donald Thompson has built an extraordinary career spanning diverse industries from tech sales and IT leadership, to digital marketing and pioneering DEI programming while serving on more than a dozen advisory boards. Through unparalleled experience particularly in creating companies, leading startups and growing them to over a $1 million revenue milestone. Donald has positioned himself as a sought-after executive coach and advisor.


LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldthompsonjr/

The Inclusive Leadership Handbook - https://thediversitymovement.com/product/the-inclusive-leadership-handbook/


For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit



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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Anthony Westfall, an expert in business mergers and acquisitions, shares his insights on growth acquisitions and multiple exits. After working at Cisco during the dot-com bubble, Anthony moved to a startup, got laid off, and transitioned to the wine business.

His first solo venture was an online wine startup catering to nonprofits, which didn’t scale due to the nonprofits' business approach. Once again Anthony needed to pivot. He moved to a private sale model for wine during the financial crisis, targeting high-end wine consumers. Despite initial success, Anthony missed out on scaling his venture fast enough and securing significant venture capital, leading to competitors surpassing him.

Anthony eventually grew his company through acquiring distressed assets and focusing on customer acquisition rather than tech or anything else. Anthony also ventured into the cannabis industry, intending to bring out-of-state brands into California. Realizing the industry's high risk and capital intensity, he ultimately sold that business within 14 months.

With multiple exits under his belt now, Anthony now leverages his deep operational experience in brokering business sales to help others exit. He emphasizes the need for growth and understanding the intricacies of scaling ventures.


Anthony Westfall is a seasoned corporate executive and entrepreneur with a truly diverse background across multiple industries. Tony has worked on and led multiple M&A deals throughout his career. As an entrepreneur he has made several successful acquisitions and turned those bolt on acquisitions into substantial exits from multiple companies that he founded. Tony has founded at least a half dozen companies and made several successful exits. Tony has his undergraduate degree in Economics from Michigan State University and his MBA in Finance and Supply Chain Management from the Broad Graduate School of Management.


LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-westfall-650776/

Exit Strategies Group Website - https://www.exitstrategiesgroup.com/



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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Arijana Kaskarova always knew she wanted to run her own business, but before jumping in full-time, she made it a priority to develop the skills necessary to succeed.

She went on to build three businesses, all of which she is now simultaneously running.

From helping businesses set up and manage KPIs, to creating digital marketing boot camps, she’s seen where both hard and soft skills play a role in building and maintaining a healthy business.

She discusses how she takes 6-month goals and breaks them down into 2-week plans with specific KPIs, and how her aim is to set up each team member for success through clear directives and a path for reaching their objectives.

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.


Arijana Koskarova has been featured in Forbes under 30 as the founder of the leading disruptive training center, Creative Hub, with locations in the US, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. Creative Hub is a training hub providing real world for aspiring professionals in the areas of marketing, graphic design, web design, data science, e-commerce, and much more. Arijana is a former corporate executive with over 5 years of experience in marketing in the Asia-Pacific, US and European markets.


LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arijana-koskarova/

CreativeHub Website - https://creativehub.io/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/creativehub.io/



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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: John duHadway has spent decades advising startups and growth-stage companies, guiding them to the next level and eventual exits. As someone who has exited three companies himself, he shares a few truths that he believes are crucial in getting companies successfully acquired.

He emphasizes the importance of business owners surrounding themselves with strong advisors, particularly those who have experience in bringing companies through the same journey.

He also discusses being transparent with the team throughout the process, giving them ownership in the company’s future, and making sure they are supported during the transition to new ownership.

While he believes it’s important to keep the exit in mind as part of building a company, it should not be the primary focus. The north star for business owners should, instead, be to build value, and an exit should be something that comes about as a result of achieving that primary objective.

For more details and insights from his entrepreneurial journey, listen to the full episode of The Exit.



John duHadway spent 35 years working for world-class organizations such as Deloitte, First Franklin Financial Corporation and Ownit Mortgage Solutions before founding and launching duHadway, LLC to provide consultative services to early stage and small businesses. duHadway, provides fractional C-Suite (CEO, COO and CFO) services and consultative services to coach leaders and organizations on how to unlock their highest level of performance and to bring their organizations to the next level.

John has successfully sold and exited three companies with valuations as high as $2.5 billion. As a consultant, his firm works with and collaborates with the top accounting, legal and private equity firms bringing their mutual clients to the next level.


LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnduhadway/

duHadway LLC Website - https://www.duhadwayllc.com/

X (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/duhadway



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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

This week on The Exit: Tina Moser has come a long way since her start in entrepreneurship, which she describes as being like jumping from a plane and building the parachute on the way down.

As the owner of multiple businesses and Finance Director at Cultivate Advisors, she shares her evolution from developing financial literacy to successfully exiting her business.

Tina highlights the significance of understanding financial health beyond profit and loss statements, urging entrepreneurs to focus on future projections and cash flow management.

Regarding building a team, she stresses the need for leadership development and hiring strategies that prioritize the quality of new hires over immediacy.

Reflecting on her past, Tina advises her younger self to embrace spending strategically and prioritize ROI analysis.

For more details and insights from her entrepreneurial journey, listen to the latest episode of The Exit.



Tina Moser is the Strategic Finance Director at Cultivate Advisors, where she specializes in making big goals a reality with solid, financially savvy steps. During Tina’s time as a business owner, she ensured that her financials were dialed in to show the company's true profit. When Tina became an advisor, she helped her clients look honestly at their finances to identify wasted potential. Through Tina’s guidance, her clients have become more profitable, others also have successfully exited their businesses, and all reached the work-life balance they have been striving to achieve. Tina also started a podcast called Women Choosing Growth. The purpose of the podcast is to help give support, guidance and actionable advice to women entrepreneurs and leaders.


Cultivate Advisors - https://cultivateadvisors.com/

Women Choosing Growth Podcast: https://womenchoosinggrowth.com/


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenchoosinggrowth/



For a Free Flippa Business Valuation: https://flippa.com/exit



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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/