2 Commas: The $multi-million exit show with Josh Comrie

Josh Comrie
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Welcome to 2 Commas: The $multi-million exit show I've spent over two decades helping founders scale their businesses and achieve successful, multimillion-dollar exits. I've also achieved this myself on multiple occasions. With my experience as an entrepreneur, advisor, and investor, I’ve had the privilege of guiding companies through the highs and lows of business growth and exit strategies. Each episode will bring you the previously untold stories of entrepreneurs who have successfully scaled and exited their businesses for seven-figure (2 comma's) plus returns. You’ll hear more about the journeys, challenges, and pivotal moments that led to these transformative exits. My goal is to inform and inspire founders who are looking to scale their ventures to seven, eight or nine figures and beyond. Follow me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshcomrie Download my e-book, "The Exit Factor" and sign up to receive the Business Growth Journal weekly: https://www.joshcomrie.com/the-exit-factor

  1. Would you sell 80% of your business to 5X its value? | Murray Schnuriger and Toby King with Josh Comrie

    14h ago

    Would you sell 80% of your business to 5X its value? | Murray Schnuriger and Toby King with Josh Comrie

    Most founders won't give up 80% of their business. The ones who did walked away with more than if they'd kept 100%. Murray Schnuriger made the jump from 20 years advising founders on exits to actually owning the risk at 5V Capital, a mid-market PE fund across Australia and New Zealand. Toby King has spent his career at Cameron Partners, one of NZ's most established M&A firms, allied with Rothschild and Company. Together they've sat on both sides of more NZ business exits than almost anyone alive. The Education Perfect story is the one that sticks. Two brothers built an edtech platform into 50% of NZ secondary schools, hit their ceiling, and sold 80% to 5V. One went backpacking for a year. 5V brought in a new CEO, put sales teams on the ground in Australia, and tripled the business in three years. Exit to KKR. The 20% the brothers held at the end was worth more than their original 100%. That's the structure most NZ founders never think to ask about. Murray and Toby pull no punches on what founders consistently get wrong, pricing on EBITDA when buyers price on free cash flow, waiting one more year for growth when the multiple compression wipes out the gain, and showing up to a sale process without a narrative that holds up under serious due diligence. We get into: Why selling 80% can leave you wealthier than holding everything The EBITDA trap that costs NZ founders millions at the table Why "one more year of growth" is often the most expensive decision you'll make How PE investors actually think about your exit before they've even finished investing in you What your business narrative needs to nail to earn a premium valuation The succession wave hitting NZ baby boomer founders and why PE is filling the gap If you're building something and wondering what it actually looks like to sell part of your business, back yourself for one more run, and walk away with more than you started with, this one's worth your time.

    1h 25m
  2. I gave away half of my business on a handshake. Here's why. | Mark Zeman with Josh Comrie

    Jun 3

    I gave away half of my business on a handshake. Here's why. | Mark Zeman with Josh Comrie

    What if the most successful version of your company is the smallest one? This week I sit down with Mark Zeman, co-founder of SpeedCurve, who quietly built one of the most unusual software businesses I've come across. No VC. No sales team. No marketing function. A team that never grew beyond seven people, paid two to three times market salary, and shared the monthly profit with everyone. SpeedCurve had customers like Airbnb, the New York Times and the Guardian. They found him, not the other way around. And after 13 years, he exited to Embrace, not at the peak. We get into: - Why Mark turned down customers, capital and "grow at all costs" - How a UX designer in New Zealand ended up shaping global web performance standards - The handshake co-founder deal with Steve Souders and why it worked - Monthly profit share instead of equity and a someday-maybe exit - The moment the market shifted and SpeedCurve became the wrong shape - Selling a declining SaaS business and why Embrace still wanted it - What working inside a VC-backed company has confirmed and challenged If you've ever wondered whether there's another way to build a SaaS business and exit on your own terms, there is. Mark just lived it.

    1h 25m
  3. 67% of founding teams fail. Hete's why | Logan Yonavjak | 2 Commas

    May 27

    67% of founding teams fail. Hete's why | Logan Yonavjak | 2 Commas

    What if the biggest risk in your company isn't your product, it's whether your people are actually ready to lead? This week, I sit down with Logan Yonavjak, founder of the Readiness Engine, to explore how AI can now measure leadership capacity at scale. We get into coachability, the grit myth, the early warning signs a founding team is in trouble, and my own method for testing resilience and values in the room. Essential listening for founders, investors and operators.

    47 min
  4. John Bessey: His doctor said he was fine. The blood work said otherwise.

    May 20

    John Bessey: His doctor said he was fine. The blood work said otherwise.

    Most of us have no idea what's actually going on inside our body. John Bessey has been in the room for three major tech exits as CEO of Merkle (Davanti), head of revenue at Introgen, and on the executive team when Gen-I sold to Spark. He's also a certified metabolic and health coach who reckons most high-performers are flying blind on the things that actually matter and he's got the blood work to prove it. In this episode, John and I get into the overlap between building a high-performing business and building a body that doesn't quit before the game's over. He shares what actually worked when he stepped in as an external CEO and why most of those appointments fail, how Divanti's earn-out structure gave the founders real control through the sale, and the simple rituals he uses with executives to cut distraction and find the two or three things that will genuinely move the needle. On the health side, the four horsemen, why your GP's "you're fine" might be the most expensive thing you hear this year, and what John changed the day he stopped chasing biohacks and went back to basics. John's 55, thirteen kilos lighter than he was a decade ago, and building deliberately toward skiing Cardrona at 93. His book, Rituals of Impact, is available at ritualsofimpact.com (free shipping in NZ) and on Amazon worldwide.

    1h 7m
  5. Ken Crosson: From milking 1 cow to designing one of the word's best 400 houses

    May 13

    Ken Crosson: From milking 1 cow to designing one of the word's best 400 houses

    Ken Crosson nearly became a dairy farmer milking one cow in mid-Canterbury, instead, he walked into the Christchurch Town Hall at 16 and never looked back. In this episode of 2 Commas, I sit down with Ken, founder of Crosson and Co, one of New Zealand's most quietly celebrated architects, as the firm approaches its 40th year. We cover the pivot from farm kid to globally recognised designer, what it actually looks like to build a 40-year practice from scratch with no business training and one very young first hire, and why Ken still shows up to the office on weekends with a paper diary and a pencil. We get into the realities of partnership - how they form, how they end, and how the right recruiter talked Ken into a completely different hire than the one he thought he needed. We also unpack Plan Change 120, why building in New Zealand has gone from four drawings to 959 pages, and what AI is starting to do - and not yet do - to the profession. If you've ever wondered what four decades of designing spaces that move people actually teaches you about business, relationships, and the built world around us.

    1h 10m
  6. Dr. Catherine Stone: I created NZ's botox market then nearly lost it all

    May 6

    Dr. Catherine Stone: I created NZ's botox market then nearly lost it all

    She was asking people if they wanted Botox before most New Zealanders knew what it was, and they were asking her if their face was going to fall off. Dr. Catherine Stone pioneered cosmetic medicine in New Zealand in 2001, set up her first clinic in Vulcan Lane for $13,500, and built one of the country's most recognised aesthetic brands from scratch. In this episode of 2 Commas, I sit down with Dr. Cat to unpack what it looks like to front-run a trend before anyone believes in it, build a high-end boutique in a space that didn't exist, and scale it through TV deals, London clinics, and a few very well-timed pivots. We also get into the stuff nobody talks about - buying 23 properties in 24 months right before the GFC, the burnout that nearly ended everything, and three separate cancer diagnoses that ultimately forced the question: what actually matters? The answer led to an eight-week exit to someone she trusted, not the biggest multiple on the table. If you're building something and wondering what it looks like to lose nearly everything, rebuild it bigger, and walk away on your own terms. This one's worth your time.

    1h 21m
  7. Rafael Niesten: I sold my company and bought three USB-C cables

    Apr 29

    Rafael Niesten: I sold my company and bought three USB-C cables

    Rafael Niesten built a nine-figure exit, woke up at 5:30am to watch the money land, and celebrated by going to Indian for $62 and buying three USB-C cables. In this episode of 2 Commas, I sit down with Raf, founder of PropTech Labs, to unpack what it actually looks like to build, acquire, and sell a portfolio of PropTech businesses without an investment banker in sight. We cover three strategic acquisitions in 18 months, five months of due diligence with a giant US corporate, and why timing the market ended up mattering just as much as building the product. We also get into the exit psychology - the void that opens up after a frenetic decade, the "one-eyed dog in a meat factory" focus lesson that changed everything, and what Raf's doing with the freedom on the other side. If you're building something and wondering what the finish line actually looks like and what comes after it, this one's worth your time.

    1h 9m
  8. Tim Boyle: Voted off the board of the company I built

    Apr 22

    Tim Boyle: Voted off the board of the company I built

    He cold-called American trucking companies from a dark office in Auckland at 2am — New Zealand accent and all — and built a nine-figure SaaS exit out of it. In this episode of 2 Commas, I sit down with Tim Boyle, co-founder of Whip Around, to unpack what it really takes to go from a commercial real estate career and a half-baked idea to a fleet compliance platform operating across the US with thousands of customers. We talk about the accidental pivot to DVIR compliance that changed everything, the decision to plant their sales team in Charlotte, North Carolina, and how they scaled from $1M to $10M ARR in roughly two years. Tim also gets honest about the harder stuff — being voted off the board of the company he started, the structural mistakes that made it possible, and what he'd do differently from day one around founder rights, cap tables, and governance. He's remarkably at peace with how it all played out, and the lessons he's carrying into his next venture, HelpGenie, are worth the listen alone. We finish on the exit: what a nine-figure acquisition actually looks like from the founder's seat, why getting to a finish line matters beyond the dollars, and why Tim thinks the old-school ways of building customer trust are about to come back in a big way.

    1h 42m
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About

Welcome to 2 Commas: The $multi-million exit show I've spent over two decades helping founders scale their businesses and achieve successful, multimillion-dollar exits. I've also achieved this myself on multiple occasions. With my experience as an entrepreneur, advisor, and investor, I’ve had the privilege of guiding companies through the highs and lows of business growth and exit strategies. Each episode will bring you the previously untold stories of entrepreneurs who have successfully scaled and exited their businesses for seven-figure (2 comma's) plus returns. You’ll hear more about the journeys, challenges, and pivotal moments that led to these transformative exits. My goal is to inform and inspire founders who are looking to scale their ventures to seven, eight or nine figures and beyond. Follow me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshcomrie Download my e-book, "The Exit Factor" and sign up to receive the Business Growth Journal weekly: https://www.joshcomrie.com/the-exit-factor

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