The Exit Whisperer

Carrie Kerpen
  • 5.0 (36)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Women-owned businesses capture just 0.8% of the total exit value in the US. Carrie Kerpen is here to change that, through sharing the stories of women who have broken through and sold their businesses. Having sold her own business for 8-figures in 2021, Carrie knows what it takes to build a sellable brand. She also knows that the experience can be different for women than it is for men because she has personally interviewed hundreds of exited female founders. New Episode Every Tuesday!

  1. AUG 5

    #53 - Suzanne Shelton (Shelton Group)

    Suzanne Shelton built one of the top sustainability communications agencies in the US from scratch, then shocked the experts by selling it for double her target price. In this episode, she spills the unfiltered truth: the gut-wrenching moments, the bets that almost broke her, and the secrets behind her once-in-a-lifetime exit. 01:20 – Starting With Nothing: Her Accidental Agency Journey 03:40 – Agency Owners Told ‘You’ll Never Sell’ 06:00 – Planting the Sustainability Flag: The Risk That Paid Off 08:10 – The Greenwashing Gold Rush & Real Industry Challenges 11:00 – When Big Clients Come Knocking (and Why She Said ‘No’) 13:20 – Turning Down Fortune 100s: Scarcity or Smart Strategy? 15:10 – Betting the Company—And Her Own Salary—On the Future 17:30 – The Pain of Specializing (and Losing 80% of Her Staff) 19:10 – Surviving the Agency Trenches & Going All-In on Niche 21:00 – Deciding to Sell: The Real Reasons 23:00 – How She Picked the Buyer (Money vs. Mission) 25:00 – Rejecting “Disrespectful” Offers & Why Earnouts Suck 26:30 – What No One Tells You About LOIs 27:40 – Losing Control After the Sale: What She Misses Most 29:00 – Building Her Next Chapter—Without the Stress 31:00 – Advice for Founders: The One Thing You Must Do Before You Sell 32:19 – Wrap-Up & Final Lessons

    32 min

  2. JUL 29

    #52 - Erin Wade (Homeroom Restaurant)

    Ever wondered if you could risk it all—your savings, your sanity, your entire career—on a food you love? Erin Wade did just that. Fired from her law job and flat-out rejected by banks, she built a cult mac & cheese restaurant that broke every rule and every record. In this episode, Erin tells the unfiltered truth about betting everything, surviving the chaos, and what it really feels like to sell your “baby” to a VC-backed food giant. 01:00 – Fired From Law, Chasing Mac & Cheese Dreams 01:32 – The Crazy Restaurant Gamble: No Money, All In 04:25 – Friends Said She Was Nuts 06:15 – Two Weeks From Total Failure 08:20 – How to Survive Entrepreneurial Panic 10:05 – Betting Everything on One Dish 12:10 – The Secret Sauce: Pricing for Hype 13:55 – Lines Out the Door—But No Profit 15:18 – Outperforming 99% of Restaurants 16:55 – Building a Business People Actually Want to Work At 18:30 – Radical Transparency: Open Book Management 20:15 – Buying Out Her Partner After 6 Years 22:10 – Turning Down Investors—Until Divorce Changed Everything 24:00 – The VC-Backed Tech-Food Takeover 26:05 – Selling Her "Baby"—And Regretting It? 27:42 – What Happens After You Sell (and They Don’t Want Your Help) 29:08 – From Burnout to Bestseller: Writing The Mac & Cheese Millionaire

    32 min

  3. JUL 22

    #51 - Ashley Deland (Karmah Restaurant)

    Ever wondered what really happens after you sell your business? Ashley Deland built and sold a top vegan restaurant—then watched the new owners burn it to the ground. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Ashley and host Carrie Kerpen get brutally honest about burnout, regret, and the secrets nobody tells you about scaling and exiting. This episode is for anyone who thinks selling is the happy ending. Spoiler: it’s just the start of a whole new story.   01:00 – Meet Ashley: From Trend-Hopper to Serial Founder 02:15 – Why She Ditched Corporate for Entrepreneurship 03:45 – How Opening a Yoga Studio Changed Everything 05:00 – Riding the Trends: Juice Bars and Vegan Restaurants 07:00 – The Real Cost of Starting Businesses Alone 08:30 – Scaling a Restaurant to Sell: The Hard Truth 10:10 – She Sold For Double—But There’s a Catch 11:15 – Burnout, Breakdown, and the Year She Took Off 13:00 – What It Feels Like Watching Your Business Collapse 14:30 – Letting Go: The Emotional Side of Selling 16:00 – Lessons She Wishes She Knew Sooner 17:10 – The Power of Vulnerability and Owning Your Story 19:00 – Turning Loss Into Purpose: The Birth of “Unreserved” 20:15 – Starting a Movement for Women Founders 22:00 – What Nobody Tells You About Exiting 23:45 – Upcoming Book, Summit, and Where Ashley Is Now 25:00 – Surviving Chaos: Wrapping Up the Wildest Interview 26:15 – Final Thoughts & How to Connect with Ashley

    27 min

  4. JUL 15

    #50 - Andrea Padilla (Square Root Marketing)

    When everyone told Andrea to play it safe, she rewrote the rules and doubled her worth. In this episode, two powerhouse founders share the real story behind selling a business, risking everything, and turning partnership into a power move. Forget the “happily ever after” exit story—this is what actually happens when women decide to cash out and level up. 00:30 – Meet Andrea & Andrea: The Story Begins 01:30 – From Side Hustle to Serious Business 03:05 – When Growth Gets Scary 04:00 – The Immigrant Who Broke the Rules 05:10 – The Truth About Female Founders & Family 06:30 – Choosing Partnership Over Hiring 08:00 – Why Chemistry Beats Numbers 09:15 – Secrets to Surviving Tough Negotiations 10:40 – Building Trust While Closing Deals 12:00 – What’s Next? Wine, Growth, and the Big Picture 13:15 – The Real Reason This Acquisition Worked

    14 min

  5. JUL 8

    #49 - Colleen West (Enright Court Reporting)

    Colleen West hustled her way from a tiny condo and a fax machine to a multi-million dollar exit. In this raw, inspiring episode, she shares how heartbreak fueled her business empire, why she refused to play by corporate rules, and the bold moves that doubled her revenue during COVID. If you've ever felt stuck, this story will make you rethink what’s possible.   Chapters:  01:30 — Divorce, Babies, and No Degree 04:00 — Court Reporting School: From Survival to Skill 06:30 — Starting Her Business From a Condo 09:00 — Faking It, Fax Machines & Hustling Clients 12:00 — Balancing Growth and Motherhood 15:00 — Buying Another Business (and Mortgaging the House) 18:00 — Running Two Companies at Once 20:30 — Turning Down Bad Offers 23:00 — COVID, Free Zoom, and Doubling Revenue 26:00 — Cutting Costs & Skyrocketing Value 29:00 — The Big Offer Returns — Her Terms Win 33:00 — The Hardest Part: Due Diligence & Protecting Employees 36:00 — Signing the Deal & Emotional Goodbye 38:30 — Life After the Exit: Family, Freedom & Joy 41:00 — Final Reflections & Advice

    42 min

  6. JUL 1

    #48 - Joyce Marter (Urban Balance)

    Joyce Marter didn’t just build a therapy business—she survived betrayal, took on millions in debt, and still managed a seven-figure exit. In this episode, she gets brutally honest about the moment her co-founder quit by email (and CC’d the staff), how she rebuilt from financial rock bottom, and the mindset shifts that helped her turn chaos into a multimillion-dollar win. If you've ever felt like you're drowning while everyone else thinks you're thriving—this one’s for you.   Chapters: 01:22 – Building a Therapy Empire with $500 03:44 – Scaling Fast… and Falling into Cashflow Hell 07:02 – The Shocking Co-Founder Exit (via Email!) 09:15 – Half the Staff Walks Out — Now What? 11:00 – Asking for Help and Facing the Truth 12:30 – “Your Business Is Worth Seven Figures” 14:05 – Restructuring: The Office Manager Problem 15:44 – Mindset Work and the Power of Meditation 17:10 – Using Therapy Tools to Fix Financial Trauma 18:56 – Scarcity Mindset Rooted in Family History 21:00 – The Road to Exit: Vision Boards and Vetting Buyers 23:08 – Rejecting the Sexiest Deal (and Why It Paid Off) 25:20 – Three Paydays: Equity, Rollovers, and More 26:56 – Refusing Last-Minute Terms — Even at 7 Figures 29:10 – How to Truly Shift Your Financial Mindset 32:00 – Why Money Is About Flow, Not Fear 34:18 – Intergenerational Financial Trauma is Real 36:00 – Final Advice and How to Learn from Joyce

    29 min

  7. JUN 24

    #47 - Antonia Saint Dunbar (THINX)

    Antonia helped build one of the most iconic period brands in the world. In this episode, she takes us inside the real, messy, deeply human journey of launching Thinx: from her pink pajama shame moment at 13 to raising millions, writing her own patent, and co-founding a brand that changed the way we talk about periods.   But that’s only the first half of the story.   She opens up about what it actually felt like to raise money, negotiate with strategic partners, and sit in rooms where you slowly lose control of the brand you built. What happens when you and your co-founders don’t want the same future? What do you do when the investors are offering the deal of a lifetime? 01:10 – Meet Antonia: From Classical Musician to Brand Builder 04:30 – The Origin of Thinx: A Three-Legged Race & a Bikini Bottom 08:00 – From India to Innovation: Solving Global Period Poverty 11:15 – The Girl Effect: Empowering Girls by Keeping Them in School 14:20 – Designing Smart Underwear: Antimicrobial, Leak-Proof & Chic 17:40 – First Funding: From Music Studio to Kickstarter 21:30 – “Failure to Launch” & Taking the Leap 24:10 – Family & Friends Round + The $25K Investor Who Made $1M 27:50 – When Deals Don’t Close: Due Diligence with UK Partner 31:40 – Sri Lanka Email Changes Everything: MAS Becomes Strategic Partner 36:00 – Why the Subway Ads Made People Stop & Stare 38:45 – Educating the Public on “Underwear for Periods” 41:00 – Kimberly-Clark Enters the Picture 43:20 – Losing Control of Product Design After Investment 45:00 – Birth of Her Next Venture: The Shoe Brand Idea 48:15 – $2.1M Kickstarter for Her Shoe Brand in 90 Days 51:00 – Was She Ready to Leave Thinx? 53:10 – The Co-Founder Rift: Different Timelines, Different Visions 56:40 – Lessons in Equity, Contracts & Business Breakups 59:15 – Don’t Assume Love = Legal Protection 01:01:30 – Why She Has No Regrets (But Learned the Hard Way)

    51 min

  8. JUN 17

    #46 - Coco Sellman (Allumé Home Care)

    She built a company from scratch to serve medically fragile children — and sold it for double her valuation. In this powerful and emotional episode, Coco Sellman shares the full story behind founding her home healthcare agency inspired by her stepdaughter, scaling it to $7M in just 18 months, surviving the pandemic, navigating investors and partnerships, negotiating a merger, and finally landing the perfect exit with a major children’s hospital.   From starting without funding to surviving impossible cash flow gaps and sitting across from private equity in a room full of men — Coco breaks down what it really takes to exit on your terms. If you’re building with purpose but want a serious business outcome… this one is a must-listen.   01:15 – Meet Coco Sellman & Her Mission-Driven Business 04:30 – A Medically Fragile Child Sparked the Business Idea 08:50 – Why No One Would Take Her Stepdaughter 12:10 – From Purpose to Business Opportunity 16:25 – How She Started a Home Healthcare Agency 21:00 – 18 Months of Operating Without Reimbursement 24:10 – Bootstrapping vs. Raising Investment Early 27:15 – From Zero to $7M in Revenue 30:40 – Why Nurses Were the Real Growth Bottleneck 33:15 – How to Attract & Retain 15 Nurses a Month 35:50 – Taking on Her First Angel Investor 39:00 – What Makes a “Perfect” Investor 42:15 – Pandemic Hits: Her Growth Strategy Breaks 44:40 – Planning the Merger 48:25 – How She Negotiated the Deal 52:00 – The Reality of Merging Operations 55:30 – Losing Her Team, Gaining Scale 59:00 – Surprise: Medicaid Rate Increases by 31% 01:02:00 – Connecticut Children’s Hospital Reaches Out 01:04:40 – When You Realize You Could’ve Gone Solo 01:07:00 – How to Build for an Exit While Scaling Fast 01:09:30 – The Final Deal & Why She Has No Regrets

    41 min
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5
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Women-owned businesses capture just 0.8% of the total exit value in the US. Carrie Kerpen is here to change that, through sharing the stories of women who have broken through and sold their businesses. Having sold her own business for 8-figures in 2021, Carrie knows what it takes to build a sellable brand. She also knows that the experience can be different for women than it is for men because she has personally interviewed hundreds of exited female founders. New Episode Every Tuesday!

Information

  • Creator
    Carrie Kerpen
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    56
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Exit Whisperer

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