Exitwise Productions

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Someone came to me and I entertained it,

you know, so I opened the door and

they walked through it.

I think that selling a company is it's

not just a financial transaction, it's an emotional

transformation.

I probably would have made more money, I

would have saved some stress, probably a lot

of sleepless nights too.

So I love what you guys are doing

and I wish that ExitWise would have existed,

you know, in this form, this Exited Founder

program in this form when I sold.

Welcome to the Exited Founder podcast.

Today my guest is Shannon Wilburn.

Shannon founded Just Between Friends, a pop-up

consignment marketplace for children's and maternity goods that

grew into a national franchise system.

After receiving multiple offers from private equity, Shannon

sold her business to her largest franchisor.

She was choosing buyer fit and brand longevity

over ultimate purchase price.

Because of Shannon's status within the franchising industry

as well as her personal relationships with her

industry's buyer network, Shannon decided to join us

at ExitWise as an Exited Founder to help

her fellow franchise business owners prepare their companies

for sale and help maximize the sale of

every business.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Shannon

Wilburn.

Shannon, thank you so much for being here.

I am so excited first that you are

joining us as an Exited Founder.

I think what I'm also really excited about

is with about 15 minutes of you joining

us, we found a company that wants to

sell that needs your expertise, right?

And we haven't even released a podcast.

We haven't marketed.

It's just perfect timing.

That worked in my favor.

Oh my gosh.

And what I'm really excited for the client.

They have no idea the value that they

are getting.

So thank you for being part of the

whole solution for everyone.

Yes.

Well, thank you for asking me.

I really am very excited.

I've already had calls with team members and

really just it's fun getting to sit in

this seat and hear about what this founder

has grown.

And it just makes me very, very excited

for them and also for me.

Yeah.

And for you, whenever I talk to you

about the value that you bring, maybe you're

just naturally self-deprecating.

And now you're getting to see how much

value you are bringing this guy.

He's almost lost without you.

That's an exaggeration, but you're going to be

so valuable.

Already from the beginning, we can see it.

So let's describe what made you start your

company and take me through that moment from

the first time in your living room to

building up a very sizable franchise organization.

Yeah.

So there was just a need in the

market for what I built.

So the concept that I built and then

successfully exited is called Just Between Friends and

it's a franchise brand.

And we started it in my living room,

myself and a co-founder, and we grew

it locally in Oklahoma for six years.

And then we started franchising it.

And the need, it's basically a marketplace for

families to buy and sell gently used children's

and maternity clothes, toys, and baby equipment.

And you wouldn't think that the world needed

this, but the world needed this.

So it absolutely filled a need.

And 2025, I think the company is going

to do $60 million in system-wide sales.

This is of gently used children's and maternity

clothes, toys, and baby equipment.

So we're talking an average item value of

$5.

That's a lot of gently used items.

How many states are you in today?

They were in 33 when I sold and

now they're in 34 or 35.

I'm not exactly sure.

Yeah.

34 or 35 now.

But kind of same source sales are continuing

to grow.

Yeah, totally.

The buyer's really happy.

You obviously knew the buyer, so we'll get

into that.

Yes, yes.

But they're excited about the transaction.

And I am excited to watch.

It's very fun as a founder to be

able to watch something that you grew for

20 years.

It's in someone else's hand now and it

is just continuing to thrive.

So that's been really fun.

So that leads right into what was the

decision?

What was the impetus to sell the business

in the first place?

Yeah.

Well, I think when founders start in their

business, I think an uneducated founder, I would

say, is what I was.

I didn't think strategically at all about exiting.

And now I tell the people that I

coach, I'm like, you need to think about

your exit when you start.

So I didn't really start thinking about exiting

until we started franchising.

And I can remember thinking, OK, I'm going

to grow this.

This is the plan.

We're going to go nationwide.

We might be international.

How will I exit?

And that was the first time.

It was probably 2004 where I'm like, OK,

what's the end game here?

Am I going to work until I die?

Probably not.

But I did work 20 years.

And I think that I don't even know

the stats on how long founders stay in

their business, but it felt like it was

the right time.

Internally, I had with my family, my husband

went through some serious health issues and it

changed how much time I wanted to spend

in my company.

And I had already been being approached by

private equity, by our largest competitor.

And when our largest franchisee came to me

and said, hey, I might want to, if

you ever think about selling, I might want

to buy this.

And I had not entertained PE because I

didn't think I was ready to sell.

But when she came to me and said

I might be interested, it was the right

person.

And I knew that our core values were

aligned.

And I also knew if I sold to

her, I was not going to get the

valuation that I wanted.

I was not going to get, you know,

I was not going to recoup probably what

I could with private equity, but it also

felt good.

And I think that's a really personal decision.

And I may be going down a rabbit

hole.

I will just stop.

No.

Well, OK, so no, it's perfect because the

value that you're going to bring to another

founder of not just deciding when to sell,

right?

There are moments health is usually a big

one or burnout is another inbound offers, right?

Private equity knocking on the door.

But your ability to talk about fit and

how important that is potentially overpriced, it might

seem like that at the beginning when you're

making that decision.

But how important that is that your legacy

continues.

You still talk about this business as it

was part of you, as a part, a

big part of your life.

I know I had a coach tell me,

Shannon, you have to stop saying we.

I am still.

No, you don't.

But you don't.

You Todd, I have a dear friend who

grew a brand to 500 million in system

wide sales and he sold to private equity.

And it's been really in his case, he

thought he was doing the due diligence ahead

of time.

But unfortunately, his company that he started is

now, you know, in a significant decline.

And it's heartbreaking for him.

It's heartbreaking for the franchisees that were involved

in the business.

And listen, it's a big decision.

And did he exit with some nice cash?

Yes.

But, you know, that's one of the things

that you have to weigh is like you

have to search internally.

So, you know, it leads me to think

about when you're selling your company and you

develop this buyer list, you know, the investment

bankers are going to say, okay, this is

this pool and this is this pool, all

the usual suspects.

Shannon, not only do you have the experience

of selling a business and understanding the difference

between selling to a franchisee versus selling to

private equity, your active involvement in the International

Franchise Association gives you so much visibility and

knowledge of who's out there, who's buying companies,

who would be the right fit for a

client interested in selling a business.

And, you know, we constantly have clients say,

hey, the legacy of what I built, the

brand of what I built, I want to

see that live on.

And the example that, you know, you gave

private equity steps in, they might drop a

big check at the beginning, but then they're

levering up these companies and they can't service

the debt.

And then all of these people's lives, livelihoods

are impacted when that doesn't work, right?

And that's just a significant risk.

So I think part of the value that

you are going to bring to not only

the transaction that you're overseeing now, but all

the other future founders that you can mentor

is finding that that buyer fit through personal

relationships and just like insider knowledge.

Your M&A team just doesn't have that

insight.

So I'm really excited about that.

And I'm thrilled that you brought that up

because, you know, when you guys reached out

to me and asked if I would consider

being an exited founder, my immediate reaction was,

I don't know enough.

But then I started thinking, but I know

a lot of people and I have so

many connections and I know who you should

stay away from.

And I know who you should, you know,

use.

And in fact, I did a real last

week on my Instagram about making connections.

And could you, could I figure out a

way to, for my title to be people

connector or CEO of connections?

Because that's what 20 years in the space

does.

And if you're actively involved and actively engaged,

you know, the big players, you know, the

small players.

And if you don't know them, someone, you

know, knows them and it's, you've their cell

phone number.

You can pick up the phone and say,

Hey, tell me about this, which is 100%.

What I did when you guys asked me

to be on this deal is I picked

up the phone and said, okay, tell me

this, tell me this, tell me this.

And we were able to put a team

together.

Yeah.

The value is so obviously more than that.

You're connected with everybody to me is that

you understand the industry.

Everybody sees you as this person that had

a fantastic transaction, built a fantastic company.

And so now they're coming to you for

coaching.

Now we're asking you specifically around M&A,

but it's one thing to have a list

of people that know you.

It's another where you can say, if we

need a real offer from this particular group,

I need to make a call because they

trust Shannon Wolbert.

And it's not like you're working magic, right?

Obviously these buyers have to be very interested.

But it is also about reputation.

It absolutely is about reputation.

When you call, the phone gets picked up.

And I know that it's half the battle

is getting a buyer's attention.

They're looking at a hundred different opportunities that

they could be buying.

And when somebody has the operational experience and

the relationship to tell them this one should

be at the top of the stack, it's

invaluable.

And bankers, attorneys, accountants, they're not going to

do that for you.

They're absolutely necessary in M&A, but this

new exited founder role, you are like born

for.

So I'm really, really excited.

Can you talk about in your exit, you

made the decision to go for fit.

And then can you talk about that negotiation,

maybe some of any of the representation that

you had?

How did you come to that final kind

of financial and professional agreement?

Yeah, I did not hire an investment banker,

probably not the best decision, but I did

in 2016, I had put together an advisory

team for my company and that, and that

piece of, you know, that strategic decision to

put an advisory team together was hugely transformational

for me as a leader and for the

future, you know, being able to have an

exit.

But every, I had five advisors on my

advisory board and honestly, it's the who's who

of the franchising industry.

I'm like, how did, how did this happen?

How, why did they say yes to me?

You know, and all but one of them

had tons of M&A experience.

And so I had, you know, I could

pick up the phone and call them and

believe me, I did every single one of

them like, okay, hey, this is where we

are.

What do we, what do I do?

What do I say?

And they told me, I mean, they gave

me great strategy, great ideas on terms.

And I mean, they were my team.

And I, I love that I'm going to

be able to be that person for someone

else.

Cause then I also, if I have a

question, I can still go.

I'm still on the board with them.

So when I sold, I now get a

seat next to them and they are amazing,

amazing individuals.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Shannon, it's not something that we recommend to

clients to not have an M&A team.

I know.

And I don't recommend it either.

Yeah.

But what, what I will say is great

people love to help great people and it's

clear your superpower is that network asking for

help assembling all the experts.

And now you get to transfer that to

other people going where their superpower may not

be that right.

And, and, and give that to somebody that's

thinking about selling their business.

Yeah.

All right.

So, so you get through the transaction with

that help and then can talk a little

bit post transaction, right?

Cause this was a known entity to you.

What did that kind of transfer period look

like?

Absolutely.

I can tell you what we did.

So the buyer, the new CEO, she asked

me to stay on for a few hours

a week for a three years.

And so that three years is ending next

month and it's been so fun to be,

to be able to sit beside the, the

new CEO and kind of, I look at

myself kind of like the historian and you

know, I, I told her, if you ever

hear me say, this is like, we tried

that and it didn't work.

I said, do you have permission to slap

me?

Cause you know, she's a, she's a wonderful

leader in and of herself.

So that's what we did.

So we signed a three-year agreement and

just a few hours a week.

And so I, for the last three years,

I've attended conference, I've sat on the board,

I have gone to our monthly community calls.

I get to sit in on staff meetings.

And so, but I'm not in the day

to day.

I know what's going on.

I know the growth the company has had.

I know the numbers that the franchisees are

seeing now, and it's amazing, but I have

not had to be in the day to

day work.

And I will say it was probably, I

met with the CEO probably twice a week

for probably three months.

And then we started, we meet once a

week now.

And many times we only have, you know,

20 or 30 minutes worth of stuff that

we need to talk about.

And sometimes it's just a catch up call,

but it has been really fun to kind

of do that while I started something else.

Yeah.

Well, tell me about the something else then.

Yeah.

So I really took probably about seven or

eight months completely off from doing something else,

except for helping in the Just Between Friends

seat as an exited founder.

And I started an executive coaching business.

And there's a whole story around why I

started it.

But now I get to sit in the

seat next to founders and help them with

scalability, help them just, I think being in

the founder seat is lonely.

And so many people don't have a network,

especially in franchising.

It is just, especially if you're new in

the space, it's hard to kind of, you

don't, you feel intimidated by people, even though

it's a super friendly industry.

It's like, okay, I have an audit this

week.

Oh my gosh, what am I going to

do?

Or my franchisee is suing me.

What am I going to do?

And so I really sit on the rollercoaster

of the seat right next to them when

they are on that rollercoaster of franchising.

And so it's been very fun helping them

scale.

Yeah.

I mean, every time I hear the kind

of operational insight that you're getting, because you

have a front row seat to your industry

and you're helping these founders traverse really complicated

problems, this is all fresh and you're going

to add so much value to somebody at

the end of this journey.

Can you talk a little bit about what

you see changing in the franchise world that

wasn't happening five years ago?

Yeah.

I will say pre-COVID, there were some

brands that were doing what is called their

platforming.

So they are, it's a platform company.

So there's a large entity in franchising.

Maybe they have over a hundred units.

And by the way, only 16% of

brands have over a hundred units.

And so let's say a founder gets a

brand to over a hundred units.

And then they are like, hey, I have

a great leadership team.

I have an amazing attorney.

We have time.

We can now go and buy another brand.

And so they bolt on brands, usually in

the same sector, like health and wellness.

There's several platform companies, home services.

There's several platform companies in our industry.

There's a brand called Neighborly.

They were kind of the first to do

this years ago.

And then a lot of people have kind

of copied their playbook in bolting on these

other brands.

And so then you might have the shared

services.

So all the leadership team works on the

brand as a whole.

And then each brand has a president and

each each brand has someone, a marketer, but

they don't need a full-time attorney.

They don't need a full-time HR person.

They don't.

And so the shared services, they get to

leverage high level leadership for the brands that

helps them grow.

And so that's one thing that has just

like magnified after COVID.

It's like, there are so many platform companies

now, which is awesome for smaller brands when

they go to exit, because there's lots of

buyers that are in the franchising space.

We're not even talking about strategics that are

outside of franchising, but these are absolutely, they're

franchising strategic and they're strategic usually because it's

in an industry.

There's another one called Propelled Brands.

There's another one called Unleashed.

That's all children's services.

So I would say that is a big

thing that has been happening.

Another thing is AI.

I'm just, I'm excited about how hard and

fast AI is coming into our space because

it is also giving smaller brands a lot

more access to information, access to the assistance

that are, you know, you can get them

for a third of the price of what

you would get for hiring a true person.

And they're doing stuff in the background and

just making these emerging brands so much more

efficient.

So I, those are, those are the two

things that I what's happening in our industry

today that I felt Mike would be noteworthy.

Oh my gosh.

That felt like more than two things.

That's like pretty, pretty, pretty deep insight.

Can you, you know, in M&A, what

we're going to see next year is, is

industry agnostic, smaller companies that have developed AI

solutions within their industries are going to get

bought by some of these platforms that you're

talking about.

We're going to see 26s.

The nimbleness of the smaller company has the

ability to kind of figure out how to

make AI really work, whether it's cost cutting

or revenue generating or, you know, whatever.

Well, and I think that's amazing because when

you look at the larger brands, you know,

we're one of them.

We already have this, we already have our

support systems in place and they are not

with AI.

Yes, exactly.

Legacy technology companies and these technology companies, they're

doing their best to try to, you know,

be nimble.

But once it's already established a newer, a

newer company can come in and go, okay,

well I can do that faster.

I can do it smarter.

I can go to market.

I can take your, I can take, I

can do exactly what you need for a

10th of the price.

Yep.

So, so we definitely see that, right?

The smaller companies that have AI solutions are

going to be the darlings of 2026.

Yeah.

What do you think about some of these

smaller franchises that, you know, don't necessarily innovate

with technology?

Are there going to be buyers for them?

No.

No.

No.

Really?

Okay.

So, I mean, this is like the advice,

right?

That people really need to understand.

Yeah.

Where is the market going?

And what I love to talk, I talk

to investment bankers a lot and they tend

to see in their industry where the market's

going to be and call it nine to

18 months.

I think an exited founder really can think

about, okay, the market might be going there,

but what's the strategy to build the most

value if we know where the puck is

going?

Yeah.

I think it's a, it's a, definitely a

different lens and you certainly have that.

I will just say that on that topic

of AI, please.

You know, if I was an investor, I

mean, if you were an investor, would you

buy someone who wasn't innovating?

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I'm with you.

I'm saying yes, but yes, I'm agreeing with

you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're going to get surpassed, right?

And it could be a rude awakening and

very, very quick.

Maybe, could we shift over to, you know,

you've joined the platform.

Yes.

And you know, I've asked you, why are

you excited to be on the ExitWise platform

as an exited founder, helping your fellow founders

sell their businesses?

Yep.

I really believe that founders deserve a guide

who has actually lived the journey.

And I really, I give kudos to you

guys because you have had the forethought to

come up with this concept of exited founder.

And I feel like you truly understand both

the emotional and strategic sides of exiting a

business because you guys have done that.

And I don't really feel like it's just,

we're just helping you with a transaction.

I think we're going to be helping each

other with just emotional support, clarity, education, preparation.

We've mentioned connection.

And I really wish that I had something

like this.

You know, it was great to have my

advisory board, but I'm thinking about my board

and none of them were founders.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it would, it would have made, I

probably would have made more money.

I would have saved some stress, probably a

lot of sleepless nights too.

So I love what you guys are doing

and I wish that ExitWise would have existed,

you know, in this form, this exited founder

program, in this form when I sold.

I really, I really appreciate you saying that.

And what I'll touch on is because Brian

and I have done this, been the exited

founder almost inadvertently, right?

Because when a client comes in and we

get them the best M&A team, we

follow along and we ask, how can we

be helpful?

And then you're stepping in because of your

understanding of how businesses run, where the value

in these businesses really are, the things that

are detracting from those values and what a

buyer should be really looking at outside of

financial metrics to add real value on the

other side.

And then being that emotional coach that whole

time, I get personally a lot out of

that.

That's what I go home and talk to

my wife about over the dinner table is

somebody that I was able to calm down

to help them make really rational decisions because

it is an emotional rollercoaster.

And so you've been through it, you know

it, now you can, you can share that.

And so for us, it was a very

easy jump to say, how do we get

people that are better than us at this?

And when it comes to the franchising world,

there's nobody better than Shannon Wilbert.

So we are so, we're very fired up

to have you.

Well, I'm excited to be on the journey

with you.

So let me ask one other question.

What do you think surprised you most in

going through your M&A transaction that might

kind of translate well to helping others?

I think, you know, I know we've mentioned

it, but that emotional transformation, probably because I

did not, I wasn't like, I want to

sell, let me go find a buyer.

I didn't like go to market.

Someone came to me and I entertained it,

you know, so I opened the door, they

walked through it.

And so I think, I think that selling

a company is, it's not just financial transaction,

it's an emotional transformation.

And so...

You're not alone in that answer.

I feel like, I mean, I could go

down a rabbit hole of the emotions that

I went through.

It was exciting.

It was fun.

It was scary.

It was just all of that.

And, you know, my poor husband had to

hear all of that.

This could have absolutely saved him from, you

know, me crying on the couch, like putting

my head on his shoulder.

But I think this program is absolutely going

to be so transformational for just the education

and the support.

It's a big transition.

Yep.

Yeah.

Couldn't, couldn't be better said.

Again, super excited to have you on the

team.

I cannot believe you, you're jumped into your

first deal.

It is a big one and you're going

to be hugely helpful.

I know even the investment banker is all

excited to have you on this team.

That was very kind of him.

Yes.

Yeah.

He's a, he's a good person.

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for the time.

This has been great.

And yeah, I'm very much looking forward to

keep working together.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode

of the Exited Founder Podcast.

For business owners who are looking to sell

or want to ensure their exit ready, our

team is here to help you maximize your

outcome.

So connect with us at exitwise.com today.