Built to Sell: Final Thoughts on Building a Sellable Business

So here we are. Eighteen posts later. We followed Alex Stapleton from a guy who was dodging his banker’s calls, losing his best designer, and personally babysitting every single client to someone who sold his company and walked away clean.

That’s the whole arc of “Built to Sell.” And I want to wrap this up by sharing what stuck with me after retelling the entire book.

The Journey in One Paragraph

Alex owned an advertising agency that did everything for everyone. Logos, websites, radio ads, whatever the client wanted. He was the bottleneck for every decision. His cash flow was terrible. His best people were leaving. And his business was basically worthless because it couldn’t run without him.

Then Ted Gordon showed up. Ted had built and sold businesses before. He gave Alex a simple but painful recipe: stop doing everything, pick one thing, build a repeatable process around it, hire a sales team that doesn’t need you, and create a business that runs whether you’re there or not. Alex fought it. His team fought it. Clients left. But it worked. And in the end, he got a real offer from a real buyer.

My Top 5 Takeaways

After going through this book chapter by chapter, these are the five ideas that I think matter the most.

1. A business that needs you is not a business. It’s a job.

This is the core of the entire book. If clients want you personally, if decisions stop when you leave, if nobody can do your work, then you don’t own a business. You own a stressful job with no benefits and no exit plan. I’ve seen this in IT consulting too. The moment you become the reason clients stay, you’re trapped.

2. Specialization is scary but necessary.

Alex had to fire clients and say no to easy money. That’s terrifying when you’re running a small company. But here’s the thing. Nobody pays top dollar for a company that does a little bit of everything. Buyers want focus. They want a clear product, a clear process, and proof that it works without one specific person running the show.

3. Recurring revenue changes everything.

This one hit me hard because I’ve worked in enough companies to see it firsthand. When your income resets to zero every month and you need to go hunt for new projects, your life is chaos. When you have subscriptions, retainers, or long-term contracts, you can actually plan. Buyers love predictable cash flow. So do you, honestly.

4. The selling process is a whole separate skill.

I didn’t expect this from the book, but Warrillow spends a lot of time on the actual mechanics of selling a company. Getting multiple bidders, having a broker, knowing what to say at dinner with potential buyers. Alex almost killed his own deal by giving a bad answer to a simple question. The lesson? Running a good business and selling a good business are two completely different games.

5. Your team will push back. Do it anyway.

When Alex told his employees he was cutting services and focusing only on logo design, they panicked. They thought he was crazy. Some people left. But the ones who stayed got better at their jobs, earned more, and ended up working at a more valuable company. Change is uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

What I’d Change About This Book

No book is perfect. Here’s what bugged me.

The story is a bit too clean. Alex meets Ted, follows advice, things get hard for a chapter or two, and then everything works out. Real life is messier. People don’t usually have a wise mentor who shows up at the perfect moment with the perfect advice. I wish Warrillow had included more failure, more setbacks, more moments where the advice didn’t work and Alex had to figure things out on his own.

Also, the book is very focused on service businesses. If you’re building a software product or a manufacturing company, some of the advice applies but some of it doesn’t fit as neatly. Warrillow acknowledges this a little, but I would have liked a broader range of examples.

And one more thing. Ted is almost too perfect as a character. He always has the right answer. He never says “I don’t know.” In my 20+ years working in tech, I’ve never met anyone who was right about everything. A more human mentor would have made the story feel more real.

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Despite those issues, this is a genuinely useful book. The core ideas are solid, practical, and explained through a story that’s easy to follow. You can read the whole thing in a weekend. And even if you never plan to sell your company, the principles of building something that doesn’t depend on you are worth learning.

I’m giving it an 8 out of 10. It loses a point for being a little too neat and another half-point for the narrow focus on service businesses. But the ideas are strong enough that I’d recommend it to anyone who owns or plans to own a business.

Who Should Read This Book

If you run a small business and you’re the person everyone depends on, read this book. If you’re a freelancer thinking about growing into an agency, read this book. If you’re an employee who wants to start something someday, read this book so you build it right from the start.

If you’re a senior engineer or technical lead who might start a consulting company after your corporate career, this is especially useful. You already know how to build systems and processes. Warrillow shows you how to apply that same thinking to the business itself.

If you’re looking for a deep academic analysis of mergers and acquisitions, this is not that. It’s a practical story with practical advice. Simple language. Quick read. That’s exactly what makes it good.

The Complete Series

Here’s every post in the retelling, in order:

1. Introduction
2. Chapter 1: When Your Business Is a Total Mess
3. Chapter 2: Finding Out Your Business Is Worth Nothing
4. Chapter 3: Building a Process That Actually Works
5. Chapter 4: When Your Own Team Pushes Back
6. Chapter 5: The Real Test of Your Business
7. Chapter 6: Finding the Right Buyers
8. Chapter 7: Growing Pains Every Owner Faces
9. Chapter 8: What Is Your Business Actually Worth?
10. Chapter 9: When Things Finally Start Clicking
11. Chapter 10: Getting a Blank Check for Growth
12. Chapter 11: Breaking the News to Your Team
13. Chapter 12: The One Question That Changes Everything
14. Chapter 13: What Makes a Company Actually Sellable
15. Chapter 14: Crossing the Finish Line
16. Implementation Guide
17. Ted’s Best Tips
18. Final Thoughts (you are here)

Book Details

• Title: Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You
• Author: John Warrillow
• ISBN: 978-1-59184-582-9

Thanks for reading along. If this series helped you think differently about your business, that’s the whole point.

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