By Anna Skinner
A group of entrepreneurs and business owners shared secrets to their success at a public event June 23 at zWORKS, a co-working space on Cedar Street in Zionsville.
Representatives from Boosterville, Work Here, Clear Software and others presented different ways to advance from a start-up to selling or exiting the business.
Mike Seidle, co-owner of Work Here with Rick Wehrle, commented on hitting a market that was needed and finding a good price for the product.
“We built a talent pipeline around locations that lets them recruit people who live nearby. Eighty-five percent of people who stay with a company live within two miles of where they work, so location is a big part of fighting turnover,” Seidle said. “It turns out that our whole concept we had, with location being important to employers and people at work, was right on. Now, we are not only learning how to sell it, but to sell it at a scale.”
John Gilman, owner of Clear Software, presented on growth. Dan Moyers, creator of zWORKS, highlighted how quickly Clear Software has outgrown the co-working space.
“We are creating this platform that makes business software easy to use, because most business software is not catered to how human beings think,” Gilman said. “We are in the how-do-we-not-spiral-out-of-control mode, which is scary. Each page has each set of different stresses.”
Mike Sweeney, who has sold multiple businesses he joined early on, presented on how to get out at the right time.
“Surround yourself with people who do stuff you don’t do, and also learn from those people,” he said. “Figure out the right time to exit, but you do want the people who acquire your company to succeed.”
For more, visit zworks.org.
