By STS Capital
In an episode of Entrepreneurs at Scale, host Neale Lewis sat down with STS Capital Partners Founder & Chairman Rob Follows to unpack what separates a good exit from an extraordinary one.
Drawing on his own path, from being cut off by his family business at 18, to selling his first company, to spending a decade running a billion-dollar division for the strategic buyer who acquired it, Rob shares the hard-won lessons behind STS Capital’s approach to helping founders and families sell on their own terms. The conversation covers the myths that quietly cost sellers millions, the hidden value most entrepreneurs never think to look for, and why the right advisory team can be the difference between a good deal and a great one.
Key insights from the conversation:
- The myths that cost sellers millions: Rob unpacks two of the most common, and costly, misconceptions founders bring into a sale process, including the widespread belief that private equity pays more than strategic buyers.
- Why strategic buyers pay a premium: Rob breaks down the structural difference between financial and strategic buyers and why cutting out the middleman can mean a meaningfully higher price for the right seller.
- Defining your owner’s outcome: Before any negotiation begins, Rob advises founders to get crystal clear on their required versus preferred outcomes, a step he’s seen determine whether an entrepreneur takes the right deal or walks away from it entirely.
- Finding the “Rembrandts in the Attic”: Rob explores hidden sources of value within a business – assets, capabilities, and opportunities that may take on significantly greater value in the hands of the right strategic buyer.
- Building value years in advance: Rob explains STS’s ValueMax approach to preparing a business well before it goes to market, creating a stronger and more valuable company when the time comes to exit.
- Assembling the right team: Selling a business is not a one-advisor job. Rob lays out who belongs on a founder’s exit team, and why defaulting to a longtime friend or generalist advisor is one of the most common (and expensive) mistakes he sees.
- Planning the next chapter: Rob closes with lessons from his own life-planning philosophy, and why founders who define what comes after the exit are the ones who navigate it with clarity instead of fear.
Ultimately, the conversation reinforces a theme at the heart of STS Capital’s mission: helping entrepreneurs move from Success to Significance™ through Selling to Strategics™, understanding what their business is truly worth to the right buyer, and preparing, early and deliberately, to maximize value.
Listen to the full podcast here: Entrepreneurs at Scale — Rob Follows