First time here? Newsletter

About
Submit a Tip
Subscribe
Careers

Carson Kohler

Carson Kohler

Reporter

Carson Kohler is a writer based in Arlington, Virginia.

She's branded content writer for Axios, a national news organization, and a former branded content writer for The Penny Hoarder, one of the nation's largest personal finance websites. She holds a master's in journalism from the University of Missouri.

When she's not tapping away on her keyboard, you can find her exploring the D.C. area with her husband and playing with her cats, Honey and Heinz.

SaaS

He was arrested for hacking at 17. Years later, he turned that skill into an 8-figure sale to Microsoft

ReFirm Labs co-founder Terry Dunlap shares his story — from getting arrested for hacking at 17 to selling his IoT security company to Microsoft.

A group of six people stand outside smiling at the camera. Each person wears a black, zipped-up sweatshirt that has the logo ReFirm Labs embroidered on it.
Platform

It took 5 years for this litigation software company to hit profitable. They went on to sell for $20M

Four founders came together to build Venio Systems, an e-discovery platform for law firms. Ten years later, they weren’t all convinced it was time to sell.

Agency

How a young founder grew his freelance website-building business into an agency with $3.5M revenue

After years as a generalist WordPress agency, 93digital tightened its focus to B2B and SaaS clients. The move led to new opportunities, more revenue — and an acquisition.

SaaS

Selling didn’t make sense on paper — but this SaaS founder followed his gut

Daniel Sim grew Plug in Useful, a family of Shopify apps, to 37,000 users. Then, he hit a wall. After declaring burnout, he decided to sell — even if the numbers didn’t make sense on paper.

Content

After selling his money blog, this founder reacquired it 3 years later — for a fraction of the price

J. Money felt at peace selling Budgets Are Sexy to a division of The Motley Fool. But when he had an opportunity to reacquire the site a few years later, he couldn’t say no.

In the foreground is the shadow of a person with spiky short hair. In the background is a cityscape with tall buildings and a clear blue sky.
Content

Continue to run her health blog, or shut it down? She discovered a lucrative third option

Kate Kordsmeier thought her holistic wellness website, Root + Revel, was her last career stop… but then she got bored. Instead of walking away, she took a different route: She sold it.

In the foreground, a woman in a striped shirt and black-rimmed glasses sits in front of computer, smiling and looking off to the right side of the frame.
Community

This female founder built a pay equity community, which led to an acquihire

When pay equity startup 81cents founder Jordan Sale was considering joining another company through an acquihire, she explored the option in an unusual way: by going on a 12-hour road trip with the potential buyer.

Two woman sitting at a table at a restaurant look into the camera, smiling.
Services

Focusing on social impact helped this digital agency attract an acquirer

Ignite and CMR merged to become CMRignite, a cross-cultural social impact marketing agency. Here’s how the deal came together.

← Back