Mallie Kim

Morning Chalk Up, which drew an engaged audience of CrossFit enthusiasts, was bought by strength-sports media company BarBend.

When ChatGPT came on the scene, some AI newsletters were branded with robots, but these founders went all in on cats. This quirky touch earned them 500,000 subscribers in two years — all while one founder was still in college.

Brigitte Lyons systematized her agency’s operations so she could be a digital nomad without spending all day on Zoom. Her efforts paid off when it was time to sell.

When this virtual body positivity conference and community grew big enough to need a dedicated team, its founders sought a buyer with shared values.

Dmitry Dragilev didn’t want to sell his SEO SaaS TopicRanker just to cash out. Getting acquired was a way to scale up and still stay at the helm.

These founders didn’t set out to build a software development and near-shore tech staffing company, but that route led their firm Whiz onto the fast track.

Air HR co-founder Nick Holzherr had long used Upwork to build teams. So when it was time to sell his business, he hired on the freelance platform for M&A support, too.

He left a corporate job with no clients and no money in the bank, at the start of a global pandemic. Four years later, Lens End Media was bringing in 7 figures.