Tyler Gillespie teaches founders how to productize their concepts and services — and he showed through example with his latest acquisition.
In October 2020, he sold Applause Lab, which helped companies capture and edit video testimonials. The buyer was Boston-based Testimonial Hero, a B2B video testimonial company for the marketing industry.
The productized service model that Gillespie teaches has grown in popularity in recent years. It refers to turning a service that’s typically tailored to each client into a one-size-fits-all approach, which allows the business to deliver more efficiently.
Applause Lab applied this approach to capturing video asynchronously, which is one of the reasons why Testimonial Hero was interested in acquiring the company, as a way to expand its B2B video testimonial capabilities.
Just a year after founding Applause Lab, a six-figure exit
Applause Lab was the third business that Gillespie has taken through the acquisition process. Before launching Applause Lab in 2019, Gillespie also sold his content writing service company, Content Pros.
“It was a lot more straightforward and easy,” Gillespie said about closing Applause Lab’s acquisition. “No broker was needed and the business was so simple that there wasn’t really any due diligence.”
As a sole founder who lives most of the year in Medellin, Colombia, Gillespie bootstrapped Applause Lab and grew its team to four core employees and 10 contracted video editors before selling. The company had a customer portfolio of 77 companies at its sale, Testimonial Hero shared in a press release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The acquisition of Applause Lab brings strong technology and talent that aligns perfectly with our mission to make stunning video testimonials absolutely effortless for B2B marketing leaders,” Testimonial Hero CEO and Founder Sam Shepler said in the press release.
Gillespie said he wasn’t looking to sell Applause Lab, but the timing was good for an exit, so he went for it.
“I enjoyed the business but didn’t love it, and I wanted to focus more time on my consulting business where I was really getting a lot more fulfillment,” he said.
The consulting business Gillespie referred to is Productized.Services, where he focuses on helping businesses and entrepreneurs productize their service offerings through mentoring and resources. Applause Lab’s website is no longer active.
