The Company That Tried to Do Everything (And Failed at Most of It)
Have you ever worked for a company that tried to be everything to everyone? One that said “yes” to every client request, took on projects outside its expertise, and eventually found itself stuck serving a handful of demanding customers with mediocre results?
I have. Early in my career, I joined a startup developing industrial X-ray machines for manufacturers. The founders were ambitious—maybe too ambitious. Despite lacking specialized expertise and adequate personnel, they decided to serve everyone: toy makers, apparel factories, food processors, apparatus manufacturers. You name it, they’d promise it.
The result? The company couldn’t even last a year. We made empty promises to prospects, delivered subpar solutions to the few clients who stuck around, and burned through cash faster than we could generate it. The demand was there—massive, actually—but we were too scattered to capitalize on it. We were a company without focus, and the market punished us accordingly.
This painful experience taught me a crucial lesson that John Warrillow explores masterfully in his book Built to Sell: the most dangerous business model is trying to be all things to all people. Through the story of Alex Stapleton and his marketing agency, Warrillow reveals why most businesses are unsellable—and more importantly, how to fix that problem.
When “Successful” Doesn’t Mean “Valuable”
Alex Stapleton thought he had it made. The Stapleton Agency was billing $120,000 monthly with seven employees and major clients. On paper, everything looked successful. But when Alex decided to sell and met with his mentor Ted Gordon, he received devastating news: “Your business is virtually worthless today.”
How could this be? Alex had spent eight years building the agency, worked brutal hours, satisfied demanding clients, and generated consistent revenue. Yet Ted explained the harsh reality: Alex had built a business that couldn’t survive without him.
The problems were everywhere:
- His largest client accounted for 40% of revenue and insisted on dealing with Alex personally
- His team consisted of mediocre generalists trying to deliver specialized work
- His best employees were quitting due to frustration
- Cash flow was constantly tight despite decent revenue
- Every client wanted Alex personally involved
Sound familiar? Alex had created a job for himself, not a business. And nobody wants to buy a job.
The Counterintuitive Solution: Do Less, Earn More
Ted’s solution was shocking: specialize in one thing and build a standardized process around it.
After reviewing the Stapleton Agency’s work, Alex discovered they excelled at one specific service—creating logos—that followed a consistent, repeatable process. Clients loved it and kept returning. More importantly, it was teachable—other team members could deliver it without Alex’s constant involvement.
Ted helped Alex document a clear, multi-step process that could be repeated systematically for every client. But this meant something difficult: turning away 90% of their previous service offerings.
Ted’s logic was irrefutable: “You can’t be half pregnant. If you keep doing other work that falls outside of your standardized process, you’ll send mixed messages to all of your stakeholders.”
This might sound limiting, but specialization created unexpected power. For the first time, Alex wasn’t groveling for table scraps. He was an expert with a proprietary methodology. As he later reflected: “When I was pitching our process, I felt like I was in control. I felt confident that we have something of value.”
Lesson: Generic services make you a commodity competing on price. A specialized, standardized process makes you an expert who sets the terms.
The Brutal Transition: When the Right Decision Hurts
Making the shift to specialization wasn’t smooth. Alex faced four major challenges that nearly broke his resolve:
Challenge 1: The Employee Exodus
Standardization meant Alex didn’t need generalists anymore—he needed specialists who could execute the standardized process flawlessly. Some employees had to go.
The hardest moment came when one designer protested that the new model sounded “like working in a factory.” Alex had to choose between preserving feelings and preserving his future. He chose the future: “This is a business. And as a business, our first priority is to make money.”
Lesson: Specialization requires courage to let go of people—even good people—who don’t fit the new model. Your team needs to execute a process, not improvise custom solutions.
Challenge 2: The Lucrative Temptations
Just as Alex committed to specialization, Urban Sports Warehouse offered to make the Stapleton Agency their primary partner—a $50,000 monthly contract doing exactly the kind of diverse work he was trying to eliminate. It was everything Alex had dreamed of for years.
But Ted’s warning was clear: accepting would lock him into a five-year earn-out agreement where he’d take all the risk while the acquirer got most of the reward.
Alex made the call that changed everything: he declined. The client called him a fool and predicted he’d end up doing business cards for real estate agents.
It hurt. Alex questioned himself. But he stayed the course. And that’s when his business really took off.
Lesson: Every “yes” to work outside your specialization is a “no” to building something valuable. The most dangerous opportunities are the lucrative ones that pull you back to being a generalist.
Challenge 3: The Sales Team Transformation
Alex couldn’t sell his standardized offering the way he’d sold agency services. Consultative selling—where you probe for client needs and custom-tailor solutions—wouldn’t work anymore. He needed product salespeople who could position a standardized offering to meet diverse customer needs.
The difference was stark: consultative sellers wanted to customize the process for every “special” client. Product salespeople understood their job was positioning a fixed product to solve customer problems—not reinventing the product each time.
Ted’s advice was emphatic: “Product salespeople are used to doing the mental gymnastics required to position their product to meet the needs of their prospect. They need to position the product they’re stuck with to meet the customer’s needs.”
Alex hired two product-focused salespeople. Within months, they were consistently closing deals without Alex personally involved in the sales process.
Lesson: Hire salespeople who’ve sold products, not services. Service-oriented sellers will undermine your standardization by agreeing to customize for every client. Product sellers know how to sell what you have, not what the client wishes you had.
Challenge 4: The Accounting Nightmare
Just as sales took off, Alex’s accountant delivered crushing news: he was on track to lose money for months despite having more cash than ever.
The issue? Accounting rules required recognizing revenue across the entire delivery period, even though Alex collected payment upfront. His cash flow was stellar, but his profit-and-loss statement showed losses.
Ted calmed him: “While you’re in the midst of making this change, you will show a loss on paper, and that’s okay as long as your cash flow remains strong and you keep selling. In three months, you’ll start entering months with revenue on the books from earlier sales.”
Alex had to sacrifice his annual bonus that year, but he was building something far more valuable.
Lesson: Short-term pain on paper is worth long-term gain in reality. When transitioning to a standardized model, your financials will look worse before they look better. Stay focused on cash flow, not just profit-and-loss statements.
Creating a Positive Cash Flow Cycle
One of the most powerful changes was restructuring when clients paid. Previously, Alex would complete projects over several months, then send an invoice and wait 60+ days for payment. He was essentially providing free financing to his clients.
By treating his standardized offering as a product rather than a service, Alex started charging upfront or in stages. This created a virtuous cycle:
- Clients paid before work began
- He used their money to finance operations
- The more he sold, the more cash he accumulated
- He never had to grovel to his banker again
Lesson: Products are paid for before consumption; services are paid for after delivery. Once you’ve standardized your offering, charge like a product company. This transforms you from cash-starved to cash-rich.
The Freedom Number: Deciding What Your Business Is Worth
After two years of operating the standardized model, the Stapleton Agency had transformed:
- Revenue nearly doubled to $2.7 million
- Profit margins tripled to 18%
- Cash flow became predictably positive
- Client concentration dropped from 40% to under 15% per client
- Sales team closed deals without Alex
- Management team ran daily operations
During a planning retreat at Ted’s beach house, Ted asked Alex a simple question written on a recipe card: “What is the price at which you would be prepared to sell the Stapleton Agency?”
Alex approached this from multiple angles. Industry multiples suggested his business was worth perhaps $500,000. But that wasn’t the right question. The real question was: What did financial freedom mean to him?
He didn’t need luxury. He wanted to pay off his mortgage, take real vacations with his wife Pam and their kids, and never grovel to a client again. He wanted to feel free of needing to work.
Alex’s number: $5 million.
Ted had him write it down and seal it in an envelope. “That will become clear later,” he said mysteriously.
Lesson: Define your freedom number before entering sales negotiations. Most business owners never do this calculation, leaving them vulnerable to accepting inadequate offers or holding out for unrealistic ones.
Navigating the Sale: Four Critical Mistakes to Avoid
With his business now valuable, Alex entered the sales process through M&A advisor Peggy Moyles. But having a great business didn’t guarantee a smooth sale. He had to navigate four critical challenges:
Mistake 1: Choosing the Wrong Broker
Alex interviewed two advisors. The first knew exactly who should buy his business after just minutes of conversation and wouldn’t charge a retainer—just a percentage of the deal. The second—Peggy—took a different approach, wanted a retainer, and suggested multiple potential acquirers.
Ted’s warning about the first broker was stark: “He wants to deliver a gift to his best client. He makes most of his money from representing buyers. You’ll get no competition and a lowball offer.”
The trap? The wrong broker delivers you to their best client without competitive bidding, resulting in a low price and painful earn-out terms.
Alex chose Peggy. The retainer was a feature, not a bug—it proved both sides were serious.
Lesson: Find a broker who charges a retainer and creates competitive tension among multiple bidders. Avoid brokers who offer to deliver you to a single buyer with their “connections.” They’re serving the buyer’s interests, not yours.
Mistake 2: The “Why Do You Want to Sell?” Question
During dinner with a potential acquirer, the executive asked Alex the most important question: “Why do you want to sell your business?”
Alex answered honestly: he’d built the business for ten years and was ready to spend more time with his family and travel.
The dinner continued pleasantly. But Peggy delivered bad news afterward: “They’re going to pass.”
Why? “Once he heard your answer, the meeting was over. Buyers want to hear that you see a future for your business and want their help to get there.”
Buyers don’t want to buy a sinking ship where the captain is jumping off. They need to believe you’re excited about tapping into their resources to accelerate growth.
When Print Technology Group asked the same question, Alex was prepared: “We’ve proven the model works in one city. I’d like to create some liquidity for the value I’ve created so far, and find a partner to help us replicate the model in other cities while allowing me to share in future growth.”
Same truth, different framing. This time, it worked.
Lesson: Frame your exit as seeking a partner to accelerate growth and create liquidity—not as exhaustion and escape. Buyers want optimism about the future, not fatigue from the past.
Mistake 3: Mishandling the Management Team Conversation
After Peggy distributed information to potential buyers, Alex had to tell his management team he was considering selling.
He dreaded this conversation. They’d helped build the business. What if they felt betrayed and quit before the deal closed?
Alex explained the opportunity clearly: acquisition could mean career advancement, easier achievement of performance targets, and a bonus if the deal closed.
Their response surprised him. Chris, his creative director, spoke first: “We’ve all known for a while. You’re an entrepreneur—you like the startup phase. We’re beyond that now, and frankly, we don’t need you as much anymore.”
They weren’t angry—they were ready for the next chapter.
Lesson: Good employees often see opportunities in acquisition—career growth, bigger budgets, professional development. Give them a financial incentive to help with the sale (a stay bonus), but don’t underestimate their own ambition to operate on a bigger stage.
Mistake 4: The Due Diligence Price Drop
Print Technology Group offered Alex $6 million upfront plus a $3 million earn-out—exceeding his target. But Ted tempered his excitement: “This is a nonbinding letter of intent. They can walk away at any time.”
For sixty days, the buyer’s team conducted a forensic examination of the Stapleton Agency, questioning every assumption and scrutinizing every customer file.
Two weeks before closing, they delivered the blow: “Based on our due diligence, we’re adjusting our offer to $5.2 million up front.”
Alex was furious. Ted told him to find the sealed envelope from months earlier. Inside, written in Alex’s own handwriting, was his freedom number: $5,000,000.
The discounted offer exceeded his target. Alex accepted, negotiated a firm closing date, and the deal was done.
Lesson: Expect your offer to decrease during due diligence—it happens in most deals. That’s why defining your freedom number beforehand is critical. Know your walk-away price, and don’t let emotion drive your decision when the buyer inevitably tries to renegotiate.
Eight Essential Steps for Building a Sellable Business
Whether you’re planning to sell in two years or twenty, building a sellable business creates a better company to own. Here’s the roadmap:
1. Specialize Ruthlessly
Stop being a generalist. Find the one thing you do better than anyone else, document the process, name it, and own it completely. Generic services are worthless; proprietary processes are valuable.
2. Standardize Your Process
Document every step of delivering your specialized offering so clearly that someone else can execute it without your involvement. If it’s not documented, it’s not standardized.
3. Create Positive Cash Flow
Charge upfront or in stages. When customers pay before you incur costs, you finance growth with their money instead of yours. This also makes your business more valuable to acquirers.
4. Build a Sales Team
If you’re the rainmaker, you haven’t built a business—you’ve built a job. Hire product salespeople who can sell your standardized offering without customizing it for every client.
5. Turn Down Lucrative Distractions
Say no to big opportunities outside your specialization. Every exception you make undermines your focus and proves you’re not serious about your specialization.
6. Develop Management Layers
Create a leadership team and give them long-term incentives tied to performance and loyalty. Use stay bonuses rather than equity, which complicates sales.
7. Operate for Two Years Minimum
Potential buyers need to see consistent financial performance under your new model. One good year might be luck; two years prove you’ve built something sustainable.
8. Choose Your Broker Carefully
Find an advisor for whom you’re a meaningful client and who knows your industry. Avoid advisors who want to deliver you to their best client without competitive bidding.
The Question Every Business Owner Should Answer Today
Here’s what makes Warrillow’s book so powerful: Alex didn’t build his business to be valuable because he wanted to sell. His business became valuable because he built it to sell.
The steps Alex took—specializing, standardizing, building systems, creating cash flow, developing a sales engine, establishing a management team—these don’t just make a company sellable. They make it better to own right now.
Late in the process, Ted gave Alex a choice: keep growing for five more years and potentially sell for $12 million, or sell now for $5 million. Alex chose $5 million. Why? Because he’d defined financial freedom precisely, and $5 million delivered it.
But here’s the real insight: most business owners never get to make that choice. They’re trapped in an unsellable business, working endless hours for demanding clients, unable to take a vacation because everything depends on them.
What about you?
- Can your business thrive without you for three months? Six months? A year?
- If you removed yourself from sales, would revenue drop to zero?
- If your largest client demanded to work with you personally tomorrow, would you have to say yes?
- If someone offered to buy your business today, would it be worth enough to achieve your version of financial freedom?
These aren’t just questions for people planning to sell. They’re questions about whether you’ve built a business or just created an exhausting job for yourself.
Your Next Step
You don’t need to sell your business to benefit from building it to sell. Start by identifying the one product or service you deliver better than anyone else. Document the process. Name it. Make it teachable and repeatable. Then hire people to sell and deliver it while you work on the business instead of in it.
Will it be easy? No. Alex fired employees, turned down lucrative clients, endured financial pressure, and questioned himself constantly. But two years later, he had a business worth $5.2 million—and more importantly, he had his freedom.
The company I worked for that tried to serve everyone? It’s gone. But the lesson it taught me remains: the most valuable businesses do one thing exceptionally well for many customers, not many things adequately for a few.
What’s the one thing your business does exceptionally well? If you can answer that question clearly, you’re already ahead of 99% of business owners.
Share your thoughts in the comments. Are you building a business to sell, or are you trapped in a job disguised as a business? Let’s talk about it.
