OPTIONALITY

I’m Working on Something New

I decided I was no longer the right person to run the ship.

March 01, 2023

in December 2021 I stepped away from running my agency Venveo. I started this business in my college dorm room and over the course of 15 years bootstrapped it to 50+ employees. The success we experienced is nothing short of incredible. As we grew I found my focus shifting to different ventures and new things I wanted to build.

It wasn’t that I didn’t love Venveo, but my skillset for going to zero-to-one was of much better use to Venveo outside of the business. Thus, I decided I was no longer the right person to run the ship. I promoted Beth Popnikolov to CEO and she is doing a stellar job.

After exiting, the number one question I get from other entrepreneurs is “How did you do it?”
“How did you build it and remove yourself, yet hold the business.”

To me it seems simple, but to others, it is more than a mystery, but a sign of hope. The reason it is hope is because most business owners feel trapped, and are operating at great personal sacrifice to keep their businesses running. They started their business to achieve freedom but built an all-consuming beast instead. They think the only option is to sell the business or shut it down.

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This isn’t the truth, but it is their reality.

I’ve been fortunate to find that there is another solution which I call “Optionality”. This is where you build the business to run itself but still give yourself the option to hold it, work in the areas you enjoy, or sell it.

Here’s the kicker: the outcome of the business is separated from your output.

I've realized that there are so many other entrepreneurs who could benefit from the insights and experiences I've gained, and I want to share that knowledge with others. I believe if more owners built their businesses with this in mind — more of the world’s problems would be solved.

I’m thrilled to launch a weekly email to help solve those problems. I’m calling it The Optionality Newsletter — each edition drops on Saturday mornings at 8:00 AM eastern.

This newsletter will be focused on helping you achieve optionality in your lives and business so you can build more things and achieve greater success. I will be sharing my own stories and lessons learned, as well as insights from other successful entrepreneurs and experts in the field. I am passionate about this new venture and I am excited to see where it will take me.