Eric Enge
About Our Guest
Eric Enge’s professional career has had several stages. This has included work as a hardware engineer, software developer, program manager, director of engineering, general manager, and finally founder and CEO. To look at it from another perspective, Eric is a geek who has learned to navigate the world of business.
In fact, one of the most rewarding activities for Eric is to go beyond simply sharing digital marketing insights to a client, and on to helping the organisation commit to making changes that alter the trajectory of their growth. He has had the privilege of doing this with companies that range from some of the world’s largest companies to well-funded startups.
Eric was the founder of the award-winning SEO agency, Stone Temple Consulting, which was sold to Perficient in July 2018. For the next three years, he served in the General Manager and Principal roles at Perficient with a focus on building the digital marketing practice.
Eric was named 2018 Interactive Marketing Awards Search Personality of the Year, 2016 US Search Awards Search Personality of the Year, and 2016 Search Engine Land Awards Search Marketer of the Year.
Currently, Eric is a co-founder of Pilot Holding that offers executive consulting services across SEO, content marketing, digital marketing, and finance.
About this Episode
When Is The Right Time To Sell Your Business? With Eric Enge
Sometimes the most valuable asset in business is the business owner. But what happens when you want to sell?
Eric Enge spent more than 20 years growing and shaping his Search Engine Marketing company, Stone Temple Consultants. By the time he sold it in 2018, the team was 70 strong, serviced fifteen Fortune 500 level among its client base, and boasted $9M in annual revenue.
However, with retirement looming, he knew he couldn’t take the company to the next level. His solution: Find the perfect buyer that would respect the culture of innovation he’d built as well as get the best deal possible by capitalising on his company’s biggest draw: Himself.
What you will learn in this episode
In this episode we’ll cover everything from:
- The various components of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Mapping out user needs through keyword research
- Understanding whether you’re the best person to push your business to the next level
- How to define the right buyer
Connect with Eric Enge
Website: https://www.pilotholding.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericenge/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stonetemple
Show Notes
(6:30) After 20+ years in the industry, Eric has been around for every iteration of Search Engine Marketing. Here is his overview of what it is, how it works, and why it’s important.
(11:39) There are two sides to SEO: The technical and the keywords. You need both to be able to play the game. How long does it take to progress? Eric’s standard answer is: It depends. Here’s why.
(24:55) Restarting with Stone Temple Consulting involved morphing Eric into a thought leader in the SEM space. However, the more the company grew, and the more exposure it got, the more Eric realised he didn’t want to be doing this into his retirement years. He felt he was close to his ceiling and might not be the best person to push the business forward.
(37:15) There were several components to Eric’s exit. Price, culture, and the expectations of Eric himself as the expert in the business. Finding the perfect buyer meant it was mandatory they would allow Eric to continue to work in Digital Marketing.
(43:17) Eric stayed on for three years with Perficient as their General Manager and Principal, allowing him to continue building the digital marketing practice.
