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Gary Guseinov
About Our Guest
Gary Guseinov is the founder and chairman of CyberDefender, a NASDAQ company, and currently a Private Equity investor and CEO of RealDefense where he acquires companies.
RealDefense actively manages operations at its portfolio companies, providing them with marketing and development support. Using its proven acquisition playbook, RealDefense can immediately improve customer retention and revenue generation by offering complimentary services to customers, improving NPS and customer satisfaction scores, and increasing average order value by offering relevant product and service bundles to customers.
In its four most recent acquisitions, RealDefense has achieved average revenue gains of 25% within the first 30 days.
Being in both the sell-side as an entrepreneur, and now on the buy-side as a company looking to add to its portfolio, Gary has a lot to share on his journey.
About this Episode
Formula for Success: Gary Guseinov on Buying and Growing Businesses
Gary Guseinov is an entrepreneur who’s been there, done that. In a wildly successful career, he’s built several multi-thousand employee companies that collectively turn over hundreds of millions of dollars.
On the other side of the table, Gary has also been at the helm of many acquisitions, fuelling a strong growth by acquisition strategy for his business, RealDefender and developing a playbook for what – and what not – to invest in.
This episode is chalk full of insights for entrepreneurs looking to take their business to the next level, whether through organic growth or via acquisitions.
What you will learn in this episode
- What different types of investors look for when they’re considering where to sink capital
- The fundamental formula for vetting business ideas
- When to focus on organic growth VS growth by acquisition
- Gary’s framework to assess potential acquisition opportunities
Connect with Gary Guseinov
Website: https://www.realdefen.se/home/
Show Notes
(7:54) Do you want to grow your business? Gary Guseinov advises that you stop periodically to ask WHY are you doing something. Not how. Most entrepreneurs engage in execution first VS discovering the why behind your business. Knowing why will help you figure out how.
(16:30) Young entrepreneurs often feel like their pushing a boulder up a mountain to get their product off the ground. These growing pains are normal. As long as you have a really good product, most things will sort themselves out over time. So, focus on making your product better and the rest will follow.
(20:00) Tune in here for Gary’s formula for vetting your next big business idea. He boils it down to three key points.
(31:42) There are hundreds of ways to get ripped off, not close, or get sued during an acquisition process. Here’s Gary’s advice on how to make sure it’s a success.
(53:16) Statistically, 30-40% of earn-outs are never earned. Love them or hate them, acquisitions often require an earn-out. Gary’s perspective on earn-outs is interesting, especially from the eyes of an acquirer.
