Ep 554 $325M Exit After Coke Walked Away From Suja Juice | Built to Sell Radio
About this episode
Jeff Church shares the story of co-founding Suja Juice and navigating a challenging exit after Coca-Cola backed out of a deal.
Jeff Church co-founded Suja Juice in 2012 with $300,000 and a green juice that had a four-day shelf life. Within three years, the company hit $70 million in revenue, and Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs invested $150 million at a $300 million valuation. Then, two weeks after Coke flew its entire North American management team to Suja's plant, they passed on the option to buy the rest of the business, leaving Jeff with $40 million in maturing debt and a company losing $9 million a year.
People in this episode
Host: John Warrillow
Guest: Jeff Church
Topics covered
- business exit
- entrepreneurship
- startup funding
- juice industry
- Coca-Cola
- debt management
Keywords
- Suja Juice
- Coca-Cola
- entrepreneurship
- startup
- exit strategy
- debt
- green juice
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Suja Juice
More episodes of Built to Sell Radio
- Ep 555 How to Get Your Employees to Sell Like You, and Why Positioning for Customers Fails With Acquirers, Featuring the World's Leading Positioning Expert, April Dunford
- Ep 553 Why 17.5% of Owners Are Burnt Out and Want to Sell
- Ep 552: What to Know Before Selling to an ETA Buyer | Built to Sell Radio
- Ep 551 Cameron Passmore Sold Half an $8 Billion Firm—Then Acquired 5 More Businesses
- Ep 550 The One Phrase That Can Ruin a $10 Million Business Sale
- Ep 549 How a $105 Million Business Sale Revealed the Second Most Important Number in an LOI
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Built to Sell Radio podcast page.