From Horror Story to $25M Exit with Mike Krupit
About this episode
Mike Krupit shares insights on transitioning from a founder-led to a CEO-led mindset and discusses acquisition experiences.
In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa sit down with Mike Krupit, founder of Trajectify, to talk about mentoring and coaching leaders through the stages of scaling a business — from one to two, two to five, and five to ten — and what it really takes to shift from a founder-led mindset to a CEO-led one. A software engineer turned COO turned CEO across eight Silicon Valley startups over 25 years, Mike walked away from operating companies 13 years ago to build a leadership and organizational development practice instead. The conversation also digs into the acquisition side, including two very different horror stories: a forced take-private during the dot-com bust, and a $1 million company that turned an $8 million offer into a $25 million sale after a bidding war. In this episode, we discuss: Why Mike chose coaching and advisory work over buying a business himself, and the networking exercise (75 meetings in three months) that helped him find his lane The four jobs of a real CEO — visionary, right people in the right seats, fiduciary accountability, and the outside voice of the company — and the "not-to-do list" that gets founders out…
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