The Exit Strategy is a podcast where founders share the real stories behind selling their businesses—the good, the bad, and the ugly. From tough decisions to unexpected wins, we dive into what it really takes to walk away and what they did next. It’s the good, the bad, and the buyout.
Keith Schacht is one part inventor, one part explainer, and one part entrepreneur. He has started many companies and sold a few. his first was in college; He sold it his junior year and dropped out. His “first love” was a company called Inventables. It opened many doors like speaking at TED, meeting amazing people, and it had a modest outcome. His biggest success was Mystery Science, he co-founded this with Doug Peltz, better known as Mystery Doug, and it became the most widely used science curriculum in American schools. I was privileged to be involved in the sale of this company to Discovery Education in 2020 for a reportedly $140M.
Here is a behind the scenes look at this sale.
Listen to the podcast here. Watch the video of the interview here.
We discussed:
- Why did you decide to sell your business? When did you know it was the right time?
- Who bought your business and why?
- How did you prepare for the due diligence process? And how was it?
- How was the legal part of the transaction? Did you attorney focus on the right things?
- Did the buyer ever try to re-trade the deal? Did they call your baby ugly?
- Any horror stories or pleasant surprises in the process? What was the worst part of the process?
- What were the biggest stumbling blocks to getting the transaction closed? Employees, shareholders, vendors, landlords
- Were there any other factors besides money that you found important in the transaction?
- If you had to do it over again, would you have done anything differently?
- Are you happy that you sold your business and what has been the outcome? What you are doing since?