September – Innovator
Ryan Tansom, Co-Founder of GEXP Collaborative, has a passion to change the way business owners look at the growth and exit of their company(s). Ryan help’s design a strategic plan that aligns your growth goals with various exit possibilities so you can maximize the value of your company and desired goals. Learn more below!
Every business has a story, tell us yours.
In 2014, my dad and I decided to sell our family business to a local competitor for a multitude of reasons. I learned a ton throughout the exit process, from our successes and more importantly from our mistakes. I’ve taken my experience and what I’ve learned to create the company that I wish would have been there to help us through the journey.
Co-Founded the Growth & Exit Planning (GEXP) Collaborative where my partners and I developed the 5 Growth & Exit Planning Principles and a growth and exit planning methodology that helps business owners grow, maximize their company’s value and accomplish their ideal exit.
You were chosen as this month’s Innovator Member. What does being an Innovator mean to you?
Having a vision of a reality that doesn’t exist and helping create that reality regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. THEN executing on those things you know need to be done.
No one likes to brag about their business, but if you HAD TO . . .
We are the best at taking all the variables that matter to a business owner, tying them together and aligning them with the outcome they want in an ideal exit. Then coordinating all the advisors and the technical details that will help get them there.
We learn from our mistakes, especially in business. Give us some words of wisdom.
My business probably answers this question the best: start with the end in mind. Why did you start your business and what do you want from it? Knowing how and when you can eventually get out from under your company, on your terms and with the value you created.
A more general thought on this question: any mistakes I’ve ever regretted are from not planning far enough ahead and for all the potential outcomes. The goal is to have a specific reason you are making a decision because you’ve weighed the option in light of your ultimate goal and then going into that decision with eyes wide open and accepting the outcome.
What “teacher” has made the most impact on your life and why?
Mr. Wald from Mahtomedi. He told me after class one time toward the end of high school that because of my lack of interest in his class, and how little weight I put on school, that I wouldn’t amount to anything. That has stuck with me forever. I was determined to prove him wrong. I discovered that if you care about what you do, and why you’re doing it, learning and work is not actually work, life can be amazing. You can do anything you want (especially in today’s world with Google at your fingertips) and accomplish anything you can think of. Work and learning can be, and should be, fun and interesting to you.
What might someone be surprised to know about you?
I am the host of the Podcast Life After Business. The show has over 108 episodes with thousands of downloads on iTunes every week. I interview authors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs who have sold their company.
If you could have only one super power, what would it be and why?
The ability to download books directly into my head. Knowledge is amazing and I don’t have enough time to listen to or read all the books I want in my lifetime.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read or seen this week?
The book Capitalism without Capital. I found it off a blog that Bill Gates wrote. It’s a well-articulated perspective about how our economy, and the value that is created from companies, is no longer just about having “stuff”. Our economy values creation of ideas, systems and relationships.
Why do you choose to WORK AWESOME at OffiCenters?
I work all over the cities with clients and it provides a great place to work in between client meetings AND a wonderful place to bring clients or potential clients when they want to meet at a professional and quiet place outside of their office while also being close to their office.
In addition to our Member Directory, how else can people CONNECT with you?
a. LinkedIn
b. Email – ryan@gexpcollaborative.com
c. Facebook
d. Subscribe to the Life After Business podcast on iTunes
e. Our website www.gexpcollaborative.com
