From Angel To Exit
From Angel To Exit
Podcast Description
From Angel To Exit is a business podcast exploring the entrepreneurial journey of scaling a business from raising your first round of funding to exiting. We cover the trials and tribulations that founders face, the pitfalls and pratfalls you want to avoid, as well as the joy and impact that success can bring. Join us on our next episode, where we speak about the challenges that real leaders face growing and scaling their organizations and how they’ve overcome them to achieve success and make their mark.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
This podcast focuses on the entrepreneurial journey, including challenges of raising funding, scaling businesses, and preparing for exits. Episodes cover themes such as operational challenges, cultural alignment, and strategic growth dilemmas, with specific topics like transitioning company culture post-exit and the significance of personal branding for founders.
From Angel To Exit is a business podcast exploring the entrepreneurial journey of scaling a business from raising your first round of funding to exiting. We cover the trials and tribulations that founders face, the pitfalls and pratfalls you want to avoid, as well as the joy and impact that success can bring. Join us on our next episode, where we speak about the challenges that real leaders face growing and scaling their organizations and how they’ve overcome them to achieve success and make their mark.
From civil engineer to multi-agency founder, Erik J. Olson shares how he built Array Digital, Rival Digital, and Crush Digital by focusing on niche verticals, systematization, and recurring revenue. In this episode, he breaks down how he de-risks niching, structures scalable operations, and preps for a $100M exit by building a PE-ready platform brand. Founders looking to scale with structure—or build something worth acquiring—will find playbook-worthy insights throughout.
Key Takeaways
- Pivoted from software development to digital marketing after discovering greater long-term value in recurring services.
- Built three niche-focused agencies with distinct brands to balance risk and maximize focus.
- Developed a repeatable playbook to launch new agencies: leader + niche + first customer.
- 91% of current revenue is recurring—key for private equity interest.
- Created Proxa Brands as the platform-level entity to unify and eventually exit the portfolio.
- Plans to grow via both organic launches and targeted acquisitions of $500K–$1M agencies.
- Implemented strong process automation (e.g., Asana templates, Zapier) to streamline onboarding and operations.
- Culture and post-sale leadership retention are essential in structuring for a PE-ready business.
Links & Resources
- Erik Olson
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @erik.j.olson
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