They’re Lying To You About Getting RICH! Here’s How He Built A $1B Company! | Blake Johnson

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Blake Johnson is the serial entrepreneur behind multiple major exits, including a $97 million sale and the billion-dollar acquisition of Byte.

But before the exits, the teams, and the success, he was waking up at 3:05 a.m. to work brutal days on a cattle ranch and feedlot.

During the 2008 financial crisis, his business nearly collapsed, his partner walked away, and Blake was left with just $7,000 to his name and a $43,000 payroll due two weeks later.

He survived, rebuilt, and became obsessed with creating companies that were profitable, scalable, and designed to be acquired from day one.

Years later, he bootstrapped Byte, scaled the team from roughly 100 to 500 people, and sold the company for more than $1 billion.

In this episode, Blake breaks down customer acquisition, bootstrapping, private equity, building teams, finding massive markets, preparing for an exit, and the simple business math behind building companies buyers actually want.


00:00 Intro
01:05 Cattle Ranch Upbringing and Boarding School
05:44 Early Sales Career and First Business Lessons
12:59 Bootstrapping and the Discipline of Spending Your Own Money
17:22 Business Fundamentals and Scaling During the Pandemic
22:31 The Origin of Byte and Partnering With a Friend
27:39 Building Teams, Repeated Exits, and Staying in the Game
33:34 Finding Business Opportunities and Converting Customers
40:31 Preparing Companies for Acquisition and Reusing Core Teams
45:15 Perspective, Personal Legacy, and Closing Remarks


Find Blake Johnson here
Website: https://blakebjohnson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blakebjohnson/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-b-johnson/

Check out AlterMe:
https://www.alterme.com/

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