#18: Selling A UX Agency During The Pandemic with Gareth Dunlop, Fathom

Welcome to The Exit Plan, a podcast for business owners interested in learning more about selling their business.

Gareth Dunlop is a seasoned professional in the agency world with over two decades of experience. After leading a web agency for 13 years, he sold it and ventured into UX, successfully growing and selling a business from 2011 to 2021 during the pandemic. Garth's genuine passion for the web, dating back to the mid-nineties, is evident in his LinkedIn profile, which tells a story of navigating the dynamic highs and lows of the industry. He is a former agency owner, web developer, and founder of Fathom. Gareth shares his previous work in a digital strategy business as a programmer for 13 years before starting his own UX agency called Fathom. His desire to concentrate on the study of human behavior and design science led him to become a UX specialist. The business grew steadily for a number of years, but it ran into problems with larger value contracts and recurring revenue. Gareth had always thought about selling the company, and in 2019 they were on the verge of a deal that didn't work out. Following that, Gareth started looking for a buyer more actively and, two years later, they were able to close a deal.

Gareth also shares how they felt comfortable setting high growth goals in a previous agreement and how they were confident in their team's capacity to grow by twofold. Gareth talks about their goal of creating a dispersed team of experts and how they got in touch with possible acquirers via an email newsletter. During the M&A process, he also stresses the significance of being aware of market trends and seeking expert counsel. He continued to be involved as a consultant while others handled day-to-day management integrating disparate agencies with different cultures, technologies, and systems made the integration phase difficult.

Gareth discusses their confidence in doubling the team's size and how they navigated the integration phase after the acquisition. He also talks about the shifts of the UX team's to Microsoft, a significant change for a team accustomed to Google. He shares about the 15 to 18-month transition period, emphasizing the importance of clean books and financial hygiene when preparing a business for sale.

Discover the world of merge and acquisition processes and delve deeper with the knowledge of running a business.

Sign up to The Exit Plan mailing list: http://eepurl.com/iC8sIY

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• Importance of maintaining a clean and transparent business

• How to build a healthy culture within the company, emphasizing on profitability and high-value customers.

• Challenges and differences between the web agency and UTV

• Negotiation process and reaching an agreement

• Difficulties and complexities of integrating five agencies with different cultures and technologies.

• The role of a healthy culture in achieving commercial success

CONNECT WITH GARETH:

• LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/garethdunlop

• Website | www.fathom.pro

• Twitter | @dunlop71

THE EXIT PLAN

The Exit Plan is for business owners that are interested in learning more about how to sell their business. Each episode Barnaby Cook interviews someone who has bought or sold a business - either a creative agency, or a production company. The conversation gets under the skin of why they wanted to sell, or were looking to acquire, how the deal was structured, how they agreed upon a valuation and what lessons they learnt along the way.