Building a Business to Sell and Pitching to Investors with Jaclyn Johnson of Create & Cultivate

Jaclyn Johnson is the ultimate multi-hyphenate redefining the concept of work for a new generation of women. She is a serial entrepreneur with two exits from highly successful businesses, including cult-favorite brand, Create and Cultivate. In addition to being a best-selling author, Jaclyn is the host of a business podcast where she has interviewed pioneers of the industry such as Martha Stewart, Meghan Markle, and Chelsea Handler. She now uses her expertise in business to pay it forward to self-starters, entrepreneurs, and women in business with her angel investment fund, New Money Ventures.

Today, Jaclyn shares her journey into accidental entrepreneurship and how she went on to successfully build and sell two businesses before the age of 35. She reveals some of the challenges of managing a company that takes off quickly and explains how she structured her business partnerships. Jaclyn details the things to keep in mind as you build your business to sell and the process of finding a new CEO for a company. She discloses why she chose to start a venture capital company and outlines her decision-making process for selecting companies for her investments. Jaclyn also describes what makes a successful investment pitch and some of the biggest mistakes people make when pitching to investors.

“When you’re building something to sell, there are a couple of things you need to think about: one is you want to retain as much equity as possible, and two is you want to run it as lean as possible.” – Jaclyn Johnson

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, join the Entreprenista League today at entreprenista.com/join. We can’t wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey!

This week’s takeaways from Entreprenista:

• Jaclyn’s accidental entrepreneur story and how she acquired her first clients 
• How Jaclyn structured the deal for her exit from her first company
• How Create and Cultivate came into being
• The secret sauce in Create and Cultivate that made it take off in the first year
• How the business evolved over time
• The most challenging part of growing the company so quickly
• How Jaclyn structured her business partnerships
• Things to keep in mind when building a business to sell
• The challenges of selling a business you built yourself
• The process of finding a new CEO for the business
• What inspired Jaclyn to start her new venture
• The decision process for investing in a new business
• What makes a great pitch for successfully gaining investors
• The exiting companies that Jaclyn has invested in recently 
• Biggest mistakes people make when pitching to investors
• How Jaclyn approaches challenges in her business

Resources Mentioned:

• Podcast: The Dropout
• App: Intro
• Slack

Our Favorite Quotes:

• “The most challenging part of growing the business was figuring out how much bandwidth the team would have and how much business we would get.” – Jaclyn Johnson
• “You don’t want to be chasing somebody to invest in their business.” – Jaclyn Johnson
• “Going into it with an attitude of being really excited to be in the room is really important as well.” – Jaclyn Johnson

Connect with Jaclyn Johnson:

• Jaclyn Johnson Website
• New Money Ventures
• Create and Cultivate
• Podcast: Work Party
• Book: Work Party: How to Create and Cultivate the Career of Your Dreams
• Jaclyn Johnson on LinkedIn
• Jaclyn Johnson on Instagram
• Jaclyn Johnson on Facebook
• Jaclyn Johnson on Twitter

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level:

Join our Entreprenista League community of women founders! You’ll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day, special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels, and MORE!

Whether you’re looking to scale your existing business and want to make the right connections, or you’re thinking about finally taking the leap to launch your business, we’re here to give you access to a community of women who will celebrate your every step, and with whom you can share the candid reality of building a business from scratch.

Join the Entreprenista League today at entreprenista.com/join. We can’t wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey!

PNC Celebrates Women Business Leaders

Each year, PNC celebrates women business leaders by hosting Women in Business Week. As co-founders of SocialFly and Entreprenista, Courtney and I were invited to join the lineup of this year’s keynote speakers!

Join us on Thursday, May 12th at 1p.m. Eastern Time for our keynote event, but you won’t want to miss any of the webcasts. This year’s all-virtual line up is absolutely inspiring.

To register for PNC’s Women in Business Week webcast event, head over to PNC.com/businesswebcasts – we can’t wait to see you there!

Introducing… Startups in Stilettos Podcast

Have you recently started a business? Are you considering taking the leap to start? Do you find yourself alone and overwhelmed in the whirlwind of early challenges in your entreprenista journey?

Then our newest podcast – brought to you by the Entreprenista Network – is for you.

The Startups in Stilettos Podcast helps you learn what it takes to grow your startup from your peers in the startup world and those who are in your shoes… or your stilettos, if you will. Each week, you’ll hear from startup founders from the Entreprenista League who are in the trenches and building their businesses from the ground up.

Learn more about the Startups in Stilettos Podcast by visiting www.entreprenista.com/startupsinstilettos/ and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts..

Startups in Stilettos launches on March 8, 2022 – on International Women’s Day. We can’t wait to share everything we have in store with you.

Become An Entreprenista!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Entreprenista Podcast – the most fun business meeting for female founders, by female founders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

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