Jaclyn Johnson

It essentially means nothing. And that's important for this conversation. It literally means nothing. It's not binding. Because I was like, woo, buy me the yacht. We're buyers. Let's go. Yeah, it was exciting. It was a very exciting time. We went through...

painful diligence with a public company that was interested in buying us and it ended up falling apart in the nth hour which had nothing to do with us but was very brutal and I say that to say because I think a lot of people think selling a company is like very easy and it's like you find the person you do the thing it is So challenging. There are so many ups and downs.

painful diligence with a public company that was interested in buying us and it ended up falling apart in the nth hour which had nothing to do with us but was very brutal and I say that to say because I think a lot of people think selling a company is like very easy and it's like you find the person you do the thing it is So challenging. There are so many ups and downs.

painful diligence with a public company that was interested in buying us and it ended up falling apart in the nth hour which had nothing to do with us but was very brutal and I say that to say because I think a lot of people think selling a company is like very easy and it's like you find the person you do the thing it is So challenging. There are so many ups and downs.

Majority of deals, I would say, fall through. I don't know if you agree with that.

Majority of deals, I would say, fall through. I don't know if you agree with that.

Majority of deals, I would say, fall through. I don't know if you agree with that.

Truly. The stress.

Truly. The stress.

Truly. The stress.

and i wish i had known that most deals fall through because i think i was so emotionally connected to this deal it like crushed me when it fell apart like i just was because especially when we had done nothing wrong i was like no it's like the markets had shifted and so that was devastating for me and really challenging i'd like literally picked out my office space had told employees it was bad bad but again it was a very hard and expensive lesson

and i wish i had known that most deals fall through because i think i was so emotionally connected to this deal it like crushed me when it fell apart like i just was because especially when we had done nothing wrong i was like no it's like the markets had shifted and so that was devastating for me and really challenging i'd like literally picked out my office space had told employees it was bad bad but again it was a very hard and expensive lesson

and i wish i had known that most deals fall through because i think i was so emotionally connected to this deal it like crushed me when it fell apart like i just was because especially when we had done nothing wrong i was like no it's like the markets had shifted and so that was devastating for me and really challenging i'd like literally picked out my office space had told employees it was bad bad but again it was a very hard and expensive lesson

And then so cut to, I basically was like back to the drawing board, like we need to focus on building out the C-suite and really growing. Had a banner year 2019, top of 2020, absolutely crushed at Q1. And then we all know COVID hit. And luckily, like we actually had a good story coming out of COVID, despite being bootstrapped and being an events business.

And then so cut to, I basically was like back to the drawing board, like we need to focus on building out the C-suite and really growing. Had a banner year 2019, top of 2020, absolutely crushed at Q1. And then we all know COVID hit. And luckily, like we actually had a good story coming out of COVID, despite being bootstrapped and being an events business.

And then so cut to, I basically was like back to the drawing board, like we need to focus on building out the C-suite and really growing. Had a banner year 2019, top of 2020, absolutely crushed at Q1. And then we all know COVID hit. And luckily, like we actually had a good story coming out of COVID, despite being bootstrapped and being an events business.

No, it is mind blowing. I think I just like, I... thoroughly through my entire body and mind into that experience where I think most entrepreneurs were one or the other. They either completely shut down, which is understandable, or they were fight or flight mode and just went insane. I was definitely the person that went insane and was just like ideas move fast, go, go. So we moved very quickly.

No, it is mind blowing. I think I just like, I... thoroughly through my entire body and mind into that experience where I think most entrepreneurs were one or the other. They either completely shut down, which is understandable, or they were fight or flight mode and just went insane. I was definitely the person that went insane and was just like ideas move fast, go, go. So we moved very quickly.

No, it is mind blowing. I think I just like, I... thoroughly through my entire body and mind into that experience where I think most entrepreneurs were one or the other. They either completely shut down, which is understandable, or they were fight or flight mode and just went insane. I was definitely the person that went insane and was just like ideas move fast, go, go. So we moved very quickly.

We pivoted to digital. We luckily had a membership in place that we were able to monetize quickly. We retained 90% of our sponsors in minimal layoffs. Yeah, we were very lucky. And we were able to pivot very quickly and took a revenue hit, but actually maintained EBITDA, which was really exciting for us. So it was a good story for potential buyers.