Скачать или смотреть Ep. 7 Hahnbeck M&A CEO Tal Hollywood: E-Comm Owners. Brand is a Primary Driver of Exit Value.

During an exit building an unforgettable brand & a tribe of loyal customers opens up the whole M&A opportunity. In the words of Taliesen, "you’ve built something the acquirer can’t easily do on their own — they have to buy it. So it’s critical."

🎯 BUSINESS: SELL THE STORY with SPECIAL GUEST TALIESEN HOLLYWOOD
Website: https://www.hahnbeck.com
X: https://x.com/thfhollywood/
LinkedIn:   / taliesen-hollywood  

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.9barcommerce.com
Newsletter Signup: https://www.9BarCommerce.com/commerce...
Youtube:    / @sellthestory  

LinkedIn:   / 9bar-commerce  
Ben Watson: www.linkedin.com/in/bewatson/
Clint Armstrong: www.linkedin.com/in/clintarmstrong/

00:00 – Intro: Why brand multiplies exit value
01:43 – What Hanbeck does (consumer brand M&A)
02:39 – Coffee banter: espresso vs. iced leftovers
04:18 – “Brand is basically everything” (2–10M EBITDA context)
07:24 – Cashflow machine vs. brand equity; buy-vs-build risk
09:30 – Founder–customer dynamic; brand gestation
10:19 – Signals of a real brand: tribe/following and evolution
12:07 – Coffee shop analogy + why conglomerates buy, not build
13:24 – Challenger examples and category timing
15:08 – Tribes in durables; $6M top-line example
16:30 – Case study: FIGS makes an unsexy category aspirational
19:18 – How clients find Hanbeck; outreach and filtering by brand
21:14 – Valuation calculator: what it says (and can’t) about brand
22:50 – Market update: 2025 is a buyer’s market; timing advice
25:32 – Why founders sell: WC strains, exhaustion, life, scale ceiling
29:25 – The personal side of M&A: “Why are you selling?”
31:23 – Common breakpoints: team, KPIs, monthly close discipline
33:04 – AI in inventory/accounting: be skeptical of immature tools
34:19 – Humans before machines; AI as a tool, not a fix
35:30 – Pitch stories segment (deals gone sideways)
37:31 – Sign-off: Hanbeck (hanbeck.com)
37:58 – Wrap & thanks


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About this video:
In this episode of Sell The Story, Ben Watson and Clint Armstrong sit down with Taliesin from Hahnbeck, a London-based M&A advisory firm specializing in consumer and e-commerce brands. Tal breaks down why brand equity is the single biggest multiplier when it comes to selling your business — and why a great product or profitable operation alone isn’t enough to command premium valuation multiples.
You’ll learn how investors think about buy vs. build, what separates a $10M exit from a $100M one, and why 2025 is shaping up as a buyer’s market. Tal also shares what founders often get wrong before approaching an advisor, from messy financials to under-resourced teams — plus his take on the growing (and overhyped) role of AI in e-commerce operations.
Whether you’re scaling toward an exit or just want to understand how brand creates defensibility, this episode delivers practical, founder-level insight from inside the M&A trenches.

Mission: Become the brand customers search for by name. 9Bar Commerce and our partners are the brand experts to get you there.

Thanks,
Ben & Clint
@SellTheStory