Gym Launch $47M Exit

Alex Hormozi shares the story of selling his company Gym Launch, explaining why he sold despite already taking significant distributions.

"We sold for 46.2 million in cash, and we had taken about 40 million in distributions prior to the deal. The person I was then wouldn't be able to do what I can do now. Could I today, would I hold on to it? Yes, but I don't think I could have done it then.

I got more credibility from selling Gym Launch at 46 million. It was valued at 150 million before COVID, so it was a poor sale, but I was emotionally done with the business. I still own a third of the business, so when they crush the next exit at 250 million, I'll still get my 100 million check.

All my close friends were like 'dude, you sound depressed, you're not interested.' I wanted to do this new thing, and they said 'you light up when you talk about this new thing.' I actually walked away from the deal during the process and then came back.

We had done 30 million in EBITDA the 24 months prior to the deal, so selling at 46.2 wasn't great. Now that I understand how debt works, which I didn't then, I realize they got 80-90% of the money back immediately by leveraging the company's books. I could have kept the whole thing and gotten 90% of the money without personal guarantees and derisked myself. But would that have created the same story from a personal brand perspective? I think the answer is no."