Metalab's Failed Sale Blessing

Andrew Wilkinson shares how he almost sold his company Metalab for $15M, which would have prevented him from building his now much more valuable company Tiny.

"We got this offer to sell the business for $15 million about 8-9 years ago. We went through the whole process, spent 4 months going back and forth with this private equity firm. We signed the documents - my lawyer calls me in with quivering hand, I sign the documents, and the wire was supposed to come in the next day.

I wake up, go to my local bank branch, go to the ATM and look at the balance - my balance is the same. I think okay, it's probably gonna come in later. Check later - nothing. Next day - nothing. Next day - nothing.

I call the guy at the private equity firm and he goes 'Hey man, I'm really sorry but we weren't able to finish closing our fund so the deal is not done.'

I had legally sold the business and if the wire had come in, my business would be worth maybe nothing at this point. This was the entire foundation of the business and we wouldn't be Tiny. We almost lost it all."

[For context: Metalab is now worth around $100M+ and is part of Tiny, which recently went public at an $850M Canadian valuation]