Our Next Chapter

The year 2008 was when I teamed together in 2008 with one of my best friends at the time. Stu McLaren and I combined our expertise together to form Member.

We did not know that we were going to embark on an incredible and unprecedented journey. WordPress had been growing at an impressive pace. It was an exciting time. It was unclear, however there was a lot of evidence that WordPress will outdo Joomla and Drupal.

In order to put it in perspective, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga had been making waves as newcomers on the music scene. A few of our current team members were in the first grade of school back when we first got started.

In the world of online marketing discussion about membership websites were the talk of the town. However, there were not any options for creating an online membership website using WordPress. The majority of development firms were focussed on themes. Therefore, the premium plugin market was pretty much not even a thing.

We saw this as an opportunity to take action immediately. Mike Lopez was our Jedi programmer, who was able to create whatever that we asked him to create. He created the initial version of Member single-handed in less than three months.

Like my prior business in the field of software, we noticed a demand so we created the perfect solution to the typical problem. Needless to say, Member experienced some rapid growth. The first year, the majority of sales came from word of word. Our sales grew well beyond a year before we spent a dime on advertising.

They are the possibilities that an entrepreneur dreams of.

At the beginning of our journey when we first started, we got our first enquiry about selling our company. The response was very flattering, however they were seeking well-established brands where the founder had decided to go home. We were youthful and full of energy, so it made absolutely no sense.

In the end, the initial inquiry provided a strong confirmation. Members were always "Built to Sell" and there were people interested.

After the initial inquiry I had a conversation with a friend who I also thought of as a reliable advisor. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. One of them is one that is a Venture Capital Firm. He had also sold several businesses during the past. It's no surprise that the guy is a pro.

My friend shared a valuable tip. He said, "the secret to selling a company, is to find out who is buying and to make your company a perfect fit."

The suggestion made lots of sense, but there were some tiny issues. When you're working with an associate, you're not building an organization that only one of the partners wants. You're building what the partners have agreed to construct together. The second reason is that we cannot find the buyer.

At some point, Stu and I formed Mike a minority partner. I think it was the year 2010.

Things changed significantly in Late 2014. Stu determined to continue his passion for teaching and focus specifically on training people to grow successful membership sites. Mike along with me stayed at the software firm.

Suddenly, I became the major shareholder alongside the Member. It was scary as well as thrilling at the same time.

My team of leaders and I made a visit to Colorado to concentrate on planning.

It was clear it was time to start recalibration. It was time to put aside the focus on what we've achieved over the years and become certain of what we are able to do in the coming years. Personally, I wanted to stop thinking about building the kind of company that I imagined someone would want to buy and begin thinking about the type of business I'd prefer to have.

These past few months have shown me a lot of things. A simple one is that Isolation kills entrepreneurs. Running a business can be quite lonely at times. It is essential to have relationships and friendships that can help you bring peace and harmony to your forces.

You never know how a relationship can turn into an actual connection...

I was introduced to Micah Mitchell at a conference. At the time, he was working with a person who was selling an application similar to Member. Many people would have considered that they were the most serious competitors. It wasn't something I thought about. it and just felt like he was a great guy and I'd like to get to know him better.

In the next few years, and Micah was leaving his former partnership and started a company named Memberium. Again, people would have considered him even much more of a threat. All I knew was that I liked him.

The proof was in the fact that I bumped into him during the airport security line. The two of us had a good chat catching up on what we had been doing in our respective businesses and then, we discovered that the seats we'd been given with each other during the flight. Is this just a ploy? It's likely that someone lined this up. But it was random.

On that same trip, we began brainstorming about the best April Fool's joke where we would announce that Micah has just purchased Member. It was funny to think that it could be called Memberium. We might even tack 360 to the name just to make it more interesting. Some people who read this will understand.

What started as a randomly given seat in front of my software competition (thanks Delta!) turned into a valuable friendship. The two of us would meet regularly to talk about business at lunch for the next few years. Unfortunately, our conversations came to an end after my family and I relocated back to Tennessee. Our friendships were great during our time in Utah and it was difficult to leave them behind.

I love developing software. The thrill of having an idea become a reality is thrilling. It's even more exhilarating when you work with an incredible team, and your product is much more than you imagined that it could be. One great example could be the most recent release of the courses add-ons available for member.

As exciting as all of that sounds, the truth is it can also be challenging. When you reach the line of one yard and it's close to scoring, you could be on empty from all your efforts.

When we had finished up the development and planning to release the new product, I began to feel exhausted. I started to realise that my best move would be to seek out a true partner in marketing. A partner that understood the market , and would help me move my Member up to the next step. I have made several phone calls to my closest business friends. My wife reminded me that Micah should be on the list of candidates. I promised my wife that I would reach out to him the following day.

The moment I called Micah He randomly texted me an SMS message. It was almost similar to sitting with Micah during the flight. Sometimes you just know events happen because of a purpose.

Discussions grew to an idea to sell Member to Micah's firm MemberShipper who is also the organization that supports Memberium. The result was that what we had been building using Member was precisely what MemberShipper wanted include in their portfolio.

Through the years, I've had hundreds of inquiries about selling the business. The majority of them didn't feel right until now. It was extremely important to me to ensure that Member remain a strong name. I also wanted to make sure our amazing team will be well taken care of.

Every step the process became more apparent that it was the right option for the Member, the team and the many thousands of awesome customers who have supported us over the years.

I'm incredibly thankful for the teams of leaders from both of the sides. They have been working hard to make this transition as simple as they can for me. It's very impressive to observe everyone working cohesively.

The common question I'm getting right now is "What's the next step to you?".

While I do think I'd do really well retiring, what I really need is a time off. I am planning to take the time to enjoy some well-deserved personal time.

What's the significance of this if you're a Member customer?

To put it in the simplest terms, anticipate the team to keep offering new ideas and the Member platform continues to be improved and refined. The company isn't going to stop.

I'm determined to work with Micah and the rest the team for a entire year. I'm in a role which could be described as my dream job. I'm the new "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brand names owned by MemberShipper.

You can expect to meet me at numerous gatherings in the coming months. My personal strategy is to offer the most value possible in the coming year. It is my dream to see Member go further with Micah's direction.

Who knows, I may remain around longer than anyone would have ever expected.

I've never been more optimistic about the future of Member like I do today. It's just the beginning.

Read Micah's complete statement on the acquisition on the acquisition here.

It is also possible to like...