Our Next Chapter

The year 2008 was when I joined up along with one of my most close friends of the moment. Stu McLaren and I combined our expertise together to form Member.

We did not know that we were about to embark on a thrilling and unprecedented journey. WordPress was growing at an impressive growth rate. It was a thrilling time. There was no clear answer, but there was a lot of evidence that WordPress would surpass both Joomla and Drupal.

To put this into context, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga had been making waves as newcomers on the scene of music. Many of our current team members were still in grade school back when we first established ourselves.

In the world of online marketing discussion about membership websites were all the rage. There weren't any options for creating the membership-oriented website with WordPress. Most development companies were focussed on themes. Thus, the premium plug-in market was essentially non-existent.

We saw it as an opportunity and acted immediately. Mike Lopez was our Jedi coder who could create anything we put him to the test with. He built the first version of Member single-handed in less than 3 months.

As with my previous companies in software, we also saw the need for a solution, so we developed a solid answer to the commonly encountered issue. Naturally, Members experienced some rapid growth. In the beginning, our the majority of sales came from the word of word. Our sales grew well beyond one year, before spending nothing on marketing.

This is the kind of opportunity the entrepreneur hopes to take advantage of.

At the beginning of our journey, we received our first inquiry about selling the business. The response was very flattering, however they wanted established brands where the owner is ready to take a break. We were young and full of enthusiasm, so it made absolutely NO sense.

In the end, the initial inquiry was a solid validation. The member was always "Built to sell" There were many interested.

Shortly after the first inquiry I was talking to an acquaintance who I considered a trusted adviser. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. One of those is a Venture Capital Firm. He had also sold several companies previously. It's no surprise that this guy knows his stuff.

A friend of mine shared an important point of wisdom. He said, "the secret to selling your business is to identify the buyer and to make your company an ideal fit."

The suggestion made lots of sense to me but I had a few minor issues. When you're working with partners, you're not creating an organization that only one of the partners desires. 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 made Mike the minority partner. I believe it was in the year 2010.

It was a dramatic change in late 2014. Stu determined to pursue his passion for teaching and focus specifically on helping people build effective membership websites. Mike and I continued to work at the software firm.

Then, I was the majority shareholder with the Member. It was terrifying and exciting at the same time.

Our leadership team and I took a trip to Colorado for a focus on planning.

It became clear that it was time to start recalibration. We needed to stop focusing on what we've achieved through the years, and instead get clear on what we could accomplish in the future. Personally, I needed to let go of the thought of creating an organization that I believed people would be interested in buying and start thinking about what sort of company I'd like to run.

The last few years have taught me a lot of things. One simple lesson is that Isolation is the death of entrepreneurs. The running of a business is very lonely at moments. There is no better way to build friends and relations that aid in bringing harmony and balance to your forces.

There is no way to know when a relationship will turn into an actual friendship...

I had the pleasure of meeting Micah Mitchell at a conference. In the past, he was in a partnership with someone who sold an application similar to Member. A lot of people would have thought them to be an actual competitor. I didn't think much of the matter and felt that he was a great guy and would love to know him better.

A few years later and Micah was leaving his former partnership and started a company called Memberium. Again, people would have considered him even much more of a threat. What I did know was that I loved the guy.

The proof was in the fact that I met him in the airport security line. The two of us had a good conversation, discussing what we had been working on We then discovered the seats we'd been given with each other on the plane. Did this happen as a joke? It's likely that someone lined this up. Nope, it was completely random.

In a funny twist, during that exact trip, we also began thinking about our ultimate April Fool's day joke, where we'd announce that Micah just acquired Member. We laughed that it could be referred to as Memberium. We might even tack 360 on the title to make it more interesting. A few people reading might be able to understand.

It began as an unintentionally allocated seat beside my software competitor (thanks Delta!) turned into a valuable friendship. We would get together monthly to talk business over dinner for the next couple of years. Unfortunately, our conversations came to an end when my family and I relocated back to Tennessee. There were many great relationships in Utah which was hard leaving them behind.

I enjoy developing software. It's thrilling to see an idea become a reality is thrilling. It's even more exciting when you have an awesome team and the product becomes greater than you thought it would become. One great example is our latest update for the courses add-ons available for member.

As exciting as all of it sounds, the reality is, it's also difficult. When you reach the 1-yard mark and you're close to scoring, you could be on empty from all your effort.

Just as we were wrapping with the creation and plan for the release of our new product I found myself feeling very tired. I started to realise that my best move would be to seek out a true market partner. Someone who understood the market , and would help me move my Member up to the next step. I've made a few phone calls to my most trusted business acquaintances. My wife informed me that Micah is on my shortlist. I promised my wife to reach out to him on the next day.

Just before I contacted Micah I contacted Micah, he sent me an SMS message. It was kind of as if I was sitting beside Micah during the flight. It's not always easy to know when there is a reason for everything.

Discussions grew to the idea of me selling Member to Micah's company MemberShipper that is the one that is supporting Memberium. It turns out what we had been building with Member was precisely what MemberShipper was looking to add to their portfolio.

Through the years, I've had hundreds of inquiries about selling the business. None of them ever felt like they were. It was extremely important to me to ensure that Member keep growing as a company. I also wanted to make sure our amazing team will be well looked after.

Each step was becoming more apparent that this was the most beneficial option for the Member The team as well as for the many thousands of amazing customers who have stayed with us over the years.

I'm incredibly thankful for the leaders on both of the sides. They've worked hard to make this transition as simple as they can for me. It's quite impressive to see the team working in a cohesive manner.

One of the most frequent questions I get right now is "What's next in your life?".

While I do think I'd do really well retiring, what I truly need is a time off. I'm planning on taking some much-needed personal time off.

What's all this about when you're a member customer?

To put it in simple terms, you can be sure that the team will continue providing innovation and Member continues to be improved and enhanced. It's not going anywhere.

I am committed to working alongside Micah and the rest the team for a whole year. They've put me in a job which could be described as my ideal job. I'm currently the "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands owned by MemberShipper.

I will be attending several gatherings in the coming months. My goal is to provide the most value possible for the next year. It is my dream to see Member advance up to the next step under Micah's direction.

Who knows, I may be around for much longer than anyone would have imagined.

I've never felt better in regards to the future of member than I do now. The company is just beginning to get started.

You can read Micah's full message about the purchase here.

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