Exit Stories

Tune in to season 3 of Exit Stories this Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Chaz Felix, co-founder and COO of Bronto Software, joins host Kevin Mosley—who is a former Bronto employee. Chaz goes into detail about Bronto's bootstrapped story from 2002 to 2015. He talks about how his mindset shifted from scrappy startup to a scaling organization, and how all that work led to an eventual exit to publicly traded NetSuite in 2015 for $200M. This is part II of a 2-part episode.

Chaz Felix, co-founder and COO of Bronto Software, joins host Kevin Mosley—who is a former Bronto employee. Chaz goes into detail about Bronto's bootstrapped story from 2002 to 2015. He talks about how his mindset shifted from the scrappy startup to a scaling organization, and how all that work led to an eventual exit to publicly traded NetSuite in 2015 for $200M. This is Part I of a 2-part episode.

Host Kevin Mosley interviews Tyson Nargassans, founder and CEO of Saylent Technologies. They talk about his entrepreneurial journey, from taking a leap of faith alongside his wife to fundraising right before the 2008 Recession to the twists and turns that led to an exit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Host Kevin Mosley, along with guest co-host Paolo DiVincenzo, interview serial entrepreneur James Avery, founder and CEO of Kevel. The theme of today's episode is "Base Hits," the smaller exits that build experience and confidence before leading to bigger success later on.

Michael Ives, experienced CFO for PE-backed tech firms, joins Kevin Mosley. Together they walk through Michael's experience as CFO for Prometheus Group and Intelerad, both owned by large PE firms. Michael details what they look for in acquiring smaller firms and all the lessons learned on both sides of the table.

Paolo DiVincenzo, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Basis State, joins host Kevin Mosley. They run through Paolo's vast founding and exiting experiences with his own companies. Poalo also talks about his more recent endeavor with Basis State, helping sub-scale tech businesses find their strategic exit.

Silvia Aguirre, co-founder of Tax Technology Services (TTS), joins host Kevin Mosley. They talk about Silvia's journey co-founding TTS with her husband after seeing a consistent need in the tax market. She ultimately sold to tax giant, Avalara, and negotiated to keep the company located in the Triangle.

Richard Holcomb, Co-Founder of Q+E, HAHT Commerce, and StrikeIron, joins Kevin Mosley. They run through Richard's journey as a serial entrepreneur, from negotiating a killer deal with Microsoft to raising the most VC capital in the region, along with lots and lots of exits.

Dallas Romanowski, co-founder and former CEO of Performance Culture, joins Kevin Mosley. They talk in great detail about Performance Culture's acquisition by Kevin's Jurassic Capital in 2020, from building a long-term relationship to working through diligence to an eventual great outcome for all.

Glen Caplan, Partner at Robinson, Bradshaw, & Hinson, joins host Kevin Mosley. They talk about Glen's experiences and stories at all stages of a company's lifecycle, from formation to capital raising to ultimately exiting.

Host Kevin Mosley chats with Tom Simon, co-founder and CMO of Source3. Source3 was a company focused on digital 3D rights before pivoting to digital music rights – an industry near and dear to the founders' hearts – at the right time. They ultimately partnered with and exited to Facebook in 2017.

For the Season Finale of Exit Stories, Jesse Davis, longtime Triangle exec and former VP at Progress Software, joins host Kevin Mosley to tell Tales From the Other Side, giving valuable insight into how strategic corporate acquirers approach acquiring other companies, helping future Exit Stories subjects gain a leg up for the future.

Windsor Circle co-founder and CEO, Matt Williamson, joins host Kevin Mosley to share his incredible story from seeing a market gap at Bronto and turning that into a massively successful company with a fantastic culture that stood the test of multiple funding rounds and an eventual strategic exit to WhatCounts in 2018. 

Steve Carnevale, former CFO of Global Software, joins Kevin Mosley as they talk about how transactions look from the CFO's perspective, including Geomagic's sale to 3D Systems and how Global Software went through two PE buyouts in the span of two years, ultimately merging into local acquisition giant, insight software.

Digitalsmiths' CEO and co-founder, Ben Weinberger, joins Kevin Mosley as they discuss Ben's journey from a dorm room in Illinois to following his now-wife to SC, then finally to NC as Digitalsmiths helped pioneer the way we watch TV today, ultimately taking VC money to take advantage of the market before exiting to a strategic corporate partner in TiVo in 2014.

Matt Schmidt, cofounder and former President of DZone, joins Kevin Mosley to talk about starting a company while still at NC State, bootstrapping over 15 years, and why he chose an investment banker to facilitate an eventual exit to a Growth Equity firm.

Steve Klein, cofounder and former COO of Statuspage.io, joins Kevin Mosley to talk about his journey as he and his brother went through Y Combinator’s accelerator, took very little money while growing quickly, and later were acquired by one of their customers, a newly-public Atlassian.

Doug Kaufman, former CEO of TransLoc, joins Kevin Mosley to share his entrepreneurial journey from getting his doctorate in social psychology to starting multiple companies before joining TransLoc, transforming them to a VC-backed growth company who sold only 18 months after raising to a strategic fit in Ford Mobility.

Nathan Shackles, solo founder and former CEO of Applicant Stack, joins Kevin Mosley to talk about how he built a company with solid fundamentals, ignored any labels associated with bootstrapping, negotiated strongly when he didn’t have to sell, and ultimately found a great strategic fit with Swipe Clock.

Anil Chawla, solo founder and former CEO of ArchiveSocial, joins Kevin Mosley to discuss how his cash flow positive and growing company bypassed traditional VC, eventually selling majority to Level Equity, and how he happily stepped aside as CEO as they gear up for the next stage.

Tobi Walter, co-founder and former CEO of Shoeboxed, joins Kevin Mosley to discuss how he navigated the end of a VC fund life cycle and ran a process to eventually find a very valuable strategic fit with PE-backed Earth Class Mail.