The Founders Lounge

Multi-million pound exit, property investing and building an AI startup - Sam Oliver | E89

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Episode notes

Sam Oliver started his entrepreneurial journey when he was just 22, founding Eydin Property, a property investment company. He then pivoted to tech, creating LeadPro, a successful property marketing software that he took from zero to a multi-million pound cash exit. Now, Sam is diving into the world of AI with his new startup, OpenFi, which is revolutionizing sales processes using conversational AI.

We talk about:

- Starting a property investment business at a young age

- Key lessons from his first failed startup

- How Sam leveraged property investments to build wealth

- How to compete against VC-backed startups

- The ups and downs of building and selling LeadPro

- Lessons learned from nearly going bust during COVID

- The power of negotiation in securing a favorable exit

- Post-exit identity crisis: to retire or to start a new business?

- The value of niche markets and the dangers of limited scalability

- The importance of market validation and how to do it

- The potential of AI in transforming industries

- Overcoming fear and assessing risk in business

Links:

- Sam's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam0liver/

- OpenFi: https://www.openfi.tech/

- Advance To Go book by Sam Oliver: https://www.advancetogo.com/

- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Startup-Innovation-Successful-Businesses/dp/0670921602

- The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742

- Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oversubscribed-How-People-Lining-Business/dp/0857086197

- On Identity by Amin Maalouf: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Identity-Amin-Maalouf/dp/1860467296

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