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