Since the beginning of The Pitch, we’ve told one story: what it’s like to raise money for a startup. But what about the rest of the journey? On our new segment, The Exit, we talk to startup founders who’ve done the impossible, sold their startup for hundreds of millions. How does it feel to finally accomplish the dream? And is that dream all it’s cracked up to be? In our first exit interview, we talk to Bill Smith, a high school dropout from Alabama who started, scaled and sold Shipt for $550 million in three years.
Find more info at https://thepitch.show
0:00 Intro to 'The Exit' and how Bill Smith sold Shipt to Target
6:37 Creation, growth, and sale of Bill's second startup Insight
10:04 Launch, pivot, and early success of Shipt
16:01 Shipt's rapid growth and urgent need for capital to scale
19:18 Shipt's first venture capital pitch and securing investment
22:55 Reaction to Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods and its impact on Shipt
25:46 Bill talks with Target about a possible acquisition
30:10 Reflections on Shipt's sale and its aftermath
33:28 Bill Smith's post-acquisition life, future plans, and motivation
41:19 Preview of next week's Pitch episode: Podcast AI
