Selling a business is often imagined as a finish line. In reality, it’s a mirror. That’s what Josh Hotsenpiller, serial entrepreneur and founder of multiple venture-backed companies, learned through years of scaling and selling. From the outside, his trajectory looks textbook: fast growth, strong valuations, multiple exits. But as he told us in his conversation with BTF, the process revealed something few founders expect, how far most businesses are from being truly acquirable. Now an Operating Partner at Stone Canyon, Josh helps other entrepreneurs prepare for that same moment of truth, turning “profitable” companies into acquirable ones. His advice is as honest as it is actionable.

Some entrepreneurs plan every step before they take it. Others build the path as they go. Geoff Bell is one of the latter.From oil rigs in northern B.C. to multiple tech exits, his story proves that success rarely follows a straight line but persistence always pays off. When we spoke with Geoff ahead of BTF Vancouver 2025, he shared lessons from three decades of building, scaling and selling companies. His focus: how to make a business truly exit-ready, when to step back as a founder and why every entrepreneur should design for independence from day one.

Every owner knows that transformation is hard. But few realize that hesitation, not competition, is what quietly erodes company value. That’s the insight Rocky Ozaki, Founder and CEO of The NoW of Work, shared when we spoke ahead of BTF Vancouver 2025. Having spent the past decade helping established companies modernize for the digital age, Rocky sees a consistent pattern: most organizations know what needs to change but delay acting on it until the market forces their hand.

Every founder dreams of building a business worth millions, few expect the emotional roller coaster that comes after they do. For Kevin Michaluk, better known as CrackBerry Kevin, the journey from a $15,000 bet to a $115 million exit was both exhilarating and disorienting. The Winnipeg-born entrepreneur turned his love for BlackBerry into Mobile Nations, a pioneering tech media company that built passionate online communities around mobile brands.

For many business owners, selling a company is the most significant financial and emotional transaction of their life. Yet too often, preparation begins only when the decision to sell has already been made. Mike Milani, Executive Managing Director & Principal at Baker Tilly Capital, LLC and Chair of BTF SoCal 2025, has spent nearly four decades advising owners through M&A transactions. His message is clear: the owners who achieve successful exits start thinking years, not months, ahead.

Debby has advised countless executives through acquisitions, turnarounds, and restructuring. In every case, the first question is the same: do people believe what you say? “The leader needs to be trustworthy. Without that, no matter what you do, your organization’s not going to be successful because the people… they’re not going to believe your strategy.”