Dear BTF Community,
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. When Future PLC acquired the company in 2018, Kevin joined the rare group of founders who have achieved a life-changing exit and lived to tell the truth about what comes after.
At BTF Winnipeg 2025, Kevin took the stage for 20/20 Vision: Hard Truths & Honest Lessons From the Exit Journey. His story was raw, insightful, and above all, real. A reminder that success isn’t just about timing the market but preparing yourself for what comes next.
Key Takeaways for Business Owners:
- You can’t time your exit but you can prepare for it.
- Identity loss after selling is real, plan for the emotional side, not just the financial one.
- Round two isn’t easier, it’s about resilience, not luck.
Enjoy,
Mark
The $15,000 Gut Decision
Kevin’s origin story wasn’t built on strategy decks or market research. Instead, it started with intuition.
“I didn’t have courage or a plan — I just had $15,000 and a gut feeling that CrackBerry wasn’t a dumb decision.”
That instinct paid off. The community exploded, becoming the go-to destination for millions of smartphone enthusiasts. By 2007, just months after launch, Kevin realized the power of putting himself out there:
“That was the moment I learned: if you put yourself fully online, the real world takes notice.”
Mobile Nations doubled down on that insight across its editorial teams, encouraging each individual to become the most influential version of themselves, helping it grow into one of the most recognized tech publishing networks of its time.
Selling At The Right Moment
When the opportunity to sell came, it wasn’t planned.
“We got lucky — two unsolicited offers in a week forced us to get serious. If we’d waited, we might have missed our shot.”
The team engaged bankers who confirmed the timing was ideal. Four offers followed, and they chose the one with the best certainty to close and the most compelling structure.
“We closed in under 10 weeks — our bankers said, ‘this never happens.’ The earn-out was sink or swim… we chose to swim and beat our forecast.”
Kevin’s advice to founders is simple: don’t wait until buyers come knocking. Build relationships with bankers early. They’ll help you recognize when the window is open.
The Dark Years After The Deal
For many founders, the hardest part of selling isn’t letting go of ownership, it’s losing identity.
“When I sold the company, I literally sold my identity — it took five years to get my mojo back.”
Kevin’s non-compete prevented him from publishing online for three years, leaving him cut off from the audience he had spent 15 years building.
“The exit doesn’t just change your life — it changes everyone’s inside the business, and not always for the better.”
Those years became a turning point. Eventually, he bought back CrackBerry.com and his social channels, reclaiming part of the identity he’d lost. It was the closure (and the reboot) he needed.
Learning To Build Again
Kevin’s next act came through Clicks Technology, a new venture designing premium keyboards and accessories for iPhone and Android. The shift from media to hardware brought equal parts humility and focus.
“Hoping for a knockout in round two isn’t a strategy, you need a team that can go twelve rounds.”
This time, he’s building with outside investors and embracing the accountability that comes with it.
“Idle time is dangerous for me, I’m happiest when I’m busy building.”
Clicks, like Mobile Nations before it, thrives on community and storytelling but this time, Kevin’s more deliberate about pacing growth and protecting his energy.
Paying It Forward
With experience comes perspective.
Today, Kevin devotes more time to mentoring founders through content on LinkedIn and CrackBerry, using lessons from his journey to help others avoid common pitfalls.
“I don’t just want to build my own companies anymore, I want to help the next wave build theirs smarter and with fewer scars.”
He also speaks candidly about what most founders overlook: preparing for the human side of the exit.
Beyond lawyers and bankers, it’s about emotional readiness for yourself and for your team.
The Hard Truth About Timing
At BTF Winnipeg, Kevin left entrepreneurs with one truth that resonated across the room:
“You can’t time your exit but you can prepare for it. That’s the difference between a life-changing deal and a missed opportunity.”
For business owners in transition, that message hits home.
Market timing is unpredictable, but readiness, in your operations, your team, and your mindset, is entirely within your control.
Final Reflection
Kevin Michaluk’s journey is a study in contrasts. It’s a story of luck and preparation, success and loss, endings and beginnings.
From the creation of CrackBerry to the launch of Clicks, his experiences reveal what many founders learn only after the fact: building a company is one thing, but rebuilding yourself afterward is another challenge entirely.
As the BTF community continues exploring ownership transitions and growth, Kevin’s story serves as both a roadmap and a reminder; that every exit is the start of something new, and that preparation, humility, and purpose are what truly sustain the entrepreneurial journey.