How Raleigh Williams Sold His Business for $26M | Episode 59
  • Apr 06, 2026

How Raleigh Williams Sold His Business for $26M | Episode 59

0:00
0:00
Advertising will end in
play_arrow
pause
replay_10
forward_10
volume_up
volume_down
volume_off
share
speed
Skip ad
close
close
close
close
close
Share:

About Podcast

How Raleigh Williams Sold His Business for $26M | Episode 59


He had a panic attack on the gym floor 30 days into his dream law firm job — and called his wife thinking he was having a heart attack. Turns out his body already knew what his brain hadn't caught up to yet: he was in the wrong life.



Raleigh Williams went from panic attacks at a prestigious law firm to building Williams Entertainment Group — escape rooms, trampoline parks, and entertainment concepts — then selling it all across nine transactions for $26 million. Now he runs Exit OS (a business brokerage for SMB founders) and Fierce Health and Fierce Longevity (telehealth and peptide clinics). He sat down with Stu live at the Startups with Stu retreat in Saint George, Utah to break it all down.





What he covers:

→ Having a panic attack 30 days into a prestigious law firm job — hoping it was a heart attack because a panic attack felt worse 

→ Trying and failing at faceless Instagram accounts, tax liens, and becoming a real estate agent before finding the right idea 

→ Reading a MarketWatch article about escape rooms and doing the back-of-napkin math that same night

→ Paying a European escape room $5,000 to license their puzzle sequences as a starting point → Running a Harry Potter-themed room ("Horcrux Hysteria") in violation of Warner Bros. IP for four years before getting a cease and desist 

→ Discovering that revenue correlated directly with number of rooms — not marketing spend 

→ Selling the entire business across nine transactions for $26 million (including real estate) when he realized he'd mentally checked out 

→ The four levers that determine your business's sale multiple: growth rate, operations, clean accounting, and defensibility 

→ Why founders should know their exit multiple from Day 1 — and what it means if your take-home salary times four is your retirement number 

→ GLP-1 peptides (Retatrutide), BPC-157 "Wolverine stacks," and how peptides helped him get in better shape at 36 than ever before 

→ His wife's two bouts of cancer — and how navigating the medical system pushed him into building Fierce Longevity 

→ "The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek" — the quote he carries with him everywhere


🔗 CONNECT WITH RALEIGH WILLIAMS 

Instagram: @raleigh_williams 


🔗 CONNECT WITH STU


Instagram: @stu 

Website: https://startupswithstu.com



#entrepreneur #startups #founderstory #escaperoombusiness #businessexit #exitstrategy #peptides #glp1 #smallbusiness #startupswithstu




Related Episodes

How 3 Execs Built an EdTech Giant with 1M+ Students in 80+ Countries

How 3 Execs Built an EdTech Giant with 1M+ Students in 80+ Countries

What happens when three executives who built a million-dollar EdTech company reunite to share their unfiltered startup journey? In this 30th episode of Startups with Stu, founder Stuart Draper and his former executive team Trevor Erickson and Brandon Winter pull back the curtain on their meteoric rise from working out of their homes to becoming a global education powerhouse. The trio tackles head-on questions about validating business ideas, managing side hustles while growing a company, and knowing when you've finally broken through the "will we fail?" ceiling. They share specific strategies they used to position their product as "first in the world" and how they leveraged this unique advantage to fuel explosive growth. Stuart reveals his fundraising mistakes that actually turned into blessings, while Brandon explains why college students selling to professors became their secret weapon. This rare conversation between founders who succeeded together offers invaluable insights for entrepreneurs at any stage - from spotting market opportunities to building a team that embraces an entrepreneurial mindset.

Play
$100 Stakes in $270,000 Properties: The Real Estate Platform Challenging Wall Street Rules

$100 Stakes in $270,000 Properties: The Real Estate Platform Challenging Wall Street Rules

McKay Francis never planned to battle the SEC or catch Grant Cardone's attention when he launched Casa Shares, the investing platform letting broke college students buy real estate for just $10 per share. This episode of Startups with Stu unveils how Casa Shares secured a game-changing federal exemption allowing non-millionaires to invest in property, something 90% of Americans couldn't legally do before. McKay shares his transformation from late-night side-hustler to founder raising $2.5 million while rejecting venture capital offers that would have meant "working until 2am under their rules." His mission began after watching dentists turn $500,000 salaries into "tens of millions" through real estate investments while average Americans got locked out. Now Casa Shares users earn quarterly dividends, property appreciation, and tax benefits without needing $300,000 starter funds. With property values doubling in recent years, McKay explains why investors should build their "snowball effect" portfolio starting at 18 instead of the typical age 46, potentially turning small investments into millions through earlier compounding.

Play
Former Model Creates $5M Business After Hitting Rock Bottom

Former Model Creates $5M Business After Hitting Rock Bottom

What happens when a successful NYC model loses everything, battles depression, and discovers her life purpose through a rescue horse? Natalia Graf-Anders transformed her darkest moment into a multi-million dollar equestrian empire that's revolutionizing how women see themselves in riding apparel. After years of modeling and corporate sales left her empty and dependent on Adderall, Natalia moved back home with nothing but found healing through horses. In this episode of Startups with Stu, host Stuart Draper explores Natalia's journey from three products in her apartment to building Sync Equestrian into a business targeting $5-6 million this year, up from $2.1 million last year. Natalia reveals her psychology-based advertising strategies, the manifestation practices that fuel her success, and her approach to building an empowerment-focused brand that sets trends instead of following them. She shares insights on nervous system training for money mindset, the importance of trusting business intuition, and scaling from solo founder to leading a team while maintaining authentic brand messaging. Follow Startups with Stu: Website: https://startupswithstu.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StartupsWithStu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/StartupswithStu/ Follow Stuart Draper: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/draperstu/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/draperstu/ Follow Natalia Graf-Anders: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliaornatascha/ Follow Sync Equestrian: Website: https://syncequestrian.com/ https://www.sync-academy.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syncequestrian/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/syncequestrian

Play

Comments