Perry Marshall – Equity 2.0 Seminar 2025

Billionaire Richard Koch is THE most underrated business author. He is one of the rare and special people in my life who has CONSISTENTLY been right year after year, decade after decade. He will video cast remotely from his home in Portugal.

Over the last 10 years, Richard has worked anywhere from one hour per day to at peak 2-3 days per week. I know because I’ve witnessed it firsthand.

There was the spring day in 1997 that I wandered into the Peoria Civic Center and heard Dan Kennedy talk about direct response advertising. A revelation.

There was my very first System Seminar with Ken McCarthy in 2002. That’s where I discovered Google AdWords. There was legendary copywriter Gary Bencivenga’s once-in-a-lifetime event in New York City, where I probed the inner workings of “The World’s Greatest Copywriter.”

And then there was my meeting 12 years ago with Richard in Portugal, with a complete and total business master – that has forced me to re-think and re-evaluate everything I thought I knew about what success in my business (or anything else) looks like.

In 2014 I held a legendary $7500 seminar with Richard. Back then Richard’s net worth was $200 million. We still sell the recordings of that event for $7500, and that seminar is still producing success stories 10 years later. Swift Capital, which sold LoanBuilder to PayPal, credits the Star event and private client work with me for their $183 million victory.

Richard’s net worth now is $1.6 billion. 8X increase in 10 years. Last October I held a $20,000 seminar with Richard in Portugal.

Richard graciously agreed to video stream a live session for the Equity 2.0 seminar on April 24. Furthermore, when you register for this event, you will receive special highlights from the Star 2014 event that I consider ESSENTIAL for every participant in the Equity 2.0 event.

Smart businesses have always focused on 4 steps to equity and wealth:

Without all four, your company’s not worth much.

But today, a FIFTH step must come BEFORE all others.

STEP ZERO: Fundamentally rewiring your business for the AI era. I’m not merely talking about “Leveraging AI everywhere possible.” Or training your team to use it. Or automating your processes. EVERYBODY is already teaching that. Some are doing a good job.

But that’s not enough to save most people. And it’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about defining your product, your offerings, your clients and your media so you no longer rely on assets that AI is driving to zero

( = anything you can get in 15 seconds from ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google Gemini )

…And instead deliver communication and offerings that comfortably reside behind a Network Effect for Mere Mortals Moat…

…Around a castle you own.

Skip this step, and everything else becomes irrelevant.

A few weeks ago the epiphany dropped for me. New picture snapped in place: Where we’ve come from, where we’re headed, and the sharp bend the planet is rounding right this minute – a mix of Green, Yellow and Red lights as we shift into this new era.

This is scary for a lot of people, but it need not be. There is a path, a way forward… just like there was a path 25 years ago when the Internet was decimating phone books, travel agencies and newspapers. Nobody today would give up apps, ride sharing, video calls or Google docs to get our precious phone books back.

Bidding for clicks on ad platforms, social media, or Airbnb. Online video. Recommendation engines. Streaming. Navigation apps. Wearable health monitors. Instant payments. Bluetooth. Podcasts. VPNs. SMS texting. Smart home devices. The “Cloud.”

NO, AI will not “unemploy everybody.” It sure looks to me like these innovations created an awful lot of new companies and new jobs. But 10% of the people will have 90% of the power. It will unemploy people who are in denial and who are trying to breathe life into dying corpses.

YOU ALONE, dear reader, choose whether to be leader or follower in the next golden age.

This morning I got this text from a friend, a serial entrepreneur and freelancer:

In the ’80s, Federal Express assaulted our TVs with a brilliant slogan:

The mere existence of FEDEX meant: it suddenly made no sense for ANY mail order company to say “Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.”

Instant expectation shift.

AI is rolling the same shift across 100 industries. Now that ChatGPT can explain a complex problem to you in 30 seconds, who’s gonna sit through a 30 minute course waiting for the 2 minutes of what they were hunting for?

I suddenly saw in my mind’s eye the Axis Shift. The Transition Matrix. I’m going to reveal this at 9am on April 22. Then at 10am everyone will break into teams, log into the Perry Marshall Members Area and describe their business.

My proprietary GPT will map the Transition Matrix to YOUR business, your industry, your traffic sources, your lead generation tools, all the things that make your phone and cash register ring.

By lunch time you will possess a transition plan.

^* $1000 travel expense refund only valid for Primary in-person seminar attendees.

That’s how confident I am that the first two hours alone will radically transform your business trajectory for the next decade.

This is Step Zero.

Then and only then can Steps 1, 2 and 3 make any sense at all.

❌ The 2025 RED LIGHTS: Prevalent business models that are already dead man walking

🟡 The YELLOW ZONES: Where to reorient fast for maximum opportunity

✅ The 2027 GREEN LIGHTS: Business models that will thrive with AI

By 11:00am Day 1, you’ll receive and have already acted on a CUSTOM-TAILORED TRANSFORMATION MAP for your specific business—showing exactly which parts will thrive, which are on life support, and which dead branches to prune immediately.

I have MANY clients who have little or no intention of selling. Mark McShurley of RoofSimple has a very sellable business that he doesn’t want to sell. Michael Strickland’s Ship A Car Direct is a high equity business whether he ever chooses to sell it or not.

My 2nd biggest client has turned down multiple 9-figure offers. The first 2 hours of our first consultation was about how he is under no obligation to ever sell for any amount.

The point is: If you didn’t sell your business yesterday, you bought it today. You deserve to own the business that others would love to buy.

From 2000-2023, business valuations were driven by recurring revenue, scalable systems, and market share.

In 2027, one factor will eclipse all others: AI Alignment.

Companies that align with AI expectations will command premium valuations and attract eager buyers. Those that don’t will become unsellable—regardless of their current revenue.

This is why STEP ZERO (re-architecting your business for AI viability) must precede all traditional equity-building activities.

We’re entering the final phase of an 18.6-year economic cycle that ends in 2027 (the previous cycle ended with Lehman Brothers in September 2008).

This gives you 18 months to position your business before economic reset.

The final 18-24 months of this cycle typically see aggressive growth followed by major disruption.

Like animals that instinctively climb trees before a tsunami, successful entrepreneurs must develop heightened discernment NOW.

Clock is ticking.

• Tuesday April 22 Morning:
  • Perry Marshall Part 1 – All businesses that rely on digital platforms for marketing or operations are about to shift as much as the web itself shifted marketing 25 years ago. We are midway through a 5-year transformation (this is why many people are pedaling harder than ever and making less money) and this changes what people spend money on; what they’ll trade attention for. It alters lead generation and how you position your expertise and authority.
  • Perry Marshall Part 2 – Every business in the room will receive a custom industry- and business-specific private GPT road map to the AI transformation. This next season is an 80/20-to-90/10 multiplication of leverage which will be enjoyed by a smaller number of players who attain exponentially more market share. You will team up with other participants for an all-members exercise. This road map will alter media, lead generation magnets, nurture sequences, sales funnels, product offerings and deliverables, from first impression to 2nd and 3rd sale to paying customer.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will ensure that the growing assets of your company match the zeitgeist and what buyers want to buy.
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will enable you to stop paddling so hard because clients want to buy.
  • We will continue the transformation you just experienced with our panel of experts. Only after this transformation does it make sense to finance growth and build equity.
  • Bob Regnerus – Ignite Session – Set the environment for intention and connection
  • Bob Regnerus Be the Strategy Before You Build the Strategy: The Inner Shift That Makes the Outer Strategy Work Part 1
  • Perry Marshall How to leap 2 years ahead of the Marketing AI Disruption 
  • Guided Hands-On Business Reinvention with Perry
  • Panel/Q&A 
• April 22 Afternoon:
  • • Shanyn Stewart Part 1: Outwitting the System
    • Shanyn Stewart Part 2: Locating your Spiritual & Financial center in the Kairos Awakening
    Accounting and tax structures are optimized for the super rich, not small entrepreneurs. The world is designed to enslave you and it will if you do not have defenses against it. Shanyn reveals a dozen methods that liberate assets you didn’t know you had, shield your capital from predatory taxes and align all your resources in the same direction: Growing YOUR cash flow and net worth.
  • We are not only entering a new technological and economic era, we are also entering a new “force field” and zeitgeist. Most people are wandering and unsure of their identity. Shanyn shares the biggest life / financial crisis of her entire life and how she traversed an utterly impossible situation.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will help you showcase the assets of your company so they are clearly recognized by buyers.
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will minimize your exposure to tax liabilities. For a typical person in the room this will be tens of thousands of dollars in annual savings. Laura and I sat down with Shanyn a few weeks ago and she showed me at least $60,000 a year that I could have not been paying in taxes for several years. It almost made me sick. Well in 2025 it will be different. This one session will E-A-S-I-L-Y pay for your seminar ticket and trip to Chicago. Very few small entrepreneurs are financially savvy and are paying way too much in taxes and FICA. The system is heavily rigged against small players.
  • Chris Hurn: Savvy 21st century Finance: Funding the Growth of Your Assets
  • Chris Hurn inhabits dual worlds that barely touch or even talk to each other: 1) He’s a serial entrepreneur with a half dozen small businesses in his history, and 2) he is a major player in the world of medium and large banks. You can count the number of people on both lists on one hand. Chris will detail small business lending options (his bank is one of the larger providers of SBA loans) and inner workings of how the game is really played. It is NOT enough to know marketing or business growth principles. You need to understand MONEY and FINANCE.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will enable you to grow your business with capital while incurring the least possible financial burden..
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will help you align your cash flows, assets, debt and interest so you give the least possible amount of money to lenders – and are in a position to obtain money where and when you need it.
  • Bob Regnerus: Day 1 Debrief

• Wednesday April 23 Morning:
  • You’re working harder than ever, but progress feels evasive. It’s not a different level of effort, it’s the new version of you doing the work. You don’t need more to-do’s. You need a shift in who’s leading. Before anything changes out there, it has to change in you.
  • Bob Regnerus – Ignite Session – Set the environment for intention and connection (15 minutes)
  • Perry Marshall – Integrate 2030 Marketing + Finance + Equity Growth 
  • Clate Mask: From $0 to $900M to $80M – Street Smarts from Wall Street and Silicon Valley 
  • Bob Regnerus: Be the Strategy Before You Build the Strategy: The Inner Shift That Makes the Outer Strategy Work Part 2
  • Panel/Q&A with Perry 
• April 23 Afternoon:
  • Greg Elfrink: How to Buy and Sell Digital Properties
  • It is FAR easier to buy than to build! Buying digital businesses has always been an underrated, less-effort way to not only own assets but obtain traffic, technology, audiences, reputation, authority and income. Greg, who is marketing manager at Empire Flippers, shows how to buy businesses at will, and how to design your digital business to be sold for maximum value. Discover creative terms that allow both buyer and seller to achieve their objectives.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will open your eyes to the reality of business buyer marketplaces and the many options that are available to you.
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will enlighten you to the plethora of digital assets that you can purchase rather than building, saving you months and years.
  • Bryan Trilli: Operating System for Growing & Managing Business Assets
  • Bryan approaches business writ large in an opposite way from 99% of entrepreneurs and marketers. He defines assets differently and manages with what he calls “Trilli Operating System.” With a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he says “There is no such thing as an expert marketer. Just experienced marketers and expert testers.” His book, “Soulless Intelligence,” explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and spirituality, arguing that AI underscores the necessity of a transcendent moral framework.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will give you a rigorous road map for maximizing the sale price of your company and minimizing the amount of time you spend managing it. (Bryan spends large amounts of time with his young children while running a network of many companies).
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will show you how to make your business sane and enjoyable. (One client said to us, I hate managing my business. I just want to sell to new clients and dance on the airplane wing. But this beast keeps sucking me in. Bryan showed her how to escape the trap.)
  • Vivian Hearn The Oracle’s View of Our Changing Cosmos
  • Vivian is literally the prophetic voice behind 80/20 Sales & Marketing and a pioneer of our Memos from the Head Office calls. I’ve asked Vivian to join us at this event for all three days to be personally available for everyone who attends. You will have the opportunity to converse with her 1-on-1 if you wish. Vivian will also deliver an afternoon session on April 23, layering in her wisdom and oracle insight as only she can do.
  • We merge insights about AI, personal growth, finance, equity and the shifting atmosphere of the world so you come away from Day 2 with a clear set of action items and takeaways.
  • Expert Panel / Q&A with Perry 
  • Bob Regnerus: Day 2 Debrief

• Thursday April 24 Morning:
• Bob Regnerus – Ignite Session – Set the environment for intention and connection (15 minutes)
• Perry Marshall Integrating Star Principle, AI and Equity
  • Billionaire Richard Koch will deliver a live stream from Portugal, showing how Star Principle applies from $100 thousand to $100 billion and is even more fundamental than 80/20. He will share how he applies Star / Simplify across a wide range of industries and take live Q&A from the audience.
  • Ron Wilder: How to Thwart the System’s Attempts to Intimidate and Outmatch You 
  • Ron assesses and evaluates CEOs by physically wrestling with them. “How you do anything is how you do everything.” He brings a delightfully contrarian and unique methodology to business consulting. In this session (which mirrors Shanyn Stewart’s session “Outwitting the System” he decodes the matrix, showing how it’s designed to intimidate and steal from you, and by recognizing the ‘tells’ you can do Jiu Jitsu and maintain the upper hand.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will equip you with the perspective and cojones to battle the fiercest gladiators without apology.
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will reveal insights about how you naturally solve problems and how to harness those inclinations for maximum negotiation power.
  • Darin Spindler How I Orchestrate Every Asset for Maximum Equity and Cash Flow 
  • Darin is a multi-serial entrepreneur, most famous for his company Kids Bowl Free. He was also the brains behind Magnetic Marketing which owned Dan Kennedy’s business for several years. He’s a multi-Iron Man Triathlete and one of the sharpest guys I know. Darin will show how he multiplies assets across a half dozen businesses to self-reinforce and buttress risk, cash flow and net worth.
  • If you want to sell, then this session will maximize the speed of growth of your business while reducing risk to an absolute minimum.
  • If you are not looking to sell, then this session will show you how to self-fund growth and leverage property, lines of credit and other assets to minimize interest rates and maximize ability to get credit.
  • Josh Long Everybody Thinks They Need Money. Align This One Thing and Money Takes Care of Itself.
  • Josh co-teaches Advanced Mastery Network with me and together we have helped many companies build and sell, mostly without taking on investors and never “selling anyone’s soul to the devil.” Josh is blunt, speaks the truth without hesitation, and will coach you in his methodology that bypasses most business funding and puts 100% of the equity in your hands.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will equip you with the wisdom Josh has employed to help dozens of other owners enjoy 8- and 9-figure exits.
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will build the economic engine of your business so it is more profitable and you are not sweating payroll or scratching your head trying to figure out how to finance expansion.
• April 24 Afternoon:
  • Jonathan Cronstedt: Billion Dollar Bullseye the Planet Perry Way 
  • JCron will detail his rigorous operating system for scaling companies and attracting “A Players” who love coming to work every day and fiercely defend against “B Players” encroaching in and spoiling all the fun. He grew Kajabi to a $2 billion valuation and wrote the book “Billion Dollar Bullseye.” He is a maniac about sales and customer service and his aggressive spirit is contagious. If you’re not sure why your sales are sagging, you need to see and hear JCron.
  • If you are looking to sell, then this session will maximize every tenth of a percent of “cap table” ownership points you own.
  • If you have no intention of selling, then this session will drive your enthusiasm for courageously building a game-changing company with a huge footprint in your niche.
  • Bob has been charged with making this event a seminal learning and discovery process and not an information firehose. Bob will conduct specific focusing exercises to embed deep learning into your nervous system, so the things you discover at this event seep into your muscle memory.
  • People are attracted to New Renaissance and Planet Perry because they implicitly know what we WON’T do. We won’t lie to make a quick buck. We won’t compromise our values. The equity space is littered with people who ‘sold out’ and in this final session Perry will show how your values and equity value can be mutual multipliers. You can make choices that you are not only happy with but proud of and thankful for decades later. Your business can be your finest legacy and your path to wealth creation and creative freedom.
  • Panel / Q&A with Perry
  • Perry Guided Group Exercise
  • Bob Regnerus Be the Strategy Before You Build the Strategy: The Inner Shift That Makes the Outer Strategy Work Part 3
  • Perry Marshall: How to Build an Empire That Multiplies Its Value AND Amplifies Your Values
  • Bob Regnerus and Perry Marshall: Day 3 Launch Session

Do you feel the earth shifting beneath you?

The world is changing. Again.

(“When did I feel this before?”)

9/11. Orders not coming in. Phones not ringing. No airplanes in the Chicago sky. My employer is being sold & new co is offering me a job.

I felt it when I announced my $10 million Evolution 2.0 prize. I’d pulled the pin on a hand grenade. Was waiting for something to blow up. Anxious about being embroiled in controversy.

I felt it in the first weeks of COVID. Social distancing. Pivoting seminars to zoom. Nowhere to go for months. Hand-holding clients through a crisis.

I felt it when I was shivering under a rock all night on an island.

I felt it when we were making the decision to adopt our daughter Zaelyn.

Every one was a ‘black unknown.’

Every one had my body physically on edge.

Today I know in hindsight:

Every single one of those was opportunity time.

After 9/11, my wife told me to turn down the job and start a business. That sounded C-R-A-Z-Y. Some stock option money was on its way, but no income for several months.

We borrowed from my brother and a friend and hung out my shingle. That’s the company I have today.

Three months later brought the most income I’d ever made in a month – $12,100.

Six months later Google Ads hit the scene. I ran with it and never looked back.

The Evolution 2.0 Prize never generated the firestorm I expected. No shoe ever dropped. Most media outlets wouldn’t touch it. Turns out there was no way for anyone to call BS on me without looking stupid.

Instead I was asked to organize a Cancer & Evolution seminar.

Because of COVID, our conference got pushed to Zoom. We got all the speakers we wanted. 300 scientists attended. We formed a new scientific guild. It now has 5000 members.

During COVID, cancer doc Azra Raza seized her chance to get 30 world class cancer experts, stuck at home only during a pandemic, to sign a public statement that the only way forward is early detection.

She just formed her 2nd company last week. Detecting Stage -1 cancer cells within 18 days of appearing in a patient’s body.

In COVID most of my consulting clients prospered. The guy who suffered most, Brady Roberts, slimmed from 25 employees down to 8, then rebuilt. Six months ago he sold his company for life changing money.

Maybe you’ve heard my “shivering under a rock story.” I crawled out at 4:15am, tired hungry and thirsty, and made it back. One of the best stories I’ve got. A parable for every “lost in business” mishap any of us ever go through.

When we adopted our daughter Zaelyn from an orphanage in China, she was 19 months old. She couldn’t crawl, walk, or feed herself. Within 3 weeks she was doing all those things.

Today college coaches are watching her. She’s 14 and a champ in wheelchair basketball.

So….

What was my body really telling me when I was facing that Black Wall of Fear?

“Opportunity Knocking.”

YES OF COURSE it meant danger.

It also meant advancement was possible that is NOT available in normal times.

For years I’ve opened MANY emails and sales pages with “Dear Marketing Professional.”

Marketing as currently defined by most people is “Tactics for tricking people to run through the maze, ring the bell and get the cheese.”

That version of marketing is getting pulverized by the wrecking ball of AI.

MOST “Marketing Professionals” are in trouble…

…but that was never MY definition of marketing!

MY definition of marketing is:

The art and science of helping people who need each other find each other.

The common definition is as fickle as a warm winter day in Minnesota.

My definition is forever. When you are a Marketing Professional who does that… you’re never out of a job.

OUR kind of Marketing Professional is constantly being reborn.

Three weeks ago I woke up at 3:30 am with a download. Marketing itself being reborn. The new version is almost unrecognizable and it’s bearing down fast.

When industries collapse, they don’t simply vanish—they transform into something exponentially more powerful and valuable.

The death of Yellow Pages birthed Google Maps; the demise of travel agencies spawned Airbnb; and now, as conventional marketing firms wheeze and gasp, we’re witnessing the emergence of AI-powered business systems that deliver 10X more value with 90% less friction.

This pattern isn’t just evolution—it’s creative destruction rocket fuel.

Every dying industry represents a transfer of wealth from those clinging to obsolete models to those bold enough to ride the exponential curve upward.

The most dangerous place to be is the comfortable middle, believing your industry is “different” or “protected,” while revolutionary forces are already dismantling your foundation.

It’s Kairos time.

Kairos is ancient Greek. It means ‘the right or critical moment’. The time for arrows to be released.

The great fortunes of the next decade will come from ruthlessly eliminating what no longer creates tangible value, and doubling down on what AI amplifies rather than replaces.

The question isn’t whether your market will be transformed, but whether you’ll be among those harvesting unprecedented opportunity from its inevitable reconstruction.

Where will you be in 2027?

OPTION A: Clinging to outdated business models as AI makes them increasingly irrelevant, watching your margins erode, your lead generation dry up, your business value evaporate.

OPTION B: Relishing transformative technological power, positioned in high-value, competition-proof business models with robust equity, secure against the coming market disruption.

The difference isn’t talent or hard work—it’s making the Axis Shift in the next 18 months.

We’ve hit a once-in-25-years fork in the road. Many marketers will see their equity plummet to zero in the next 18-24 months.

Every profession under the sun, from vitamins to steel mills to biotech, has bolted information driven front ends on to their marketing funnels. They use white papers, reports, guides, cheat sheets, video replays as lead generation magnets.

Those are on life support. 60% of online businesses, regardless of industry, are in trouble. Yes, even manufacturers and software companies.

The profession of Information Marketing itself, which gave birth to these ideas, is on bottled oxygen. Classic cash cows that worked for decades—manuals, courses, PDFs, videos—are in a nursing home and headed for zero in two years.

You’re either on the right or wrong side of this tsunami. There is no middle ground.

That is why in the first 2 hours of Equity 2.0 seminar, I will lay down the new rules of marketing in 2025-2030. Just like I issued the Swiss Army Knife, Rosetta Stone, Maze 2.0, Tactical Triangle Takeover, Star Principle and Axis Shift in previous years.

By 11:00 you will possess the game plan. The transformation matrix. The treasure map from old world to new – customized by a private GPT to your specific business, industry and circumstances.

In December, a hedge fund manager told me he predicts we have about 18 months before the next economic correction.

We are entering the final phase of an 18.6 year economic cycle – documented and tracked for over 200 years in American history. The end of the previous cycle was September 2008 when Lehman Brothers triggered the Global Financial Crisis. 18.6 years after Sept. 2008 is April 2027.

You’ve got 18 months to get your act together. Clock is ticking.

The next 18 months is a rare window. Like 9/11 and COVID, the agile who moved fast prospered while others were frozen in paralysis. The time to prepare is now.

AI and SaaS: We will discuss how AI is impacting SaaS valuations and making it easier for AI startups to penetrate the moat around their businesses. We’ll explore the sweet spot of profiting from AI without getting yourself on the technology development treadmill which is a very risky game.

Compressed Timelines: AI is creating wealth at an unprecedented speed, and the seminar will devote a session to the accelerated timelines AI now makes possible.

Network Effect Feedback Loops: The seminar will discuss how AI-powered customer service and other AI-driven strategies can and cannot be used to build moats around your business.

THE CONVERGENCE: AI REVOLUTION + ECONOMIC CYCLE = ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION WEALTH TRANSFER

The collision of the AI revolution with the final 18 months of our current economic cycle creates a perfect storm for wealth creation—or destruction.

The greatest fortunes are made in the transition between economic paradigms, not during stable periods.

Just as the internet created unprecedented wealth for those who positioned correctly in 1995-2000, the AI uptake coupled with our current economic cycle creates a similar wealth-building window for the prepared.

At Equity 2.0, you’ll position your business as an attractor for this massive wealth transfer.

Most marketers are crippled by misconceptions about debt, lines of credit, and equity financing. Most are unaware of strategic financial instruments. Shanyn Stewart will discuss how to restructure financial statements to appear more profitable to lenders (and, eventually, buyers). You can navigate the current economic climate by being proactive about your finances and understanding the nuances of debt structures and equity options.

Structuring equity deals, raising capital, and navigating complex exit strategies

“Speed dating” sessions with potential funding sources; Networking

Expert Roundtables on scaling, AI, lines of credit, financing, Private Equity, Venture Capital

The usual path through Private Equity and Venture Capital is a minefield where 25-year-old MBAs treat your life’s work as cell F-19 in a spreadsheet.

Most exits aren’t planned – they’re forced. Most business owners who sell are unhappy afterward. Banks lend when you don’t need it and pull back when you do. Hard money lenders charge predatory rates. The wrong capital partners can hollow out your business for short-term gains, leaving you with millions in theoretical value but nothing in your pocket.

It demands partners who respect what you’ve built and share your values. The difference between the right and wrong partners isn’t just money – it’s whether you exit with both wealth and pride or fall prey to another Walking Dead banker in an Armani suit.

Most business owners don’t realize they’re stuck until they’ve spent years grinding on the same problems. They’re rewarded for rugged individualism – until suddenly they aren’t.

* Many hit a ceiling ($2-$4M, etc.) and stay there for years, mistaking early success for lasting competence
* The standard for excellence is only going up – in sales, operations, and customer experience

Reality Check:
* If your seas are choppy now… they won’t get calmer on their own
* Most people don’t know their actual problems – they’re misdiagnosing, buying band-aids they heard about on Facebook
* You can’t wait for perfect timing – the time to act is now (yes, in the midst of Muzzle Velocity)

90% of businesses will remain stuck. The prevailing 10% will systematically address their weak points in marketing, operations, sales, finance and leadership.

There’s no single “knob” or magic lever. But there is a clear path forward if you’re ready to walk it.

The market is not going to get more forgiving. But nail the fundamentals right now, and you’ll accelerate while others wonder what happened.

Perry Marshall and Josh Long help businesses navigate and transcend the challenging “7-figure desert.” By identifying and remedying bottlenecks, simplifying business propositions, and applying advanced marketing techniques, they enable businesses to achieve exponential growth. Advanced Mastery Network rigorously coaches CEOs and founders to build scalable sellable companies, regularly resulting in profitable exits.

Richard Koch will present remotely from his home in Portugal on April 24. Richard is a billionaire investor and author who wrote the definitive book on the 80/20 Principle, which has sold over a million copies. As co-founder of consulting firm LEK, he gained expertise across hundreds of industries before focusing on investing in Star Businesses—high-growth companies dominating expanding niches. His remarkable wealth has grown at 21.5% annually for 40 years with minimal volatility, allowing him to work just 1-3 hours daily. Unlike typical billionaires, Richard maintains exceptional quality of life and a balanced schedule that includes daily 3-hour bike rides. His pattern recognition abilities distill complex business situations into actionable insights. He’s helped numerous entrepreneurs build multimillion dollar businesses and achieve successful exits.

Jonathan “JCron” Cronstedt – Former Kajabi President who scaled the company from $6 million to over $100 million+, with a $2 billion valuation in five years. Author of Billion Dollar Bullseye focused on rapid, sustainable growth, combining the power of marketing + finance.

Clate Mask – Founder of Keap/InfusionSoft who lived through the full startup journey – from bootstrapping to $900M valuation to eventual $80M sale. Offers raw, candid insights about managing investors, customers, and large teams through both successes and setbacks.

Chris Hurn – Founder of Fountainhead Commercial Capital, the fourth-largest small business lending bank in the US. Key figure in simplifying PPP loans during COVID. Rare banker who understands and operates comfortably in the entrepreneurial world.

Ron Wilder – Unique expertise bridging physical and financial power dynamics. Coached Red Hat’s CEO during growth from $400M to $3.5B and $34B IBM acquisition. Teaches executives to embody power through physical presence for high-stakes negotiations using martial arts principles.

Gregory Elfrink – Expert in precision-targeting companies for specific buyers through Empire Flippers. Specializes in grooming internet businesses (websites, ecommerce, SaaS) for acquisition, with focus on matching ideal buyers with sellers.

Shanyn Stewart – Tax expert who fearlessly battles the IRS, structures business sales to qualify for long-term capital gains, and uncovers overlooked deductions. Known for saving clients millions and helping distressed business owners navigate severe tax crises.

Perry Marshall – Author of the world’s best-selling books on Google, Facebook and TikTok advertising. Reinvented 80/20 as a business movement and pioneered scientific frameworks for marketing. Launched a $10M science prize at London’s Royal Society and co-founded a 5,300-member cancer research network. Every quarter, helps another client achieve a 7-8 figure exit while keeping their soul intact.

Joshua Long – Author of “Bottleneck Breakthrough” and expert at helping companies navigate the critical $1M to $10M growth phase. Specializes in identifying and eliminating operational constraints that keep businesses stuck at revenue plateaus. Works with companies when they’ve finally exhausted their DIY solutions and need expert guidance to reach the next level.

Bob Regnerus – Expert in helping entrepreneurs rise above organizational chaos to tap into deeper wisdom and clarity. Former digital marketing specialist turned transformational business coach. Focuses on connecting business leaders more deeply with themselves, their teams, and their vision to create sustainable growth. Helps clients develop heightened discernment for timing major business decisions.

Vivian Hearn – The oracle behind 80/20 Sales & Marketing (see the epilogue in the book). Vivian will speak to the unique Kairos Moment we are now in and fuel you with mojo to traverse the coming waves.