Our Next Chapter

When I was in 2008, I teamed together with one of my closest friends of the moment. Stu McLaren and I combined our skills together and created Member.

We didn't know we would embark on an amazing and unprecedented journey. WordPress had been increasing at a phenomenal pace. It was a thrilling time. It was unclear, however there were many signs that WordPress will outdo Joomla and Drupal.

To put this into context, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga had been making waves in the new scene of music. Some of the current members were in the first grade of school at the time we got started.

When the Internet marketing industry was in full swing the discussion of membership sites were all the rage. Unfortunately, there weren't any options for creating an online membership website using WordPress. Many development companies concentrated on themes. Consequently, the premium plugin market was pretty much not even a thing.

We saw this as an opportunity, and we acted quickly. Mike Lopez was our Jedi coder who could create anything we challenged him with. He created the initial version of Member on his own in less than three months.

As with my previous software businesses, we saw an opportunity to create an effective solution to this commonly encountered issue. Naturally, Members was able to see some rapid growth. First year, sales were all driven by word of mouth. The company grew by more than one year, before spending a dime on advertising.

They are the possibilities that an entrepreneur dreams of.

In the early days of our existence when we first started, we got our first request for information about selling the company. The response was very flattering, however they were seeking established brands where the owner is ready to go home. We were young and full of life and enthusiasm, therefore it made zero sense.

In the end, the initial inquiry provided a strong confirmation. Member was always "Built to sell" as were many in the market.

Shortly after the first inquiry I was talking to an acquaintance who I believed to be a trustworthy advisor. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. One of them is an Venture Capital Firm. He also had sold other businesses previously. It's no surprise that this guy knows his stuff.

My friend gave me a helpful point of wisdom. He said, "the secret to selling a company, is to find out who is buying and make sure that everything you do about your company an ideal fit."

This advice made lots of sense for me, however I had a few minor issues. The first is that when you're partners, you're not creating an organization that only one of the partners wants. You're building what the partners agree to build together. The second reason is that we cannot find the buyer.

There was a time when Stu and I formed Mike the minority partner. I believe it was in 2010.

Things changed significantly in Late 2014. Stu made the decision to continue his passion for teaching and focus specifically on helping people build profitable membership sites. Mike and I stayed at the software firm.

Suddenly, I became the majority shareholder with the Member. It was terrifying and exciting at the same time.

Our leadership team and I took a trip to Colorado for a focus on planning.

It became abundantly clear that we needed to do some recalibration. The focus needed to shift on what we had accomplished over the years and become focused on what we can achieve in the near future. Personally, I wanted to let go of the thought of creating the kind of company that I imagined someone would want to buy and begin thinking about the kind of company I would want to own.

The past several months have shown me many things. The most important lesson I learned is that Isolation Kills Entrepreneurs. Running a business can be quite lonely at times. It is essential to have connections and relationships that will assist you in creating balance and order to the force.

You never know the moment when a friendship will blossom into a true connection...

I was introduced to Micah Mitchell at a conference. He was a partner with an individual who had the same software as Member. Some would have considered that they were an actual competitor. I didn't think much of it , and simply felt the guy was great and I'd like to get to know him more.

A few years later and Micah had left his prior collaboration and founded a business called Memberium. Again, people would have believed that he was even more of a competitor now. The only thing I could say was that I liked the guy.

It was further confirmed when I met him in the security checkpoint at the airport. We had a great conversation, discussing what we had been working on and then, we discovered that the seats we'd been given next to each other during the flight. Did this happen as a joke? It's likely that someone lined this up. Nope, it was completely random.

On that same trip, we began thinking about our best April Fool's joke where we would announce that Micah has just purchased Member. It was funny to think that it could be called Memberium. We might even tack 360 onto the name for kicks. The few who are reading this article will understand.

It began as an unintentionally allocated seat beside my software competition (thanks Delta!) became a lasting friendship. He and I would meet monthly to talk business over dinner for the next couple of years. Sadly, our meetings came to an end after my family and I returned to Tennessee. Our friendships were great during our time in Utah as well. It was hard leaving them behind.

I love designing software. The thrill of having an idea become a reality is exhilarating. It's especially exciting when you have an awesome team and your product is much more than you imagined that it could be. An excellent example would be our most recent update for the Courses Add-Ons for Member.

As exciting as all of that sounds, the truth is, it's also challenging. As soon as you cross the one-yard line and it's almost time to score it's possible to be on empty from all your efforts.

Just as we were wrapping with the creation and plan to launch the product I found myself feeling exhausted. I started to realise that the best option was to locate a genuine market partner. An entity that was knowledgeable of the marketplace and could assist me move my Member up to the next step. I made a couple of calls to some of my most trusted business acquaintances. My wife informed me that Micah is on my list of candidates. I made her a promise that I would reach out to him the following day.

Just before I contacted Micah He randomly texted me a text message. It was kind of like sitting next to Micah on the plane. Sometimes you just know things happen for a reason.

Our discussions progressed into an idea to sell Member to Micah's firm MemberShipper which is also the company supporting Memberium. It turns out what we were building using Member was exactly the kind of thing MemberShipper wanted to expand their portfolio.

Over the years I've received hundreds of inquiries about selling the company. The majority of them didn't feel quite right, until this moment. It was extremely important to me to see Member continue as a growing brand. Additionally, I wanted to make certain that our wonderful team will be well taken care of.

Each step, it became more and more apparent that it was the right future for Members as well as the team, and for the many thousands of amazing customers who have stayed with us for so long.

I am extremely grateful to the leadership teams from both of the sides. They've worked hard to make the transition as simple as they can for me. It's impressive to watch the team working in a cohesive manner.

One of the most frequent questions I get right now is "What's the next step for you?".

While I do think I'd really enjoy retiring, what do I need really is a break. I'm planning on taking some much-needed personal time off.

What's all this about for you if you're a Member?

In a nutshell, you can be sure that the team will continue providing innovation and Member will continue to be developed and refined. This isn't going away.

I'm committed to working alongside Micah and the rest the team for the entire year. They have put me into a position which could be described as my ideal job. I'm the new "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands owned by MemberShipper.

You can expect to meet me at numerous gatherings in the coming months. My own personal goal is to offer the most value possible over the course of the year. I can't wait to see Member advance to the next level with Micah's guidance.

It's possible that I will stay around for longer than anyone would have ever imagined.

I've never felt more confident regarding the future of Member than I do now. We are just getting started.

Read Micah's complete message regarding the acquisition right here.

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