The Entrepreneur Who Sold 3 Companies

With each sale, Rod Drury’s gaze was raised as he realized how much bigger he could build his companies.

His first big entry into entrepreneurship came when he and 2 partners each kicked in $10,000 and launched Glazier Systems, a software development and consulting company. What allowed it to grow with little capital is the same thing that limited its eventual growth: the business depended on human capital, mainly its founders’.

So after selling the business for $7.5 million, Rod wanted to create a software business, because with software every bit of growth doesn’t come from a similar growth in human capital. He launched AfterMail, with made Outlook email much more searchable and sold that business to Quest Software for $15 million plus an opportunity to earn more. (Listen to the interview to learn why he didn’t get more.)

Working with Quest showed him how much bigger a company can get, so he decided to build a business that he wouldn’t sell outright. After launching Xero, the online accounting web app that he currently runs, he decided to take it public. By selling shares to the public, he was able to raise enough money to build his biggest business yet. Listen to the full interview to hear how he built each company and what he learned along the way.