# Stop Building, Start Buying: How to Grow Enterprise Value by 1,200% with Tom Shipley

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exit-presented-by-flippa-2008365/stop-building-start-buying-how-to-grow-enterprise-value-by-1-200-with-tom-shipley
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exit-presented-by-flippa-2008365/stop-building-start-buying-how-to-grow-enterprise-value-by-1-200-with-tom-shipley.md
Podcast: [The Exit - Presented By Flippa](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-exit-presented-by-flippa-2008365)
Published: 2025-12-29T10:00:42+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/theexitpodcast/stop-building-start-buying-how-to-grow-enterprise-value-by-1200-with-tom-shipley
Audio file: http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2237989616-theexitpodcast-stop-building-start-buying-how-to-grow-enterprise-value-by-1200-with-tom-shipley.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2026

## Resource

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth? With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business, and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business. You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit -- Are you trying to grow your business by 10% year over year? You might be leaving massive wealth on the table. In this episode, we sit down with Tom Shipley, a former Special Forces operator turned serial entrepreneur and aggressive investor. Tom challenges the traditional startup narrative with a shocking reality: Growing organically might increase your value by 50% over five years, but buying competitors can increase it by 1,200%. Tom shares his incredible journey from the dot-com bust, where he was days away from missing payroll, to buying a $15M division of Boise Cascade without using his own capital. We unpack the "Programmatic M&A" playbook, how to use acquisitions to solve operational weaknesses, and why the best path to a massive exit is often buying your way there. -- Tom Shipley is a serial entrepreneur and M&A strategist known for creating the “Add a Zero” growth philosophy, which helps founders rapidly scale their businesses through strategic acquisitions. From his early career as an IDF special forces operator to building and advising brands that have generated more than $2 billion in revenue, Tom brings a rare combination of disciplined execution and bold dealmaking. A pioneer of programmatic M&A for mid-market companies, he has raised over $100 million, led multiple acquisition platforms, and now teaches 7 to 9 figure founders how to accelerate growth, close capability gaps, and engineer premium exits through smart, repeatable deals. Websites - https://www.tshipley.com/ -…

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