Socialfly

And there's so much to learn from a lot of these larger corporations.

Before Courtney and I started our first business, Socialfly, I actually worked for Marriott and other hospitality companies.

And I remember... seeing how all of these big companies really share their values and what's important to them.

But then also, being an employee, I had payroll and benefits and all of these great things.

And I remember as we were building Socialfly, one of the first things I said to Courtney, I'm like, we need to have a company culture.

and values and be able to offer things to our employees as we start building this business.

But we had no idea how to do that at the time.

idea that that was the case.

Because of this quick growth and success of Socialfly, so many women started reaching out to us literally every single week.

I'm Kate

Scudder, and I help mothers build profitable businesses without sacrificing their motherhood to do it.

I am so excited to share our incredible guest with you, Stephanie Carton.

Stephanie is a serial entrepreneur, investor, author, and podcast host.

She has built multiple seven-figure businesses, including Socialfly and Entrepénista Media, while championing women founders through the Entrepénista League.

She co-founded Pearl Influential Capital, which was acquired by Cherub, no big deal, and openly shares her personal journey with MS, infertility, and a complicated pregnancy to inspire other women navigating life's challenges simultaneously.

Courtney is also an angel investor backing female-led startups and the co-author of Like, Love, Follow.

And before Entreprenista, Courtney also co-founded Socialfly, an award-winning digital and influencer marketing agency that was acquired in 2024.

And that's actually what we're here to talk about today.

Continuing our series on acquisitions, we're going to be talking about how Courtney and her co-founder, Stephanie, exited that company and how the deal came about.

Just so you can start to imagine and think about, hey, if an exit is in your future, what could that look like? So actually, before we even get into any of the deal mechanics, Courtney, I think what would be really interesting for our listeners to hear is like the timeline of how long were you and Steph building Socialfly before you even considered selling? And was Socialfly a business that you had built from the beginning with the intention to sell? Or was that not even on your radar until pretty near when you actually decided to make the move on it?

Yes, all great questions.

So Socialfly actually started as a side hustle.

Both Stephanie and I were working in corporate America.