#5 | John Terry: 80% of Businesses Start After Someone Gets Fired

John Terry tells his students that 80 percent of businesses are started by people who got fired or laid off. He left on purpose.More on John Terry and this episode: thedealtablepodcast.com/episodes/john-terryTerry co-founded ChurchillTerry and has taught the entrepreneurship and starting-a-business courses at SMU for 25 years, first to MBAs and later to the executive program. He advises owners on valuation, exit readiness, and what buyers actually pay for.Most owners price their company on what they need rather than what it is worth, and the gap between those two numbers is where deals die. He takes apart the truck factor fallacy, the idea that a competitor's sale price tells you anything about yours. He explains what owner dependency does to an offer, why accrual accounting and clean books move the number, and how buyers really weigh risk, return and the illiquidity discount.There is also a case of profitability hidden inside client mix, a multi-generational family business turnaround, and the two executive MBA students who wrote a plan in his class, got a B, and turned it into Two Can Cocktails.John Terry is the co-founder of ChurchillTerry and has taught entrepreneurship at SMU for 25 years. He advises business owners on valuation, exit readiness and the mechanics of a sale, and works across entrepreneurship, corporate finance and investment advisory.KEY MOMENTS00:00 Why 80% start after losing a job04:39 Entrepreneurship is mindset, not method13:56 Leaving corporate for ChurchillTerry23:11 Profitability hidden in client mix25:34 Turning around a family business28:34 The truck factor fallacy33:44 Pricing on need, not on value35:18 Why accrual books move the number37:40 Owner dependency caps your price49:22 The class project that became a brandNewsletter: thedealtablepodcast.com/connectThe E-Myth: amzn.to/42Ora3RBuild a Business, Not a Job: amzn.to/4aSK5wBLane Carrick on selling a business, The Optima Advantage: amzn.to/48nLElWInstagram: instagram.com/thedealtablepodcast/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/the-deal-table/The Deal Table is hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick, filmed in Dallas, and produced by Harper Belmont Media.