He Built a Mutual Fund Out of 200 Recruiting Clients and Hit $50M

What does it actually take to turn a list of recruiting clients into a $50 million business and walk away on your own terms? In this episode, Sean sits down with David Windley, who built a recruiting firm from under a million dollars in revenue to $50 million before selling it to Caldwell, and the journey was anything but smooth. You'll hear how David survived a 75% revenue drop in a single month when COVID hit, why furloughing his team instead of laying them off turned out to be one of his smartest decisions, and how the chaos of the pandemic ultimately wiped out enough of his competition that his business came roaring back stronger than before. If you've ever wondered how resilience and timing can turn a near-collapse into the perfect setup for an exit, David's story will show you exactly what that looks like in practice. Check out the company: https://iqrecruit.com ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 📚 NETWORK BEFORE YOU NEED IT (6 LESSONS THAT MADE SEAN $15M) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Get my brand new eBook free - https://welivetobuild.com/network ────────────────────── 📋 WORK WITH ME ────────────────────── ▶ Buy 300 Lessons From 300 Founders: https://welivetobuild.com/300-lessons-ebook ▶ Sponsor the Channel: https://www.welivetobuild.com/sponsorship ────────────────────── 🔗 CONNECT WITH SEAN ────────────────────── ▶ LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/seanweisbrot ▶ Inquiries: welivetobuild@gmail.com ────────── 🕐 CHAPTERS ────────── 00:00 - David's $50M Exit Almost Never Happened 00:41 - The 75% Revenue Drop That Nearly Ended Everything 03:11 - Riding the Post-COVID Wave to $50M 05:54 - The "Accidental Entrepreneur" Who Built to Exit 06:06 - Commission vs. Hourly: A Better Model for Buyers 09:35 - Why Big Search Firms Resist the Hourly Model 12:42 - The Portfolio Approach That Unlocked $50M 14:00 - Spinning Out Hoot Recruit From Inside Caldwell 16:35 - Hoot Recruit's AI Agent Tackles Candidate Sourcing 19:26 - Human in the Loop: The Right AI Design Philosophy 25:30 - AI Bias in Hiring Still Needs a Human Check 27:26 - Character Over Competence: David's Leadership Rule 29:08 - Culture Governs Behavior When No One's Looking