Founders only sell or IPO due to burnout or liquidity needs
Mike Salguero · How to build a $600 million company without raising money (with ButcherBox CEO Mike Salguero) · Jul 30, 2026 · at 30:12
Mike Salguero, founder and CEO of ButcherBox, discusses why founders decide to pursue exits or public listings.
0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.3s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Generally, either you're sick of the business, like you're like, get me out of this thing or you need liquidity.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Mike Salguero
Startups should pair egoless industry veterans with gritty beginners, says Salguero
“What I found with older people is, like, there's really no ego. They're not, he's not trying to build his career. He's just, like, trying to do something meaningful and fun. And so to pair him with somebody with no experience and a lot of grit was like magical…”
ButcherBox would not have survived if it raised VC, says Mike Salguero
“And so I actually, I don't think I'd be around right now if I had raised money.”
VCs threaten to blackball founders who do not comply, says Mike Salguero
“So what they don't talk about is the, You know, the phone calls where if you guys don't do what we say, you probably gonna be blackballed. You probably won't be able to raise money again. You know, it's a, you're dealing with these powerful venture capitalists…”
Salguero: The US meat industry is broken and built on confusing labels
“The meat industry is pretty broken in this country. A lot of the labels are just confusing and people don't understand what they're eating. And really the industry has been built since the 19 fifties on cheap, food safe protein, and don't ask a lot of question…”