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EP 66: How Patrick Butler Built 3 Wildly Different Businesses
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What do a career coaching platform, a French-American football team, and a fraud prevention startup have in common? Meet Patrick Butler, the mind behind all three. Talk about a guy who doesn't do boring. One minute he's running a career coaching platform, the next he's starting a football team in Paris, and now he's crushing it with a fraud prevention startup called BizDefender.
In this episode, Patrick shares the details of how he's jumped between totally different worlds. We're talking crazy fundraising tricks, buying up companies most people would run from, and basically rewriting the rulebook on how startups actually work.
Seriously, who starts a pro football team as a side hustle? This guy. And he makes it sound like it's no big deal. It's the kind of story that makes you wonder: Are some people just wired differently? Patrick seems to turn wild ideas into businesses while most of us are still planning our next move.
Want to hear about breaking every conventional rule in entrepreneurship? This is your episode.
Here's what you'll find in this episode:
00:00 The Unlikely Pitch: Starting an American Football Team in France
00:48 Meet Patrick Butler: From Startup Success to Private Equity Exit
01:24 The Journey of Talent Inc.: From Struggles to Success
02:11 The Power of a Great Co-Founder: Meeting Jeff
03:29 Building Talent Inc.: The Resume Revolution
05:51 Scaling Up: Acquisitions and Growth Strategies
09:46 Navigating Fundraising: Debt, Equity, and Private Investors
19:59 Post-Exit Reflections: Life After Talent Inc.
21:30 A New Venture: Launching an American Football Team in Paris
25:51 Meeting a Nike Executive and Defining Our Vision
26:40 The Importance of a Brand Book
28:09 Convincing the French with American Football Culture
30:30 Economics of Starting a Football Team in France
31:51 Revenue Drivers and Merchandise
36:07 Launching BizDefender: A New Venture
41:13 Preventing Small Business Fraud with BizDefender
43:40 The Journey and Future of BizDefender
47:59 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
ABOUT PATRICK BUTLER
Patrick Butler is a serial entrepreneur, co-founder, and CEO of BizDefender, a first-of-its-kind fraud prevention tool for SMBs. His entrepreneurial achievements include leading Talent Inc. to a successful exit and co-founding a professional American football team in France. Patrick is passionate about creating impactful businesses while fostering innovation across industries.
Connect with Patrick on:
Website: www.pbutler.com
Biz Defender: www.bizdefender.com
ABOUT JASON
Jason Kirby is the co-founder of Thunder VC. He is a serial entrepreneur with 4 mult