For the Greater Good of Omaha
A DEAL 30 YEARS IN THE MAKING by Stefanie Baguian
The AIM institute was started almost 30 years ago to address a shortage of tech talent in the Omaha metro. Careerlink started as one of a variety of projects to create funding for the greater good of the AIM Institute's mission. At a time when most job postings were merely in newspapers, the AIM Institute created Careerlink as one of the first online platforms to search and apply for jobs. As Careerlink became financially successful, the Board of Directors at the AIM Institute shifted their goals in a new direction, wanting to focus more on their not-for-profit missions and their educational programs. Unfortunately, Careerlink took away the focus from the main missions. They decided that Careerlink needed to stand on its own.
Courtesy: AIM Institute
“Careerlink itself wasn’t perfectly aligned with our mission,” said Levi Thiele, the Vice President of Program and Resource Development at AIM. “We were also growing more sustainable funding sources for mission related activities, so the board's advice was to sell Careerlink off, take the proceeds from the sale, and invest in growing mission related services.”
“We have trademarks that go along with it,” said Thiele. “We have the intellectual properties, we have the platforms and we have all the contracts with customers, so that’s really what we were selling.
It might seem to be a rare moment in a business’s course when they realize that only a portion of a business needs to be sold and not the entire business. Business owners A perfect example of a blue-sky business, who have different divisions may not realize Careerlink carries a minimal amount of phys- that this is an option for them if they are not ical assets and really focuses on the services willing or ready to sell off the whole business. they provide. The Board of Directors reached out to a plethora of brokers, had phone calls and heard pitches. After a referral from the Vistage Network, they ultimately met with Cortney Sells, President of The Firm Advisory.
Deal Review:
Careerlink
• Location: Omaha, NE • Cash Flow: $927,113 • Loan Type: SBA • Number of Employees: 10 • Client Base: Small to large businesses looking to acquire employees, individual job seekers • Website: www.careerlink.com
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