DiscoverBuilt to Sell RadioEp 512 Exit Story: Selling iLab for 6× ARR, Choosing Strategic Over PE, and Life After an Eight-Figure Exit
Ep 512 Exit Story: Selling iLab for 6× ARR, Choosing Strategic Over PE, and Life After an Eight-Figure Exit

Ep 512 Exit Story: Selling iLab for 6× ARR, Choosing Strategic Over PE, and Life After an Eight-Figure Exit

Update: 2025-09-19
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In 2006, Tad Fallows and two friends spotted a problem inside Harvard's cancer labs: researchers were spending more time managing freezers, fruit flies, and mice than actually doing research. They built iLab, a SaaS tool for universities and hospitals, bootstrapped it to high–7-figure ARR, and eventually sold to Agilent Technologies for roughly six times revenue. 

But the journey wasn't smooth. Cash was often razor-thin with 75 employees on payroll, and an early inbound offer at 3× ARR forced Tad and his partners to decide: take the deal, or gamble on building more value. 

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Ep 512 Exit Story: Selling iLab for 6× ARR, Choosing Strategic Over PE, and Life After an Eight-Figure Exit

Ep 512 Exit Story: Selling iLab for 6× ARR, Choosing Strategic Over PE, and Life After an Eight-Figure Exit

John Warrillow