Exited Founder Podcast | Rachel Murphy: Selling to a Competitor and Building a Founder Exit Playbook

Rachel Murphy’s entrepreneurial journey began with a teenage side‑hustle and evolved into a consultancy that generated roughly £1 million (about $1.25 million) in its first year. After scaling the firm, she sold it while coping with her step‑daughter’s severe illness, a personal crisis that forced an accelerated, emotionally charged exit. The experience highlighted how family emergencies can dictate timing and underscored the value of having seasoned advisors—her father’s private‑equity background proved crucial in navigating the first M&A transaction.

A decade later, Murphy launched a second venture focused on delivering user‑centered design services for UK government health projects, including the NHS app used by 40 million citizens and the national COVID‑19 testing platform. Leveraging confidence, a clear margin target, and strategic tools like Wardley mapping, she identified a competitor as the optimal buyer. The deliberate, eight‑figure exit (well over $10 million) was executed during the pandemic, relying on remote due diligence, DocuSign, and virtual negotiations—demonstrating that high‑stakes deals can close without face‑to‑face interaction.

For founders eyeing an exit, Murphy’s story stresses three actionable lessons: build an intentional exit playbook early, secure advisors who can bridge finance and strategy, and maintain rigorous financial discipline to survive the dual demands of running a business and selling it. Understanding market dynamics through frameworks such as Wardley mapping helps pinpoint the right buyer pool, while preparing data rooms and independent valuations reduces surprise during due diligence. Ultimately, balancing emotional resilience with strategic foresight transforms a chaotic sale into a structured, value‑maximizing outcome.