She built a company from scratch to serve medically fragile children — and sold it for double her valuation. In this powerful and emotional episode, Coco Sellman shares the full story behind founding her home healthcare agency inspired by her stepdaughter, scaling it to $7M in just 18 months, surviving the pandemic, navigating investors and partnerships, negotiating a merger, and finally landing the perfect exit with a major children’s hospital.   From starting without funding to surviving impossible cash flow gaps and sitting across from private equity in a room full of men — Coco breaks down what it really takes to exit on your terms. If you’re building with purpose but want a serious business outcome… this one is a must-listen.   01:15 – Meet Coco Sellman & Her Mission-Driven Business 04:30 – A Medically Fragile Child Sparked the Business Idea 08:50 – Why No One Would Take Her Stepdaughter 12:10 – From Purpose to Business Opportunity 16:25 – How She Started a Home Healthcare Agency 21:00 – 18 Months of Operating Without Reimbursement 24:10 – Bootstrapping vs. Raising Investment Early 27:15 – From Zero to $7M in Revenue 30:40 – Why Nurses Were the Real Growth Bottleneck 33:15 – How to Attract & Retain 15 Nurses a Month 35:50 – Taking on Her First Angel Investor 39:00 – What Makes a “Perfect” Investor 42:15 – Pandemic Hits: Her Growth Strategy Breaks 44:40 – Planning the Merger 48:25 – How She Negotiated the Deal 52:00 – The Reality of Merging Operations 55:30 – Losing Her Team, Gaining Scale 59:00 – Surprise: Medicaid Rate Increases by 31% 01:02:00 – Connecticut Children’s Hospital Reaches Out 01:04:40 – When You Realize You Could’ve Gone Solo 01:07:00 – How to Build for an Exit While Scaling Fast 01:09:30 – The Final Deal & Why She Has No Regrets