<p>Today on BILLIONS, I&#39;m sitting down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossandrew1/?originalSubdomain=aq" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Ross Andrew Paquette</a>, the CEO who broke every Silicon Valley rule: he bought OUT his investors before buidling a 1.7 billion dollar empire. He founded <a href="https://maropost.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Maropost</a> in 2011, and by 2016, it ranked #7 on the PROFIT 500 as one of Canada&#39;s fastest-growing companies.Ross, thanks a lot for being here!</p><p><br></p><p><strong>TIMELINE : </strong></p><p>00:00:00 - 00:01:12 : From lifestyle business to a $1.7 billion empire</p><p>00:01:12 - 00:03:32 : The 75% ebitda secret and why growth at all costs is a trap</p><p>00:03:32 - 00:05:37 : Founder mode and signing clients every single day</p><p>00:05:37 - 00:08:18 : Why &quot;experienced&quot; executives fail and the return to young and hungry teams</p><p>00:08:18 - 00:12:14 : The $37 million wire transfer to buy out investors</p><p>00:12:14 - 00:16:18 : Why advisory boards beat professional investor boards every time</p><p>00:16:18 - 00:26:48 : The contrarian ipo strategy for australia and canada</p><p>00:26:48 - 00:33:08 : Why you should never take vc money if you want to keep your drive</p><p>00:33:08 - 00:51:56 : The brutal reality of m&amp;a and culture integration</p><p>00:51:56 - 01:00:48 : Two metrics that actually matter: revenue and profit</p><p><br><strong>REFERENCES :</strong></p><p>- <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/retentionadam/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Adam Robinson</a> </p><p>- <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Larry Ellison</a> </p><p>- <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickccampbell" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Patrick Campbell</a> </p><p>- <a href="https://www.elephantvc.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Elephant</a> &amp; <a href="https://www.highlandeurope.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Highland Europe</a> </p><p>- <a href="https://www.summitpartners.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Summit</a>, <a href="https://www.insightpartners.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Insight</a>, <a href="https://www.ta.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">TA </a></p><p>- <a href="https://www.shopify.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Shopify Plus</a></p><p>- <a href="https://www.atlassian.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Atlassian</a> </p><p>- <a href="https://www.oracle.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Oracle</a> </p><p>- <a href="https://www.attentive.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Attentive</a> &amp; <a href="https://www.klaviyo.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Klaviyo </a>.</p><p>- <a href="https://groq.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Groq</a> </p><p>- Neto &amp; Retail Express - Australian companies acquired by Maropost </p><p>- Findify - Swedish search/merchandising company acquired by Maropost</p><p>- <a href="https://www.paddle.com/profitwell-metrics" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">ProfitWell</a> &amp; <a href="https://baremetrics.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Baremetrics</a></p><p>- <a href="https://stripe.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Stripe</a></p>