Stella Guan – How to Make More From Selling Your Business Than Running It
For many entrepreneurs, a business feels like their “baby” – something they’ve poured years of energy, identity, and creativity into. That’s why selling it can feel both exciting and terrifying. But what few realize is that the biggest payoff sometimes comes *not* from running the business, but from selling it.
In this talk, Stella Guan shares her journey of building and selling her design education company for more than she earned from operating it. She combines the practical side – preparing operations, financials, and choosing the right sales channel – with the emotional side of letting go of something she built from scratch.
Attendees will walk away with both actionable steps and a realistic perspective: what makes a business sellable, how valuation works, how to choose between listing platforms and brokers, what surprises to expect during due diligence, and how to navigate the psychological shift of selling their first “baby.”
Speaker
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Stella GuanFounder and CEO, Path UnboundStella Guan is a technology entrepreneur, award-winning multidisciplinary designer, educator, speaker, and content creator. After a decade designing for Fortune 500 companies, she founded Path Unbound, a UI/UX design school offering instructor-led, 1:1 learning programs and portfolio coaching for aspiring designers.
In her talk, Stella shares not only why she started her business, but also why she chose to sell it – a decision that brought her the surprising outcome of her biggest financial reward.
Beyond the numbers, Stella speaks candidly about the emotional journey of letting go of something that once felt like her “baby,” offering both inspiration and real-world insights for entrepreneurs navigating their own paths.