Nathan Slee co-founded, grew and sold the 25-employee Credilogic for $12 million to Kansas-based QC Holdings Inc. in October.
He wrote the initial versions of the Internet-based payday loan company’s initial software in 1999 and he grew the company with help from three silent principals.
Growth was steady and a sale to QC was imminent when the global economic meltdown took hold in October 2008. QC got cold feet, leaving Slee and his team to focus on organic growth.
QC’s interest renewed in late 2010 and Slee was able to close the sale despite recently turbulent equity markets.
“It absolutely had a dĂ©ja vu feel to it. We were thrilled that we were able to pull this deal off in this environment,” said Slee.
One good thing about being forced to wait to sell the company is that he likely was able to negotiate a better price than a few years ago.
Credilogic generated more than $7 million in 2011, up from $5.5 million in 2010 sales. In the year that ended in September 2008, the company only had about $4.5 million in revenue, Slee said.
“Our success wasn’t all that complicated. It was effective marketing. We’ve been a longtime user of Google Adwords,” Slee said.
Outside work, Slee is a mentor of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and the British Columbia Innovation Council (BCIC) New Ventures Competition. He is also president of the Vancouver-Fairview BC Liberal Party riding association, a member of the community affairs committee at the Vancouver Board of Trade and a small-claims mediator at the Provincial Court of British Columbia. •
