Meet the CEOs
Drake Sadler
Co-Founder, Traditional Medicinals
THE COMPANY THAT FOUND ME
July 1, 12pm ET
Drake Sadler, Co-Founder/Director of Traditional Medicinals on Stewardship, Success, and Building a Company That Outlasts Its Founder
Drake Sadler didn’t found Traditional Medicinals so much as he believes it found him. In this deeply personal conversation, Drake reflects on what it means to build a company whose purpose transcends the individual — and why the very concept of success can be as much a burden as a gift, pulling founders toward the myth that they created something, rather than that they served it.
Raised by two entrepreneurial parents and shaped by a life-threatening event in the late 1980s, Drake has spent decades asking a foundational question: what happens to this company if I’m gone? That question set in motion a remarkable and unconventional ownership journey — from gifting equity to his management team, to putting an ESOP in place, gifting shares to the company’s non-profit, to ultimately working toward a structure that permanently anchors Traditional Medicinals to its purpose rather than to any single shareholder.
In this interview, Drake shares the full arc of that journey, including the complex and creative capital work now underway to transition TM into a purpose-driven ownership structure in the years ahead, through a process that is as much philosophical as it is financial.
Selina DeLangre
Founder, Celtic Sea Salt
CAPITAL CHEMISTRY
Partnering Your Way to a Successful Exit
Hear about this newly formed partnership that was finalized earlier this year. Selina DeLangre, the Founder of Celtic Sea Salt, had a meteoric rise in sales and felt it was time to bring in a capital and operating partner, but it needed to be an aligned partner.
In this fireside chat, learn about her process in finding and striking a partnership with a values-aligned capital partner. It’s a behind the scenes look at their successful partnership.
Together, we’ll unpack how their aligned values and shared vision transformed what could have been a standard transaction into a powerful strategic union that amplified the company’s growth.
Learn firsthand about the key conversations and mutual understanding that created the right chemistry for a partnership and continued business success.
Matt O'Hayer
Founder, Vital Farms
SELL WITHOUT SELLING OUT
Whether raising growth equity or selling the business, these transactions aren’t just financial, they are inflection points that can have permanent effects on the mission and future viability of the company. The right capital partner and the right process can ensure a company’s legacy.
Big Path Capital presents its newest Impact CEO Series – Sell Without Selling Out. Learn from Founders and CEOs of leading impact companies and leading impact investors who have had success in finding aligned capital partners thereby stewarding the company’s mission. These leaders of mission-driven companies share their lessons learned as they navigated raising capital or a sale via interviews with Big Path Capital’s CEO Michael Whelchel.
Having supported over 100 mission-driven companies and funds since 2007, certified B Corp Big Path Capital has distilled tactics and strategies to enable CEOs and owners to grow and sell their companies so that their mission is flourishes into the future. If you have found the Sell Without Selling Out series helpful as you consider a capital transaction for your mission-driven company, contact us. We’d be happy to have a conversation to find out how we might be able to help.
Meet the Series Moderator
Michael Whelchel
Founder & CEO, Big Path Capital
In 2007, Michael set out to create an investment bank that defied the notion that it was necessary to sacrifice impact for return. The result is Big Path Capital, the first B Corp certified investment bank. The firm has helped over 100 mission-driven companies and private equity finds find values aligned investors. Big Path also hosts cultivated convenings of impact CEOs, LPs, and funds in support of its mission to change how capitalism is done.
Be among the first to hear about future interviews in the Selling Without Selling Out series, announcements about our in-person convenings and the latest news. Big Path Capital is advancing a sustainable economy by connecting mission-driven companies and fund managers with mission-aligned investors.