Blake Hutchison on AI, Cross-Border Deals & the Future of Digital M&A

The Exit - Presented By Flippa

Technology

5.0 • 420 Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Want a quick estimate of how much your business is worth? With our free valuation calculator, answer a few questions about your business, and you’ll get an immediate estimate of the value of your business. You might be surprised by how much you can get for it: https://flippa.com/exit -- In this episode of The Exit, Flippa CEO Blake Hutchison shares how digital M&A is evolving, and why Flippa is thriving despite global deal volumes falling. Blake reveals how Flippa achieved 36% growth while the wider market shrank, explains why ecommerce is roaring back, and dives into the launch of Lauren AI, Flippa’s groundbreaking AI-powered deal sourcing and outreach tool. From helping buyers define hyper-precise mandates to unlocking off-market opportunities, Lauren AI is designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and investors in smarter, more secure ways. Blake also unpacks key trends shaping the industry: the rise of AI-native businesses as one of the most sought-after asset types, the global nature of dealmaking with 83% of Flippa’s transactions now cross-border, and why today’s online businesses are stronger than ever thanks to better tools and technology. Whether you’re a founder considering an exit or a buyer searching for the next big opportunity, this episode offers a front-row seat to the future of digital acquisitions. -- Blake Hutchison is the Chief Executive Officer of Flippa, the online marketplace that enables buying and selling of websites, apps, stores, and digital businesses. Since taking the helm in late 2018 as a turnaround CEO, Blake has driven Flippa’s growth and led a global team focused on empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to exit on their terms and own their future. Flippa - https://flippa.com/ -- The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get into the exit today, I want to talk about the certified M&A advisors that are on Flippa.
0:06.1	If you are an operator right now running a business and you're thinking about exiting,
0:10.8	you are going to want to get a free online business valuation on the exit landing page.
0:16.7	Without a doubt, it is the smartest thing you can do to start a process and get yourself organized.
0:23.0	So you're going to go to the URL, flippa.com, slash exit, to check out more, and let's jump into the interview. All right.
0:43.5	I am here with Blake Hutchison, the CEO of Flippa, of course.
0:49.8	And I'm really excited to kind of unpack what's coming, where Flippa is.
0:55.9	And before we get started,
0:58.5	let's talk a little bit about the last,
1:01.4	call it year for Flippa,
1:02.7	what's been exciting and leading up to this announcement.
1:06.6	Look, I think, good to see you again, Steve.
1:08.6	I think a big thing for us is that MNAA is coming back, and it's gone through a slightly tough period.
1:17.0	Most people who listen to the podcast will be aware of that, no doubt following the industry.
1:23.8	The good news is that whilst global M&A volumes have declined 17% year on year and probably
1:31.8	worse again prior year, Fliber's M&A volumes are up 36%.
1:37.3	So we're actually delivering countercyclical growth results, which is great. And that's really a function of
1:47.2	being able to win really good quality entrepreneurs to our platform and, you know, help them
1:55.1	with getting the exits done that they hope to get done. And that's really a function of having
1:59.7	a really, really
2:00.9	prolific matching engine and then this great M&A infrastructure under the hood. So we've continued
2:06.6	to work away at that process. And what I mean by process is, you know, we need to attract really
	...

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