Investor, Author, Mentor, and recent finalist of San Diego Business Journal’s 40 under 40, Kyle Mallien is a serial entrepreneur with roots in rural Wisconsin. Kyle had a very poor upbringing as the son of a third generation stonemason. With the financial philosophy of “work hard, do better, get another job, do whatever is needed to put food on the table,” Kyle’s mom worked two jobs to support him and his brother. Having lost his dad to brain cancer at 16, Kyle began to cope with drugs and alcohol through high school and community college. He then began working at a call center, where he mastered sales skills, how to add value to a business, and the core foundation of business operations: systems and processes.
Kyle then had a successful mortgage finance business with 20+ employees until the crash in 2008, when he, like many, lost everything. On July 31st, 2008 at 25, with a debt of 200k, all bank accounts overdrawn, cars being repossessed, and home 6 months in foreclosure, Kyle hit rock bottom and attempted to take his life. As his life flashed before his eyes, he realized that he didn’t want to die, just didn’t want to continue to live the way he had, and transformed this dark moment into a turning-point.
Kyle then reinvented himself with the help of mentors and friends and purchased an electronics recycling business. It was then that Kyle found his forte with business acquisitions and formulated the ‘Wall Street Exit Method.’ A portfolio of hugely successful and profitable businesses, one of which was #1465 on Inc 5000’s fastest growing companies in the country last year, Kyle consistently amasses $140 million in total sales each year. Kyle teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to acquire seven-to-eight figure businesses.