Kyle Poll·October 13, 2025

Buying 2 Rivals to Create a Dominant Leader | Kyle Poll Interview

Kyle Poll is a former LinkedIn and Gym Pass sales executive (most recently running Gym Pass US from $10M to $100M ARR) who left a $600–700K corporate salary to search for a business to buy in Utah. After a year of research and a full-time search involving ~70 broker relationships, he discovered Get Out Pass — a local family entertainment pass business he was already a customer of — through a chance meeting at a BYU ETA conference. Get Out Pass had ~$15M revenue across 32 markets and ~200,000 members but ran cash-basis books; a QoE conversion to accrual reduced apparent EBITDA to roughly a third of initial estimates, collapsing the original deal structure. Kyle then brokered an unconventional three-way alignment: TC (Get Out Pass founder, rolling equity), Greyel (a small Wyoming PE firm that had already acquired rival Pogo Pass), and himself as operator-CEO with equity earn-in. The combined entity — now rebranding as 'Get Out' — holds ~300,000 members and 2,300 venues across 32 markets with virtually no meaningful competition, creating strong two-sided marketplace network effects. Eight months in, Kyle is navigating the cultural and technical challenges of merging two companies whose employees viewed each other as rivals, building a unified technology platform, and deepening penetration in existing markets rather than expanding to new ones.

Deal facts

sde ebitda: Low seven figures EBITDA (after accrual conversion came down to roughly a third of initial estimate)
revenue: ~$15 million (Get Out Pass alone)
financing structure: Almost all equity + ~15% seller note; no SBA or bank debt
notes: Combined entity formed by merging Get Out Pass (acquired) with Pogo Pass (already owned by Greyel PE). Kyle brought his own equity and TC (founding partner) rolled equity; both companies valued similarly to form combined entity. Kyle's economics described as falling between search fund and independent sponsor model with performance-based equity earn-in. Combined member base: ~300,000 across 32 markets.

Why this business

Kyle was already a customer and loved the product. He had direct industry analog experience from running Gym Pass US (a corporate wellness pass aggregator) and saw immediate parallels. The business had a flywheel model with subscription-like recurring revenue, a large venue network moat, affiliate/ambassador sales motion, and a clear purpose — helping families make memories — that resonated deeply with him personally. It was also ten minutes from his house.

What's working

Two-sided marketplace moat: 2,300 combined venues and 300,000+ members across 32 markets make it extremely hard for a competitor to replicate from scratch market by market
Category dominance: combining the only two meaningful players (Get Out Pass and Pogo Pass) eliminated meaningful competition in nearly all markets
Strong unit economics when managed carefully — majority of venues receive no cash payment, treating the pass as a marketing/customer acquisition channel rather than paid placement
Hybrid go-to-market: Get Out Pass's digital/affiliate channel combined with Pogo Pass's 'mom ambassador' direct-sales network gives a diversified and hard-to-replicate customer acquisition engine
Purpose-driven culture: aligning both rival teams around a shared mission ('unite families by creating forever memories') accelerated integration and reduced inter-team friction
Operator-investor alignment: all three parties (Kyle, TC rolling equity, Greyel PE) were motivated to make the deal work and remained partners post-close

What's hard

Accrual vs. cash basis conversion during QoE devastated the apparent EBITDA — it came in at roughly a third of the initial estimate because rapid growth caused deferred revenue to look like earned income on a cash basis
Merging two rival companies whose employees viewed each other as 'the enemy' — the Day 1 announcement produced visible shock and hostility that took months to work through
Technology integration: building a unified app and a single branded pass across 32 markets (some with overlapping Get Out and Pogo venues) is a complex, slower-than-expected project
Sales-force inertia: Pogo Pass ambassador moms had spent years selling against Get Out Pass and old habits die hard even after the merger
Deal nearly died multiple times: one seller initially withdrew to try to buy the business himself; later QoE results broke the valuation thesis; deal required restructuring around Greyel and took months of re-negotiation
No formal debt / SBA not available: the growth-equity nature of the business and accrual accounting complexity made it difficult to finance conventionally, requiring equity-only structure
Highly seasonal revenue: roughly 50% of annual sales come in the Black Friday–Christmas window, creating cash flow complexity and accrual mismatches

Notable quotes

I was a customer of Get Out Pass. So we had a pass for my family. It's a phenomenal value and our family used it all the time.

The EBITDA went down significantly. It was maybe a third of what we thought it was. What that meant was the business was worth much less than we thought it was.

There was a very real moment where both TC and Mason realized if this deal falls apart, we don't want Kyle to go run the other company. Like TC was worried like, hey, I just introduced him to Pogo Pass — if this doesn't work out, they're just going to hire him and now he's going to compete against us.

I assembled a leadership team and it ended up being three people from the Pogo Pass side and three people from the Get Out Pass side. And really quickly we got an offsite together where we all went to a cabin in the woods type of thing and sat down and talked about purpose, mission and values.