Taylor Thomas

Taylor Thomas – Culture, Growth, and What Happens After You Sell Your Company

Taylor Thomas is the Founder of One Hour Shades, which offers same-day design and installation for window shades. He is also the Co-founder and former CEO of Samplize, a company offering peel-and-stick paint samples. Under Taylor’s leadership, Samplize expanded through partnerships with major retailers and was acquired by Material Bank in 2022, where he now serves as Senior Vice President. In 2022, he was recognized on Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list in manufacturing.

Here's a Glimpse of What You'll Learn

[2:07] Taylor Thomas shares his first entrepreneurial ventures and why he founded Samplize
[5:14] How a well-funded competitor led Taylor to consider selling his business
[8:35] The emotional and financial complexities Taylor faced selling Samplize
[12:32] What surprised Taylor most about working for his company after selling it and how he decided to leave
[15:37] Taylor talks about launching a new venture to deliver custom window shades the same day
[20:22] Lessons Taylor learned about company culture and leadership through rapid team growth

In This Episode

When a fast-growing business attracts the attention of a billion-dollar competitor, what’s the right move: fight or sell? Many entrepreneurs dream of building something from scratch, but few are prepared for the emotional complexity of letting it go. How do you weigh short-term gain against long-term vision, especially when others are counting on you?

After bootstrapping a company from a small manufacturing space into a national brand, serial entrepreneur Taylor Thomas was approached by a deep-pocketed rival. Despite his initial reluctance, a strategic acquisition offer, combined with stress and a desire to protect his team, led him to sell. However, the transition from founder to employee proved more jarring than expected, prompting Taylor to step away and start a new venture, where he learned valuable lessons about leadership, culture, and speed to market.

In today’s episode of The Decision, Robert Hartline and Eric Jackson host Taylor Thomas, Founder of One Hour Shades, to discuss the emotional and strategic decision to sell a business. Taylor talks about why he left his company, the emotional and financial aspects of selling his business, and what he learned about company culture.

Quotable Moments:

“We would throw some crazy parties in the warehouse; we would sleep on the paint tables.”
“I got tired of getting up all the time when I was doing everything else on my phone.”
“Culture matters… it just became such a cliche to me that I ignored it to my own detriment.”
“We were tripling in size year over year, and we hadn’t even started to slow down yet.”
“Once I had transitioned out of managing the day-to-day on every level, there really wasn’t much else.”

Action Steps:

Hire for personality and culture fit: Prioritizing mindset and attitude over skills helps build a healthy, resilient work environment. Skills can be trained, but toxic attitudes often spread and damage team morale.
Be transparent with key team members during major transitions: Looping in trusted leaders early fosters trust and stability. It also prepares your team to navigate inevitable changes more effectively.
Design intentional company culture from day one: Culture forms whether you plan for it or not, so it’s critical to shape it early. A strong, positive culture supports employee engagement and sustainable growth.
Build scalable systems and workflows: Streamlined operations make growth manageable and reduce stress on teams. Well-designed systems also boost efficiency and allow for faster adaptation during pivots.
Embrace innovation through customer pain points: Solving real-world problems leads to products people actually want. Listening deeply to your customers can uncover high-impact opportunities for business creation.