#46 - Coco Sellman (Allumé Home Care)

She built a company from scratch to serve medically fragile children — and sold it for double her valuation.

In this powerful and emotional episode, Coco Sellman shares the full story behind founding her home healthcare agency inspired by her stepdaughter, scaling it to $7M in just 18 months, surviving the pandemic, navigating investors and partnerships, negotiating a merger, and finally landing the perfect exit with a major children’s hospital.

 

From starting without funding to surviving impossible cash flow gaps and sitting across from private equity in a room full of men — Coco breaks down what it really takes to exit on your terms. If you’re building with purpose but want a serious business outcome… this one is a must-listen.

 

01:15 – Meet Coco Sellman & Her Mission-Driven Business

04:30 – A Medically Fragile Child Sparked the Business Idea

08:50 – Why No One Would Take Her Stepdaughter

12:10 – From Purpose to Business Opportunity

16:25 – How She Started a Home Healthcare Agency

21:00 – 18 Months of Operating Without Reimbursement

24:10 – Bootstrapping vs. Raising Investment Early

27:15 – From Zero to $7M in Revenue

30:40 – Why Nurses Were the Real Growth Bottleneck

33:15 – How to Attract & Retain 15 Nurses a Month

35:50 – Taking on Her First Angel Investor

39:00 – What Makes a “Perfect” Investor

42:15 – Pandemic Hits: Her Growth Strategy Breaks

44:40 – Planning the Merger

48:25 – How She Negotiated the Deal

52:00 – The Reality of Merging Operations

55:30 – Losing Her Team, Gaining Scale

59:00 – Surprise: Medicaid Rate Increases by 31%

01:02:00 – Connecticut Children’s Hospital Reaches Out

01:04:40 – When You Realize You Could’ve Gone Solo

01:07:00 – How to Build for an Exit While Scaling Fast

01:09:30 – The Final Deal & Why She Has No Regrets