About Me

Christine (Chrissy) McDannell

I help founders sell their companies, and I help them build AI into how those companies run. Two worlds, one person. Here's how I got here.

The short version

I was the kid who talked her parents into putting the family computer in my bedroom and then basically never came out. I coded my first website on GeoCities with basic HTML in the mid-90s (yes, that dates me), and then I didn't touch code again for decades. Not even when I founded my tech company in 2018 with two brilliant technical co-founders who handled all of that. Now it's so easy that I feel like a kid again. That's the energy I bring to everything I'm doing right now.

Building and selling companies

I've been an entrepreneur since 2003, with multiple exits of my own. In 2021 I founded The Magnolia Firm, a boutique M&A advisory that sells remote-operable digital businesses for their founders. We specialize in tech exits, and a big part of my work is helping founders get exit-ready long before they sell, including building AI into operations so buyers pay MORE. In 2023 I published Get Acquired, my book on how to do exactly that.

The freshest chapter: the AI Implementation Club

For the past few months I've hosted the AI Implementation Club, every Sunday, in person here in Austin. We run a paid AI Masterclass, and we just launched the weekly virtual version so you don't have to be in Texas to join. AI started as a hobby for me. It's become a real part of what I'm known for, and I'm building this community in real time, right as in-person clubs are having a moment.

A bit of geography

I'm originally from San Diego. I've lived in a lot of great places, most recently almost two years in Dubai and a stretch in Amsterdam back in 2019, and now I call Austin home.

Get in touch

Want to talk exits, AI, or building something that holds both? Reach out here.