The CE Shop
👤 Michael McAllister (Ex-data-center sales exec; moved offline license CE online in 2005, then won course approvals in all 50 states.)🌐 siteLinkedIn
Licensed pros must renew their license with CE. The CE Shop owns the per-state content and sells the renewal.
Will it work? · our read
Mandatory demand. The law guarantees the customer comes back; the barrier is 51 sets of state rules kept current. Sold to PE in 2020, so the win is already booked.
01How the money moves
Agent's license nears its renewal deadline
→
They buy the state-approved CE / pre-license course
→
Course fee paid; renewal repeats in 1-2 years
02The numbers
$29-64MEstimaterev. band, 2020 (DBJ)
2020source:
$29.1M-$64M band (DBJ Fast 50 'large' category, 2021 list)
Growth % is DBJ's company-submitted basis; exit and 15-yr bootstrap are the founder's own words. [our read]
Bootstrapped 15 years; sold to Waud Capital in 2020 for a 9-figure sum.
🔒
You have the verdict. Members get the work behind it.
- The CENTS scorecard — where it's strong, where it's soft
- The founder's key move, and the counter-move
- How it could die — the evidence, and how sure we are
- The case against our own call
- A 🚀 launchpad prompt — the case, as a plan for your business
We rate our own confidence — and argue against ourselves. Nobody else in this category does.
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See a full teardown, free → ImportYetiSourcesSources last checked 18 August 2026
RISMedia — DBJ Fast 50: 2nd in the 'large' band ($29.1M-$64M rev), 133% growth 2018-2020.Practical Founders podcast — founder: 15 yrs bootstrapped, 130+ staff, 9-figure exit to Waud Capital (2020).The CE Shop press — first-party announcement of the DBJ ranking.Michael McAllister (LinkedIn) — founder; ex-ViaWest / Multiband sales, CU Boulder finance.
Private LLC, no audited filing. Headline revenue is a RANGE, not a point figure: The CE Shop placed 2nd in the Denver Business Journal 2021 Fast 50 'large' category, defined as $29.1M-$64M in annual revenue (~FY2020), so its revenue sits inside that band -- self-reported into the category, hence STATED. The 9-figure exit (>$100M) to Waud Capital in 2020, 15 years bootstrapped, 130+ employees and the 133% 2018-2020 growth are the founder's own words on Practical Founders plus DBJ's ranking. An Owler estimate of $18.3M was rejected as a stale post-acquisition figure inconsistent with the DBJ band. Company is no longer founder-independent (sold 2020). verified:true on the story and exit; the revenue value is a disclosed band, not a precise number. We never score you.