8 Comments
User's avatar
Michael Wallace's avatar

Great educational experience John. Many times, an outsider can see things you are too close to. I had a similar experience years ago when we were preparing to sell our mortgage banking company that I had cofounded. The lessons learned from the deals that didn't happen, made all the difference in the deal that did happen.

Joel Salinas's avatar

Nothing teaches more clearly than experience. Thank you for sharing yours.

Mike Goitein's avatar

Great stuff, John - I learned so much about PE’s playbook and how you were able to pick and choose what to implement in a way that worked for your business.

Dennis Berry's avatar

Another operating masterclass from the master himself 🔥

Brennan McDonald's avatar

Really interesting to hear more of your story John. I love that you mapped the PE meetings as free advice - so many operators would miss or dismiss that angle!

Maribeth Martorana's avatar

Such important advice John! Especially the point on understanding the type of buyer that you are preparing for in an exit. That will shape things dramatically.

Chris Tottman's avatar

Love the headline !

Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

That's a great take! Out of curiosity, did you give them complete access to your books and operations or did they do their analyses based on their own data sources?