1/ I’ve known this was true in the abstract for a while, but over the past few months, I’ve had a number of conversations with business owners who are tired of running their companies, want to stay involved, but also take chips off the table.
The common ask: help me hire a CEO!
The common ask: help me hire a CEO!
2/ Seems straightforward, but they don’t know how to do it and see making a mistake as a big risk. This is so vexing, that they are willing to sell a majority interest to someone that will take on the responsibility of recruiting the new leader.
3/ For buyers like me, this is exciting. Puts me in a position to do something I enjoy and am good at, plus the upside of ownership and the seller’s knowledge post-close. Seller gets a new CEO and partners that can help accelerate the business and be strategic thought partners
4/ How intense/urgent is this need? Enough so that all of these conversations have been inbound inquiries - the very first time I’ve ever had sellers approach me cold in many years of investing experience. Maybe it is a fluke, but I bet there are a lot of owners in this situation
