5 minute watch
Rye, NH
In this brief 5 minute video, Rob MacLeod describes the key findings of the What Private Company Owners Care Most About in an M&A Transaction original research performed by Bigelow with the participation of more than 75 Entrepreneur Owner-Managers. After building Enterprise Value: what they believed was most important before a capital gain event, and for those that completed a cap gain event, what they looked back on as the most important. Rob vividly illuminates both the qualitative and quantitative considerations of EOMs, their families, and their Enterprises.
You can find the full whitepaper here
What I am Reading / Listening to
The Evening and the Morning (2020)
By Ken Follett
The author Ken Follett has created hours and hours of reading pleasure for me with his historical fiction, taking me to places, times in world history, and to people I otherwise would not have explored.
His latest work called The Evening and the Morning (2020) is a prequel to his well-known The Pillars of the Earth (1990). Set in the Dark Ages, roughly 1000 CE, as a reader you can have fun spotting little clues and foreshadowing of the story yet to come. As in all of Follet’s books, there are multiple story lines running parallel, which you know he will, and does, bring together.
The verisimilitude of the time—the stresses and constant fatigue of drudge work, dirty, hungry, racked by famine, and natural disasters, constant threats of attack, greed, corrupt power, and little value on life—makes you appreciate how far we’ve come, even if the (over) emphasis is now almost exclusively on comfort.
Entrepreneur Owner-Manager Quote
“The transaction was its own journey."
-Cameron Healy, Board Member & Principal Investor, SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel, LLC
Energy Creation
Contributed by R. Taylor Breed
So often the definitions of introvert vs. extrovert are unscientifically simplified to those who are quiet and keep to themselves, and those who are talkative and outgoing. Most of us probably know these are not the accurate definitions of each word, and rather the actual meaning is based on where and how people recharge their batteries and refill their inner well.
I am most definitely an extrovert. I love being around people: the energy of conversation, stimulation from ideas, new connections, spontaneous adventures, humor and laughter, LIVING! This reinvigorates me.
This does not mean I don’t enjoy and appreciate quiet moments. Or, that every interaction becomes an extensive dialogue or full-day adventure. Heck, I even seek out solitude from time to time.
While my extroverted-ness was always apparent to me, this spring I became acutely aware of its importance. How do you recharge one’s batteries when, for obvious reasons, office time had stopped, and most human interaction was curtailed? To me, isolation is exhausting, particularly when it is not your choice. Zoom proved to be marginally more energizing than draining. Better than nothing, but it is still a blue screen replacing tangible interaction.
Thank goodness that soon enough, socially-distanced walks, driveway beers, and firepit hangouts started to chip away at the dearth of genuine human contact. Summertime brought beaches and hikes and outdoor dining with friends and family. Serendipitous sidewalk interactions blossomed. The batteries began to be replenished.
Hugs and handshakes may not be the norm again yet, and my inner well may not be fully refilled until they are. But, we are getting there, and in the meantime, we are getting creative with in-person human interaction for us extroverts looking for a recharge.
