Padraic McConville
@PadraicMcC
what have I done to help? garbage plate native. 👩🏻👶🏻👶🏻🐶. lmm PE / growth investor. tweets my own.
we're typically investing in a founder-owned business that has grown from $0 to $25m-ish. Our whole product is built around helping founders climb the "second mountain" from $25m to $100m. This is our best attempt to draw it up 🤘:
our pals at Nimble Gravity (data + ai consultancy) launched new site & branding today. would love any feedback! nimblegravity.com
we implemented at Rallyday and love it. comments suggest it slows folks down... up to you to properly define which decisions need to be discussed versus not (we have a detailed RACI and this helps a lot); like all internal operating systems, nothing is perfect and it will…
EOS is a system designed to help mediocre teams get acceptable results. For high-performance teams, it slows them down.
regular reminder that if you're at a firm where a few people hog the carry, it's very unlikely that changes that doesn't mean leave, just know what game you're playing.
I think it's the giant pasta dinner party the night before your high school soccer game and that's totally fine and great.
Celebrating an LOI is like rushing the field at halftime.
Generally, I don't think personality assessments are predictive of outcomes, but the most successful people I've worked with in this space are all Learners - if he has it in him he'll get there (from strengthsfinders...)
Hired a junior over 1yr ago. First 8 months good - give instructions and he executes. Trying to transition from directing work to giving autonomy and getting to idea generation but its a struggle. Any recs on how to help someone with this or is there chance some just dont get it?
Due diligence yellow flag: Any time a ceo says “we know every potential [customer, prospect, acquisition target]” This has been true 0% of the time in my career and generally suggests a limiting belief around a lack of openness, curiosity, etc.
We have a front row seat around this per our partner company Nimble Gravity (they do a bunch of work with PE firms and IBs). The firms at the frontier of this stuff are already there (I say this as both a tech services investor and general skeptic). If you're senior at your…
I am not sure we are there yet. But I did just get pitched an AI native consulting firm that will do a market due diligence for $50K. The idea is you still have a manager but get rid of all of the analysts. We are getting there.
"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart." themarginalian.org/2024/03/22/lov…
this would have been unfathomable to me in my 20s; it's now a good portion of "my work". my favorite leaders care mightily about their craft and are abundantly generous (time, resources, kindness, love). really appreciate joe's content 🙏👊
You can be in a state of surrender AND also have big ambition & goals at the same time. One is held in the head, and one in the heart. To do both, the heart leads and the brain follows.
I like to bump this now and again - some of my favorite free resources:
What are your favorite free resources out there? It's incredible how accessible top-class information and learning has become. Here are a handful of mine: LEADERSHIP / COACHING - @edbatista website: highly recommend everything on here, particularly his Art of…
This question drives a lot of our Purpose at Rallyday. We are built to help founders become scaleup CEOs. My partner Nancy took her company to $120m of EBITDA across four capital partners and should write a book on this. We have a lot of content on this topic that I'll start…
Out of all the founders you've seen, what % do you think can evolve and stay CEO post-transaction (for the ones who are still hungry)? What is the biggest area that they need to grow to stay PE-backable? @BigJohn043 @privateinequity
at my first firm they would agonize over every word choice and kill deals for the smallest deviations. at my second firm they were like "oh hey if we ever have to pull this out of the desk drawer we're effed anyway, YOLO" (I jest!) both were great training grounds 🤷♂️
I draft these meticulous 60-120 page purchase agreements. but it remains true that, for the best deals, you could sum up the main points in an index card. each counterparty intuitively understands what they are buying and selling. the rest is just window dressing.
I’ve completed about 55 deals in my career and I’ve never negotiated working capital in the LOI (you can’t really even do this until you have the QoE). Really do think this idea is more of an art - every transaction is different and you need to balance “needs” of the process…
Reviewed 4 LOIs today. All from different clients. All had the same problem. Not mistakes per se, but the kind of oversights that kill deals on the 1-yard line. The issue? Too much left unsaid. Too much left open to interpretation. Here’s what I mean: A good LOI doesn’t just…
I've watched billionaires cry in my office and feel twice as much freedom an hour later. CEOs who run 1000-person companies completely fall apart when they finally let themselves feel what they've been avoiding for decades Here's what I teach them about emotions: