About this episode

Jason Hendren shares his experiences of selling his energy-efficient lighting company twice and the lessons learned from his journey.

This episode features an in-depth conversation with business advisor and author Jason Hendren about his extraordinary exit journey. Jason shares the raw, real-life experiences behind his book, detailing how he scaled his energy-efficient lighting company, ILP, from a small venture to a highly valuable asset. The discussion covers: The initial risk of buying out his original partners using personal assets in 2009. The power of partnering with private equity, which provided capital, operational expertise (continuous improvement), and mentorship that accelerated his company's growth far beyond what he could have achieved alone. The crucial difference between being an "add-on" versus a "platform" investment in the eyes of PE. The financial nuances of "taking multiple bites of the apple"—selling the company twice to different PE firms for increasing valuations. His biggest regrets and lessons learned, including wishing he had better utilized leverage (debt) to maximize his personal proceeds in the second sale. Timestamps 00:09,"Introduction: Host Vince Perri introduces Jason Hendren and his influential book, Things I Wish I Knew Before I Sold to Private Equity." 03:22,Company Origin…

People in this episode

Host: Vince Perri

Guest: Jason Hendren

Topics covered

• business exit strategies
• private equity
• mentorship
• company growth
• entrepreneurship

Keywords

• business advisor
• energy-efficient lighting
• private equity
• buyout
• mentorship
• company valuation
• entrepreneurial lessons

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ILP

Books & works: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Sold to Private Equity

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