#254: John Rood: How and Why He Sold His Business and Started a Search Fund

June 23, 2021 01:00:23
#254: John Rood: How and Why He Sold His Business and Started a Search Fund
Intentional Growth
#254: John Rood: How and Why He Sold His Business and Started a Search Fund

Jun 23 2021 | 01:00:23

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Intentional Growth

Show Notes

On today’s show, we’re focusing on how a founding entrepreneur grew and sold his tutoring business to private equity. John Rood previously co-founded Next Step Test Preparation, which grew from a 2-person tutoring company to one of the largest MCAT test prep companies in the US. After building it up from scratch, he sold it to private equity in 2018. He runs us through why he chose private equity over other sales options (including an ESOP) and how that influences his buying patterns today.

 After selling, John started a search fund: an investment vehicle through which an entrepreneur raises funds from investors in order to acquire a company in which they wish to take an active, day-to-day leadership role. John isn’t shy about diving into how search funds operate, what makes an attractive acquisition target, how capital structures influence a purchase, and the incredible value of long-term planning if you want to achieve your goals and ultimate lifestyle.

In this episode, you’ll learn all about search funds: what they are, how they’re structured, and how they might be beneficial and a viable option if you’re partnered with the right person who is going to be the owner/operator. If you want to learn more about search funds, go check out the Intentional Growth course at Arkona.io.

 

What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview

 

Are You Growing The Value of Your Business

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About the Guest:

John Rood is an education entrepreneur. He co-founded Next Step Test Preparation, which grew from a 2-person tutoring company to one of the largest MCAT test prep companies, and sold in 2018 to private equity. John now searches for small businesses to acquire in the education or senior care industries. Additionally, he is working on a platform connecting university alumni to peer mentorship groups. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two boys.

 

Quotes:

11:55 - “We put together a little board of advisors early on in our business, before we really needed to.” – John Rood

12:51 - “Let’s go get the right people, the right staff, and kind of go after it.” – John Rood

15:16 - “If we want to have a company that’s valuable as an enterprise, we have to get out of just doing the services.” – John Rood

18:13 - “There’s a certain subset of equity holders that care about the enterprise value of the business. And then there’s a much larger piece of your business, of your customers, of your customers, of your employees that cares about ‘Are we doing something that’s good for the world? Am I respected by my manager? Is my compensation fair?" – John Rood

20:13 - “Think about starting with a business where the cash cycles are really good.” – John Rood

20:29 - “I actually think I took too much out of the business. If I had to do it again, I would have invested more.” – John Rood

21:39 - “You really have to separate out your labor from your equity.” – John Rood

24:57 - “You have to have a bench of people that you can go hire.” – John Rood

31:32 - “If you’re going to hire an intermediary, you can’t just hire the first one. You’ve got to get intros to a couple people. See who’s doing a lot of deals, specifically in your industry.” – John Rood

36:08 - “What do I want my worklife to be for the next thirty years?” – John Rood

36:40 - “I hadn’t sat down and thought, ‘Here’s what I want to accomplish when I’m sixty. I’m doing that stuff now and I wish I would have done it back then. It really helps guide, are you making the right long term choices or not.” – John Rood

37:09 - “Do I feel fulfilled even if my business fails?” – John Rood

47:53 - “I think people underestimate the challenge involved in that because you still have to get humans to agree with you, to lend you the money, and to actually run the business.” – John Rood

53:06 - “If private equity wants to buy your business, they don’t want to go run it… whereas a search funder oftentimes will become the CEO of the business.” – John Rood

 

Links and Resources:

John Rood, Twitter

John Rood, LinkedIn

Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course

ARKONA Boot Camp

Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!

 

You can also reach out to me via email at [email protected], or on my LinkedIn.

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