Shane Cheek

"Predictions are difficult, especially when they are about the future" - Bohr

@getcompoundai Interested in learning more.

Meet Compound - the world’s first AI Analyst for finance you can trust. AI for spreadsheets and financial analysis is finally here, but most tools are too brittle for real use cases. Compound is different - built for scale, accuracy, and auditability - so you can 10X your output. - Upload unlimited number of files to analyze - Kick off multiple AI Analysts at the same time - Audit and edit the work output in the browser Comment for access to the beta. For more on what Compound can do, see below 🧵

@SteveWiesnerSMB Having not put the introspective work into exploring who I am apart from my business, I suffered during the transition phase post-exit. Not wanting to see others repeat my mistake, I tell founders to go and read Burlingham's Finish Big.

I have seen A LOT of business owners exit over the years. Here's how it often goes: Elation. Vacation. Realization. Stagnation. Elation that they're free and rich. Vacation time on a beach, playing golf, sipping fine wine, driving a new car. Realization that these things provide a short-term hit of happiness and satisfaction that soon fades away. Key relationships in their life may be strained or non-existent. Stagnation sets in when they lose their sense of purpose. Exits can be a blessing, but it's so important to have a pre-exit plan that takes this pattern into consideration.

@SteveWiesnerSMB The naivety with which the 30% figure is thrown around is one barrier to more $ flowing into the sector. Experienced investors can smell BS from a mile away.

Look, I'm all for ETA, but statements like this make me cringe. "Search funds produce annualized returns of 30%." Here's the full FT wording: "Among the companies that were acquired and exited over the years that Stanford has been following, annualised equity returns have been well above 30 per cent (although a third of search funds do not find a suitable target)." I don't trust the GSB numbers, and I certainly don't think we should be making a broader extrapolation that search deals net 30% IRRs. GSB's sample size, as I recall, is incredibly small (a few hundred if I remember correctly) and self-reporting / self-selecting. Here's another from the FT: "The typical deal involves an acquisition of about $15mn purchased at JUST seven times ebitda." [BOLD AND CAPS EMPHASIS IS MINE] 7x. Sigh. I'll let history decide if that multiple's worthy of the word "JUST" or not. Another one: "Even middle and lower-middle market financial sponsors cannot target companies worth $15mn." Wut? Not true. Utterly wrong. Anyone who has ever worked in LMM PE or chased a $15mm deal knows this is utterly wrong. And are those LMM PE firms who are tucking in those deals paying 7x? Mayyyybeeeee.... I understand the urge to cheerlead ETA / SMB as a rising asset class. It is a rising asset class. There are world-class opportunities to build value. Those are great things. It's exciting. But let's also be balanced with our perspectives. Extrapolating anything from the Stanford study is not a true reflection of the real world. Relying on an FT reporter to understand the nuances of ETA - probably not a great move either. This is risky AF and people should not tread lightly.

legacy software embedded in gov customer for 20 years. “There’s no way that customer is churning unless they want to spend tens of millions over the next five years to build an entirely new solution!” 5 year capital budget papers come out with $90M to build replacement…

@girdley You could welcome customers as they enter Subaru dealerships.

My future is being a little cute retiree working a volunteer info booth. Except it’ll be outside a Chilis making menu recommendations.

@swilera @girdley That was such a great video guys. So generous of @swilera to share the ups and downs of your biz and awesome to see @girdley grok the issues and offer practical help in a short amount of time. More of these please!🙏

30 minutes of @girdley time free of charge. The only catch? We have to record and broadcast the whole thing. Well worth the time, and potential embarrassment!

@BrentBeshore Congratulations to you and the family!

Thrilled to announce that Silas Peter Beshore arrived at 8:07 pm last night. Both he and mom are doing great. And, as you can see, the sisters are pumped! Thank you all for the prayers. Means a lot.

Anyone in Austin/ San Antonio interested in software serial acquisitions, VMS, holdco’s or bootstrapped SaaS and fancy a beer? I’ll be there last week of Feb. it’s a long flight from down under, I’ll be thirsty. HMU.

@dcsandbrook Well done lads.

"The British Academy – the national body for humanities and social sciences – has awarded its 2023 President’s Medal to a podcast: The Rest is History, for the first time ever." This is an amazing honour, and something we could never have imagined. thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/the-rest-…

@holland_tom 👋🏼 looking forward to seeing you both tonight!

Paging Adelaide!

Hiring semi-pro athletes that didn’t make the cut into sales/BD roles has similar positive outcome. Used to: following routine, keeping score, winning, relentless focus, coachable.

Iconic. 💅🏽

If you're thinking about buying an SMB, look in the mirror and ask: "Why the f*ck do I think I can do a better job than the guy / gal who took the biz from 0 to $5mm?" You probably can't, and there's a good chance you'll do worse. If you don't have a good answer, move on.

Same.

@engineers_feed 3d

We are doing a scientific research right now and we need your honest answer (for males only): which coordinates do you piss in?

Latest MDO Acquisition of InTouch Data Strengthens Position as the Premier Hospitality Business Intelligence Provider Globally hospitalitynet.org/news/4114544.h… via @hospitalitynet

Should I be concerned there’s a roo playing air guitar under the hills hoist? #onlyinaustralia

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

If I hosted a couple day summit for SMB acquirers, who would be in? Thinking sometime in March, somewhere fun, and very little formality. Invite some of the people I admire most to teach, then we all sit at their feet and learn. Oh, and eat, drink, and be merry, of course.

@BrainInjurySA Welcome to the team Emma.

Speech Pathologist, Emma, enjoys working as a team with participants on their goals; “…I value working as a team with participants, their friends and families and other allied health professionals to achieve meaningful communication and swallowing goals …’ #speechpathology