Interview with Alexis Sikorsky, author of Cashing Out: The business owner’s guide to selling to private equity
Alexis Sikorsky, author of Cashing Out: The business owner’s guide to selling to private equity recommends a super set of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Alexis's book:
Description from Blackwells: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Cashing Out: The business owner’s guide to selling to private equity
Launching and growing a business can be unpredictable - so a clear vision and a strategy for exit is essential to navigate these choppy waters.
If you're not sure where you're going and how to get there, feel weighed down by responsibility and tough decision-making, and struggle to balance work and personal life, Cashing Out is your lifeline.
Using the time-tested, actionable APEX methodology for scaling businesses and avoiding common mistakes, this book provides proven strategies for CEOs and for visionary founders who want to sell to private equity and secure a life-changing deal.
Cashing Out gives you the tools to:
- Articulate a clear vision for your business
- Unlock new levels of cash flow
- Prioritise your time
- Scale to a £100m+ valuation
- Identify and achieve the right private equity exit that fits with your goals
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £15.99
Bookshop.org US $20.99
Blackwells £15.99
Waterstones £15.99
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
Quantum Computing (WIRED guides): How It Works and How It Could Change the World by Amit Katwala. Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Quantum Computing: How It Works and How It Could Change the World because I strongly believe that quantum computing is going to literally change the world. This book gives a clear, yet thorough vision of the challenges of Quantum computing and a good summary of where the research is.
Quantum Computing (WIRED guides): How It Works and How It Could Change the World
Quantum computing has been hailed as a technological game-changer. But what precisely is it and what is its true potential?
In this superbly insightful, one-stop guide WIRED journalist Amit Katwala tells you everything you need to know about the next computer revolution. He explains the highly complex science that lies behind it. He describes the competing efforts of the likes of Google, Microsoft and Chinese companies Tencent and Alibaba to create a viable quantum computer, and the different routes they have taken to meet the immense technical challenges involved. He considers the technology's potential application in spheres as diverse as medicine, cyber security and clean energy. And he addresses the fundamental question: how close are we to seeing quantum computers become a widespread reality.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £8.54
Blackwells £8.99
Waterstones £8.99
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson. Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. It is a good book, perhaps a little too hyped, but funny and somehow enlightening.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be 'positive' all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we've been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. 'F**k positivity,' Mark Manson says.
'Let's be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it.'' In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn't sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is-a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let's-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited-'not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault.'
Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £31.62
Bookshop.org US $29.76
Blackwells £14.31
Waterstones £18.99
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Vernes.. Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
From the Earth to the Moon
In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the members of The Baltimore Gun Club find themselves in a dilemma--without a war, there is no demand for their innovative gun designs. Eager for a new challenge, the club's President Barbicane sets an ambitious goal: to build the largest gun in the world, powerful enough to shoot a man to the moon.
Such a gun has never been attempted, so the club faces a myriad of challenges including what to make it from, where to build it, when to shoot it, and--most importantly--how to ensure that a passenger inside the gun's projectile can survive the trip.
In From Earth to the Moon, the members of the gun club undertake the engineering challenge, and Around the Moon follows the three voyagers on their journey to the moon and back.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £9.49
Bookshop.org US $7.43
Blackwells £9.99
Waterstones £5.99
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
For me, it’s audiobooks in the car, Kindle while traveling and paper on vacation.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
Shakespeare and Company
Shakespeare and Company in Paris, for it’s fantastic reading evenings.
Many thanks to Alexis for recommending a super set of books! Please don't forget to check out Cashing Out: The business owner’s guide to selling to private equity.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: (Cashing Out: The business owner’s guide to selling to private equity), Cornerstone (Quantum Computing (WIRED guides): How It Works and How It Could Change the World), HarperCollins Publishers Inc (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life), Aladdin Paperbacks (From the Earth to the Moon).
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