The Desire to Matter

Why did one of the biggest holdco owners & operators sell his holdco? Bill D’Alessandro talks about what led to the decision to sell all but one of his companies, having to let go of being “the Holdco Guy,” advice for entrepreneurs thinking about operating & owning multiple companies, insights on online marketing, & how he sees AI changing the world forever.

LINKS & MENTIONS FROM THIS EPISODE

Bill’s Natural Dog Company https://naturaldog.com/

Acquisitions Anonymous podcast https://www.acquanon.com/ 

Join the list for Main Street Summit https://www.mainstreetsummit.com/

Read the Messy Marketplace (or go to episode 1 of the Permanent Podcast feed to listen) https://www.permanentequity.com/the-messy-marketplace

CONNECT

Bill on twitter https://twitter.com/BillDA 

Bill on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/billda/

Brent on twitter https://twitter.com/BrentBeshore

Brent on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentbeshore 

Visit https://www.permanentequity.com/ for more

Sign up for our weekly newsletter for operators, Permanent Playbook: https://www.permanentequity.com/newsletter 

Sign up for a new daily newsletter from Tim Hanson, Unqualified Opinions: https://www.permanentequity.com/unqualified-opinions 

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Bill Fills Dead Air Time

4:48 HoldCos: A Mailbox Full of Money?

11:19 Letting Go of the HoldCo

16:14 Hitting Rock Bottom & Losing the Plot

25:01 How to Build a Holdco the Right Way

31:54 From HoldCo to OneCo

34:55 When to Go Fast vs. When to Be Patient

41:30 Don’t Buy a Business That’s Too Small

47:50 Handling Layoffs

52:12 Being Vulnerable: Handling Anxiety & Loss

1:08:26 The Additive Effect of Subtracting 

1:15:12 Lightning Round: Advice for Small Business Owners & Operators

1:16:16 Lightning Round: Hiring

1:16:38 Lightning Round: Marketing Doesn’t Work

1:18:24 Lightning Round: When to Take on Capital

1:19:13 Lightning Round: How to Sell a Company

1:21:14 Lightning Round: How Much Debt is too Much?

1:21:50 Lightning Round: Stop Using Slack

1:23:51 Lightning Round: Cutting Costs While Increasing Quality

1:24:28 Lightning Round: AI is the Singularity

1:32:26 Advice for Your 25-Year-Old Self: Be Deliberate

1:34:28 Why Brent Can’t Sleep: Main Street Summit

EPISODE CREDITS

Produced by David Cover 

Additional editing & mastering by Ryan Lipman

Intro music by David Cover, Andy Freeman, Rhett Johnson, & Andrew Luley

Outro music by Jees Guy

WE STEWARD COMPANIES THAT CARE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT 

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Check out our other podcast episodes here: https://www.permanentequity.com/audio 

LEGAL DISCLAIMER

This podcast is made available solely for educational purposes, and the information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, tax or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Permanent Equity. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services. This podcast is presented by Permanent Equity and may not be copied, reproduced, republished or posted, in any form, without its express written consent.