Season 6 | Ep 4 - Hannah Donaldson on the reality of leading and executing an MBO backed by Private Equity to fuel a long term future for Meet with significant strategic growth.

Hannah was a guest on The RAG in June 2021 and she told the story of growing Meet, an international talent provider to the life sciences sector. At this point the business was 12 years old,  135 staff and multiple offices globally.

She ended the episode by telling me that they had significant and strategic growth plans. I wasn’t entirely sure what this meant as Hannah chose not to elaborate. 

In September 2021, I realised why Hannah kept her cards so close to her chest, as Meet announced that lower mid-market private equity firm NorthEdge has backed the primary management buyout of the business. 

It then all made sense that Hannah had to be very careful about what she said on The RAG, as the transaction was at a very critical point!

On this week’s episode I was so excited to have Hannah back on the show to talk about everything she couldn’t discuss last time.

We covered

-Why she felt the need to start the MBO process in the first place

-The reality of the process 

-The impact on her life and family

-The moment the transaction completed

-What this means for her and her staff

-How she has now grown the business to 230 people (a net growth of 95 in 16 months)

-The working relationship with PE firms and why it can be an amazing one!

For anyone looking to buy or sell a recruitment business, here is another story that details out the reality of the process and offers huge advice based on real life experience!

Vincere

A message to all recruitment leaders looking to upgrade their CRM: Before you sign the contract, be sure to read the terms at least twice.

Common traps to watch:

- Not understanding the pricing model

- Discounts limited to only the 1st year of contract length

- Monthly contracts - this could mean flexibility for the vendor to raise prices

- Data hosting - anything outside your country could mean compliance & legal issues

Get Vincere’s 10-step guide to keep your vendor due diligence & evaluation process airtight: https://bit.ly/3C2G1s3