17 Lessons on the Psychology of Being a Searcher and CEO

During my ~10 years as a Searcher and CEO, like almost all of my peers I had an endless number of commercial problems and opportunities that required my attention at any given time. However, it was often the personal considerations that kept me up at night:

Indeed, I rarely lost sleep over whether to raise prices by 5% or 15%, but instead was kept awake by the idea that even asking the question suggested that I didn’t truly know what I was doing.

I wasn’t anxious about what mix of equity and debt to include in a letter of intent, but was instead anxious about the prospect of not finding a company to acquire at all after spending two years in pursuit of one.

Though I sometimes allowed myself to enjoy the growth that my company had enjoyed, I usually left conferences feeling insecure and self-conscious after hearing other CEOs talk about how much faster they all seemed to be growing their companies.

For this reason, I thought it might be helpful to compile some of the lessons that I’ve learned over the years that cover the “human side” of acquisition entrepreneurship. Though these lessons bounce around between various subjects, I hope at least one of them provides you with a reason to reflect on your own situation, and perhaps make a change for the better in the process.

17 Lessons on the Psychology of Being a Searcher and CEO