You Effing Guys
Danny and his great head of hair walked into my office with a smile on his face the other day so I asked what was up? (Not that Danny is normally dour or anything. Rather, it was clear that something entertaining had just happened.)
“I was on the phone with someone I met at DealMAX, and it was the strangest conversation. He started off by asking what the [eff] we do and after I told him we buy businesses using 30 year funds with no debt, all he said was ‘The [eff]?’”
Of course, that prompt made me perk up because if you’re dropping f-bombs in casual conversation with a member of the Permanent Equity team there is a 100% chance you are going to get written about in this space.
While that was an awkward start to Danny’s call, it got better from there because it turns out that this guy had had in his estimation more than 7,000 conversations with private equity firms over the course of his career. He said that he’d always make sure to ask what made the firm he was talking to different from all of the other firms and why someone would sell them something instead of to the other guy for any reason other than “more money.”
“And you [effing] guys,” the guy told Danny, “are the first ones I’ve ever talked to whose answer actually makes you different.”
That’s what made Danny smile, and it made me smile, too. Because it’s one thing to tell people you’re different, but another thing entirely when people tell you you are.
Have a great weekend.
– Tim
