How to Build a Billion-Dollar Business

CHAPTER 31LOSING PATIENCE …

By January 2014, the turnaround had not progressed as quickly as we would have hoped. Everyone was losing patience with me. Goldman Sachs's perspective was, ‘We've given you the $70 million to get yourself out of the hole; we've given you time and support and haven't interfered, so why haven't we seen the results of the turnaround?’ They were worried about losing their $70 million investment and wanted third-party assurance that we knew what we were doing. To verify that our turnaround was on course, they sent one of their heavy hitters from Hong Kong to interview me. I needed to convince this man that the results were coming, and soon, or I would be out of a job. I knew the hockey stick of massive return was coming up but no-one else was as confident as me; but then no-one was as close to the business as me. This man also interviewed Michael and Stephen, who both supported me, but once again, my leadership abilities were called into question, and every time this happened, it eroded my all-important reputation capital. You only get so many chances to prove your worth as a CEO.

At this time, the board seriously considered selling and some were willing to walk regardless of the price and asked key advisers what would be a price to get a quick sale. While no adviser prepared a written valuation the board formed a view that an appropriate figure would be $100 million; $70 million would go toward the debt, and the remaining $30 million would go to shareholders. ...