Alexis Sikorsky

My guest today is Alexis Sikorsky. An entrepreneur who bootstrapped, scaled, and ultimately sold a company in a 9-figure exit.

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We cover:

00:00 Sponsor: CapitalPad

01:36 Who is Alexis Sikorsky

02:03 Early entrepreneurship

03:59 First ISP & internet café in West Africa

05:12 Conflict with government & partner’s death

07:05 Buys training company

07:43 1999–2000: founding the software dev firm

09:20 Buying assets of Logical Access

09:37 On failures & lessons (politics, client concentration)

12:35 “I can’t be employed” mindset / drive to continue

13:06 2008 peak: €11–12M revenue, €3M profit

14:31 “The grind” years: cuts, mortgages, survival

15:17 Private equity calls

16:35 The very optimistic 2-year plan

17:22 The deal: ~11x EBITDA, 85% cash now / 15% later

18:59 Final personal exit; later strategic sale (undisclosed 9 figures)

19:30 Sponsor: ETA Europe newsletter

20:41 “If I had 2023 wisdom in 2003…”

21:22 How much runway to hold; agility for black swans

22:23 Fear, resilience, and hiring “good people” too late

24:59 Personality under stress; heart attack joke

28:07 Why post-PE period was the best

28:13 “Did you sell to the right people?”

28:29 Strengths & weaknesses

30:00 Life after exit

34:31 What retirement actually felt like

35:01 Happiness, safety, safari/diving; minimal “stuff”

39:52 Founders often don’t know their own company

40:52 Know your numbers monthly

43:28 “Fire yourself” from most tasks as CEO

44:51 “What’s your number?” conversation

45:37 Grow to sell vs. morphing into a bank

47:50 Growth vs. lifestyle businesses

50:16 Execute phase cadence

51:08 Best growth levers (context-dependent)

52:03 M&A focus for this audience

52:17 Why M&A is the fast/cheap shortcut

54:01 Leverage math in euros (LBO example)

56:08 PE myths

1:01:05 Negotiate your own contract & non-compete

1:01:23 Managing time during diligence

1:02:21 Readiness test: 1-week no-phone vacation

1:02:37 How to diligence PE (ask for 5, call the others)

1:06:59 What buyers saw that he didn’t

1:10:41 Why founders often under-sell

1:10:55 Nominal EBITDA explained

1:12:13 Over-management at €100M valuations

1:12:35 Where clients fail in execution

1:14:21 Black swans & an online pivot to €100M

1:16:28 Quickfire wrap

1:17:33 Best investing advice (fundamentals over price)

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