Paul McCluskey on Exits and Building a Successful CRO Business

Today's Guest

Today we welcome Paul McCluskey, an experienced Private Equity board director with a record of creating significant shareholder value and delivering strategic growth.  

Originally qualifying with KPMG as a Chartered Accountant, Paul then moved into the FTSE 100 environment.

After selling one of the FTSE 100 businesses to an American business, Paul started on the Private Equity journey in 2007 when he was part of the MBO team that took Synexa life sciences private with Private Equity, successfully exiting at 3x investment value in 2011.

Later, in 2014, Paul was part of the MBI team that created Concept Life Sciences with support from Equistone Partners. 

He now works as a Consultant, advising business in the Life Sciences and Technology industries. 

What’s in this episode?

In today’s episode Paul discusses with Alex how he created Concept Life Sciences with a series of management buy-ins and the challenges he faced growing this business before ultimately exiting in 2018 for 3x ROI.

What you'll learn

• Why talent is the key factor in success of a company
• Why urgency could be the key different between working in a PE backed vs non PE backed company
• Why finding your niche in the market is vital to success
• Why you don’t need to have all the answers
• Why you need to stick to your 100-day plan
• Why you should be taking more risks earlier in your career

Breakdown

4:44 - What one mistake do you see PE firms or Portfolio Companies making

8:07 - Advice for CEO’s looking to enter the Private Equity world

14:26 - Paul discusses what it was like growing a business with a Private Equity sponsor and exiting

24:30 - The challenges Paul faced integrating multiple add-on business and making sure there were no culture clashes 

27:31 - Paul shares his biggest successes with Concept Life Sciences

30:06 - How can PE firms get more value from their Portfolio Companies 

32:44 - Advice for CEO’s wanting to take their business PE backed

35:45 - What three attributes make a top performer

38:59 - What Paul loves and hates about the PE industry

44:11 - Paul’s influences 

49:12 - Paul talks about a time he was blindsided and what he learned from it

55:55 - What advice would you give your 20 year old self

 Resources

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-mccluskey-3488b09a/

https://www.conceptlifesciences.com/

https://www.synexusclinic.co.uk/

https://www.equistonepe.com/

Thank you for tuning in!

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Lastly, if you have any feedback on the podcast or want to reach out to Alex with any questions, send an email to [email protected]