228 | Adam Coffey | Empire Builder: Strategies for Thriving in the World of Private Equity

In this episode of The Greatness Machine, Darius and Adam explore the world of entrepreneurship, private equity, and business success. Adam shares his journey from youthful exuberance to seasoned expertise, emphasizing the importance of mindset in overcoming challenges. They discuss building and exiting businesses, the power of embracing risk, and Adam’s mission to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs. This episode is filled with valuable insights for aspiring business leaders, regardless of their stage in the entrepreneurial journey.

In this episode, Adam and I talked about:

  • How Adam’s journey into entrepreneurship and private equity began
  • Adam looks back on the things he learned during his military service and GE tenure
  • The importance of treating employees well and fostering a strong culture in today’s workforce
  • Adam explains the importance of the lower middle market in private equity
  • The strategy of “buy and build” in the private equity world
  • Adam advises looking for opportunities to expand revenue streams and diversify offerings within the core business
  • How youthful exuberance and energy can help you navigate challenges
  • Adam shares what his newest book, Empire Builder, aims to educate and provide
  • And other topics…

Meet Adam:

CEO, board member, best-selling author, Forbes Business Council member, and an acclaimed guest speaker, Adam Coffey, is an inspiring and authentic leader who creates high- performance cultures and drives transformative growth. Over the past 21 years, he has had the honor of serving as President and CEO of three national service companies for 9 private equity sponsors, each in different industries. Two of the three companies he built achieved enterprise values of greater than $1B. During Coffey’s run he completed 58 add on acquisitions. Throughout his career, Coffey has a proven track record of

achieving notable outcomes for stakeholders. His career average at exit is 5x MOIC (Multiple of Invested Capital). Coffey is an active mentor to MBA candidates and is a regular, favorite guest speaker at UCLA. Coffey, who considers himself a blue-collar CEO, has a diverse background. He has led several commercial and industrial service businesses, is a licensed general contractor, a pilot, a former GE executive, an alumnus of the UCLA Anderson Executive Program, and a veteran of the US Army.

Coffey’s first book, The Private Equity Playbook, was released in February 2019 and became an instant #1 Amazon Best Seller and private equity cult classic. His second book, The Exit Strategy Playbook was released in September of 2021 and was also a #1 Amazon Best Seller. He was named one of the “Most Influential Leaders” by the Orange County Business Journal in 2018, 2019 and in 2020 and 2021 was named to their prestigious “OC Top 50”. Coffey makes his home in Westlake, TX with his wife and young daughter.

Meet Darius: 

Darius is your host of The Greatness Machine LIVE. Darius is a mad scientist, high-growth CEO, serial entrepreneur, author, conscious capitalist, speaker, and entertainer. Darius is on a quest to create 1,000,000 Core Value Driven Organization by 2030. He is calling this “The Core Value Revolution.” Darius is an alumni of the Birthing of Giants Entrepreneurial Program at MIT and Stagen Integral Leadership Program. Darius’s accolades include being ranked #9 Top Rated CEO in America on Glassdoor, has won numerous Stevie Awards, and has founded and grown organizations that have been ranked #40 in the Inc. 500 and were ranked #3 Best Places to Work By the San Francisco Business Time. He is all about the P’s: Passion, Pizza, Puzzles, and, especially, Pink Unicorns. His book, The Core Value Equation, is an Amazon #1 Best Seller and is available at www.thecorevalueequation.com.

The Greatness Machine shares lessons on how to framework your drive for results, create limitless space, and win the war on talent.

My team and I are on a mission to help YOU create a cultural revolution. I want to teach you how to build a core value driven organization. 

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Don’t let your Core Values become a company artifact!  Learn how to make Core Values the language of your organization.  Pre-order my book The Core Value Equation found at the link below 

The Core Value Equation

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