Kevin Oxendine: Lower Middle Market Entrepreneurship And Search Fund Boards

03/10/20 • 41 min

Kevin is a Partner at Pacific Lake Partners and works closely with search fund entrepreneurs throughout their search, acquisition, and operating phases and is a Board Member of Emporos and Kantola.

In this episode, we discuss the critical differences between the COO and CEO role, the search fund model, and deep dive into search fund boards and their life cycle, from the search phase to the acquisition and liquidity event.

We also discuss what it means for Boards Members to work with relatively young CEOs, as well as the role of independent Board Members and alignment with search fund CEOs. Finally, we also talk about Board compensation and why Board members can be the best mentors for a young CEO.

If you want to follow some of the best investors in the lower middle market, check out what Kevin and his team are up to at www.pacificlake.com. You can also follow Kevin and Pacific Lake on LinkedIn or Twitter @koxendine & @PacificLake. For more podcasts on how to build better Boards, join us at www.boardsnetwork.com and follow us on Twitter @boardsnetwork.

Kevin is a Partner at Pacific Lake Partners and works closely with search fund entrepreneurs throughout their search, acquisition, and operating phases and is a Board Member of Emporos and Kantola.

Previous Episode

Brad Feld: Best Practices and Stories from the Author of Startup Boards

What was Brad Feld's experience as a board member of successful companies such as SendGrid like? How does the experience differ from a company such as ReturnPath, which took considerably longer to arrive at a positive exit? How about when to start a board as a startup and how to construct said board?

Brad Feld has been a venture investor for over 30 years. He founded Foundry Group and has invested in companies such as FitBit, SendGrid and many others. In addition, Brad is a prolific blogger/author in the startup space, having authored many useful works such as Startup Boards and Venture Deals.

In this episode, Brad shares stories about boards he has served on and the insights he has derived from those experiences. You will hear stories about conflicts and how they were resolved at the board level, and best practices for consensus building and on-boarding board members using a "board orientation package". We explore how to think about board construction at the earliest stages, the importance of boards as a helpful tool for early-stage companies, and the "emotional priorities" of the board.

If you want to follow what Brad is up to, you can follow him on Twitter at @bfeld. For more podcasts on how to build better Boards, join us at www.boardsnetwork.com and follow us on Twitter @boardsnetwork.

Next Episode

Brett Hurt: Public Benefit Corporations Can Have It All

Brett is the CEO and Co-founder of data.world, which is building the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world as a Certified B Corporation. He is also a seed-stage investor at Hurt Family Investments in partnership with his wife, Debra, and previously founded several companies such as Bazaarvoice and Coremetrics.

In this episode, we discuss the key characteristics of B Corporations, why you can “have it all” by converting to that legal form, how to convince your investors and partners to convert, and how it impacts the board not only legally but also behaviorally.

We also address topics such as communication with board members as an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and board member. Finally, we discuss the level of transparency conducive to productive culture as well as to what extent the board should be involved in shaping mission, vision, and culture.

If you want to follow what’s happening in the data world or the startup community in Austin, check out what Brett is up to at https://medium.com/@databrett and http://lucky7.io/. You can also follow him on Twitter @databrett. For more podcasts on how to build better Boards, join us at www.boardsnetwork.com and follow us on Twitter @boardsnetwork.