Today's GuestToday 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 learnWhy talent is the key factor in success of a companyWhy urgency could be the key different between working in a PE backed vs non PE backed companyWhy finding your niche in the market is vital to successWhy you don’t need to have all the answersWhy you need to stick to your 100-day planWhy you should be taking more risks earlier in your careerBreakdown4:44 - What one mistake do you see PE firms or Portfolio Companies making8:07 - Advice for CEO’s looking to enter the Private Equity world14:26 - Paul discusses what it was like growing a business with a Private Equity sponsor and exiting24:30 - 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 Sciences30:06 - How can PE firms get more value from their Portfolio Companies 32:44 - Advice for CEO’s wanting to take their business PE backed35:45 - What three attributes make a top performer38:59 - What Paul loves and hates about the PE industry44:11 - Paul’s influences 49:12 - Paul talks about a time he was blindsided and what he learned from it55:55 - What advice would you give your 20 year old self Resourceshttps://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!To get the newest Private Equity episodes, you can subscribe on iTunes or Spotify here.Lastly, if you have any feedback on the podcast or want to reach out to Alex with any questions, send an email to alex.rawlings@raw-selection.com