Meet Dean Ashley Bradshaw | CFO & Private Investor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dean Ashley Bradshaw and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dean Ashley, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I get asked this question a lot when people hear that I work 15 hour days. Hard work ethic seems to be frowned upon in today’s society, as the perception has that I neglect family time in favor of my work. Which isn’t the case.

Family time for me is on a pedestal, therefore, I sacrifice everything else like time with friends or binge-watching Netflix.

I sleep roughly six hours a day, spend time with family for 3 hours, and the remainder I dedicate to my passion of helping companies with a revenue between $3M-$10M scale to create a better multiple for an exit.

The 15 hours a day, feels like a breeze compared to when I was working at Barclays Capital in London. 80-90 hours a week was the norm without any sense of fulfillment. Although the hours are similar to what I do now, the biggest change in perception is working 75-80 hours for your passion is far better than sacrificing the time just for a good salary.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
After completing my earnout (3 long years) from the sale of our business to a private equity firm in London, I continued to support them on a consultancy basis helping the deal teams with both commercial & financial due diligence. Deep diving into enterprisers vitals, normally resulted in a few red flags, that would either lower the value of the target company or blow up the deal completely. The entrepreneur in me identified the opportunity to help companies that were thinking of an exit get ready to be sold to private equity firms.

Our model is very simple, we invest in organizations for a minority shareholding, help them 3 x their profits over 3-5 years using our tried and tested methods.

We create greater shareholder value than the business originally had, thus giving the owner/s more money on exit than they would have originally received with a 100% shareholding.

We try to create a win win win situation.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As Brit living in Spain, I have only ever visited Miami on a family vacation. Most of my friends are like me and have young children therefore, no trip would be complete without a visit to Miami Zoo, we also enjoyed our visit to Little Havana, so that would need to be in the mix too.

For food and drink, we were very fortunate enough to sample El Cielo by Juan Manuel Barrientos, my father is of Puerto Rican descent so Latin food & culture plays a big role in my heart.

Lastly, if I didn’t attempt to take the kids to Disneyland, I think my wife would call the divorce lawyers.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have been very fortunate to work under some incredibly talented corporate individuals, in the fields of Marketing, Finance, and Sales. But two individuals have helped me throughout my journey more than others.

First, my business partner Jerremy Newsome, his dedication and passion are inspiring. He always pushes me to thrive in business and to help those less fortunate than myself.

But my wife Sahliene has been my biggest support through all of the business ventures. We have built and sold successful businesses, and seen other ventures crash and burn. We have experienced highs & lows together – but she has never once given up on me and has always encouraged me to continue as an entrepreneur, even when it would have been easier to take a six-figure salary when we lost everything.

Website: https://www.millicentinvestors.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-ashley-bradshaw-309350195/