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Comment by mbesto | Hacker News Reader

This is so untrue I don't even know where to start...

Source - have sold my business to PE and have advised on 900+ companies who have sold to PE firms.

In common parlance, "private equity acquisitions" refer to B2C companies rather than B2B companies where there was never of stigma of financialization to begin with.

It's possible you're right as I'm also speaking based off vibes, but my argument remains the same. Those who sell out for a quick payout would eventually fall into the category of "the current owner is unable to continue to run the business and cannot find a successor" when they hit retirement age and their kids would prefer easier/safer/higher general market returns.

I'm not at the retirement age and I was able to continue to run the business, yet sold to PE. How do you explain this?

Also, see my comment below. Feel free to list out all of the companies from those portfolios that match your criteria. I'll wait patiently.

Like I said, I wasn't talking about random B2B startups, and you're going to hit retire age someday. I don't understand what you're arguing against. If we lived in a place that is hostile to "private equity", the majority of the companies you listed never would have been started in the first place.

> you're going to hit retire age someday.

I mean so is every owner, whats your point?

This is such a weird argument...

> I don't even know where to start...

Literally anywhere is better than just hand waving the parent statement away with nebulous, unverifiable claims of your own experience.

Here is a few examples of PE shops and their list of portfolio companies. Please name all of the companies that fit the criteria of "the business is suffering from financial hardship or the current owner is unable to continue to run the business and cannot find a successor"

https://www.ta.com/portfolio/investments/

https://www.accel-kkr.com/portfolio/

https://frontiergrowth.com/our-partnerships

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