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William Van Vleet Serial entrepreneur, CEO and executive mentor

Orange County, CA

Seasoned CEO with experience in private, public and private equity companies providing expertise in strategy, execution, business development, program management, mergers and acquisitions.

$10/min

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Business Development

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Member since May 2016

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Business Development

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Strategy

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Strategic Planning

Management Consulting

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Mergers & Acquisitions

Integration

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William Van Vleet

Orange County, CA

Seasoned CEO with experience in private, public and private equity companies providing expertise in strategy, execution, business development, program management, mergers and acquisitions.

$10.00/min

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Business Development Technology Strategy Marketing Strategy Strategic Planning Management Consulting Program Management Mergers & Acquisitions Integration Corporate Culture

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I Will Give You Advice on Strategic Business Planning

Aggregating skills over 20 years in a Fortune 50 company, I successfully developed a comprehensive strategic business planning approach and implemented it in three successive small and mid-sized companies resulting in over 100% compound annual growth and tripling shareholder value in three years.

I Will Give You Advice on Mergers and Acquisitions

I developed and led the strategy and process to identify, qualify, acquire and integrate over 12 companies at large, medium and small companies. With experience on both sides of the table, I can represent the buyer or seller in a transaction. My services bring over 35 years of experience and lessons learned to augment company organic growth to transform your business.

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William Van Vleet answered

My partner and I shared similar tasks. He works a little more with clients and I with the development team. Which would be the best titles for us?

If you want to use traditional titles to communicate your roles, Chief Executive Officer is typically focused outside the company and Chief Operating Officer is focused internally. If you want to take a more creative approach to reflect a more modern edge, you could consider calling your partner the Chief Revenue Officer and use the title of Chief Visionary Officer for yourself. You could go even further with titles like Digital Marketing Magician and Sensei, but beware of getting too cute and confusing clients and employees. Remember the most important reason for titles is to clearly communicate position and purpose, and not ego advancement. Happy to share my experience creating and running multiple private and public companies if you'd like to follow up.

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William Van Vleet answered

When going through an acquisition as a minority shareholder in a complex transaction, should I hire an expert "agent" to negotiate on my behalf?

The complexity of your situation is similar to multiple acquisitions I have encountered on both sides of the table in private and public transactions. In most situations involving private equity, it is doubtful if the additional cost of a private agent would generate a material gain given your minority position. However, since your situation has the additional complexities of differentiation in EBITDA contribution and negotiation with family members, I would agree with your recommendation to use an external agent. If the cost is a concern, you may want to consider using an advisor/coach/consultant to work on a fixed fee basis instead. I took this approach in selling one of the private companies I ran and was able to complete the transaction at a much lower cost than using an investment banker or agent. I'm happy to share my experience and lessons learned if you would like to follow up with a discussion.

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Member since May 2016