Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
by Beth Ewen Jim Graves looks at me, his cell phone glued to his ear. “I’m on hold,” he says, indicating that I should go on with my questions.
We’re sitting at a table in Cosmos, the restaurant in his brand-new hotel, Le Meridien, in downtown Minneapolis. This place is the bomb. They even have real linen towels, rolled up and placed in tiny wooden cubicles, in the bathroom.
I’ve been interviewing him for about seven minutes for this issue’s Back Page article. So far someone has asked for my drink order four times (just water), brought a bread basket, asked for our lunch order (we’re not eating,) and presented with a flourish two folders about Le Meridien, as if they were plates of foie gras.
Meanwhile Graves, the president and CEO of Graves Hospitality, which owns Le Meridien, has taken two phone calls, apologizing all the way. “Have you heard of John Kerry?” he asks me. Yes, I’ve heard of the Democratic hopeful for president. “I’m on a steering committee supporting him, and he’s in town earlier than planned.”
He’s called his secretary to cancel his lunch appointment. “It’s Barry, b-a-r-r-y.” He’s called his lunch appointment to leave the message that he can’t make lunch. He’s called his lunch appointment’s assistant to leave the same message. “Maybe Barry’s a good Democrat so he won’t be too upset,” Graves says to the assistant. “Or if he’s a good Republican then he’ll be really happy because John Kerry is way out there.”
Thirty-two minutes later we’re on the pavement, in front of the hotel. Local adman Lee Lynch is there, resplendent in his signature green bow tie, to pick up Graves. “Do you know Lee?” Graves calls out, promising to continue our conversation by phone. They speed off to the Kerry lunch in Lynch’s convertible.
Does this guy have attention deficit disorder or what? It’s possible, but more likely his wheeler-dealer personality is perfectly suited to his line of work.
He put together an equity and debt package for Le Meridien that he breezily describes as in “the 60s.” That’s $60 million, naturally. He’s got the most expensive hotel by a mile in the Twin Cities in an economy that stinks. And he appears to be having the time of his life.
The interview got me thinking about the diverse array of entrepreneurial personalities. Small-business owners can be thoughtful, or intellectual, or charming, or steady, or a thousand other things. As long as they’re reflecting their genuine self in their company, it all works.
Corporate executives have diverse personalities, too, of course. But they’re usually so well coached that it’s tough to discover what they are, much less to learn something from them.
Small-business owners, on the other hand, have greeted me in their stocking feet, screamed at me as their wig inched up their bald head, let their company dog put his head in my lap (silk suit be damned.) Or like Jim Graves, they’ve dispensed bits of business wisdom and then zoomed off to bigger things.
At Upsize, we learn from all those personalities, and we especially enjoy all entrepreneurs who share their quirks and ideas and passion with us.
