Today I talk with a guest that is back on the show, Ilan Jacobson (the founding partner and CEO of Firepower Capital, based in Canada). Ilan is colorful, straight-forward, intelligent, and brilliant entrepreneur with an amazing background in finance and geneology.

Ilan is on the ground floor and has lots of exposure to the M&A marketplace. At Firepower Capital, they have an M&A sell side advisory team does deal between $10M - $250M as well as an investment arm that deploys their our own capital in Canadian companies through venture, gap & bridge term debt, as well as private equity with deal sizes $1M - $20M (fun fact – they own one of the largest battle ax throwing companies ;-)

We cover some of the biggest questions up in the air right now: What will our new normal look like? How will consumer behavior and the business landscape change? What impact does the debt levels on consumers and business have on the recovery?

Our conversation was a blast and rich with insight about how the pandemic could impact the future of the economy, business valuations, private equity and more.

Some of the things we discuss in today’s episode –

What the new economic normal might look like

How and when things might bounce back

The high levels of debt and how that will impact the recovery

How the shutdown is impacting business and private equity

Changes in business valuations

Ways business might change post-COVID-19

How the CARES act and stimulus money will be deployed

How corporate incentives could / should change when companies receive the money

What industries are benefiting from the shifting of how business is getting done

Where are the potential opportunities and value in the marketplace

Ilan’s predictions for later this year and post-COVID-19

Where to find Ilan and about his new podcast, “The Dealmaker’s DNA”

 

Main takeaway

Make sure to pull from all of the resources available for you out there. That way you can start synthesizing information and start figuring out what your new norm is going to be. One of the resources you should check out is our Mastering Your Cashflow Mini-course. Also check out the digital course for our bootcamp.

 

Quotes:

“The pandemic threw a wrench in the system in a real hard way. But the lack of lubrication was being seen. The squeaks were being seen before this.” - Ilan Jacobson

“It’s really shown, in a very real way, the flaws in our system. But I honestly think those flaws existed prior to us seeing them.” - Ilan Jacobson

 “We are only as safe as the lowest common denominator. And I don’t trust the lowest common denominator.” - Ilan Jacobson

 “We are, actually, as an entire global population, learning new skills. Which is quite interesting.” - Ilan Jacobson

 “The commercial real estate market is going to be so different.” - Ryan Tansom

 “This is the best case study of supply versus demand economics. Like, if people don’t wake up and buy shit every day, there is no machine.” - Ryan Tansom

 

Resources:

Ilan Jacobson, LinkedIn

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Yo