August 07, 2024

Be the “Chief Happiness Maker” - Robin Rowland, Yo! Sushi, TriSpan

46 minutes

From Doubt to Drive - Entrepreneurs Only.

This week with Robin Rowland, former CEO and Mr. “Yo! Sushi” (https://yosushi.com/), where he grew the brand to over 100 restaurants and to a 200 million valuation. Robin is an industry veteran and nowadays an operating partner at TriSpan. Their private equity “Rising Stars Fund” has invested over 300 million into 10 portfolio companies so far: https://www.trispanllp.com/rising-stars-platform/. Robin talks about his investment strategy, how being an accelerator of growth, both for property and people, is key for success, and why he never lost a deal he wanted to get.

Our main learnings from this conversation are:

You can’t do it alone.

People are the biggest challenge in our industry; people keep changing.

Touch, feel, and smell a business before you get involved.

Get cross-fertilization of your ideas.

Keep a close, strong peer group to tap into their brain.

We all underestimate our capabilities.

You have to do something.

Don’t aim for perfection. Don’t overanalyze.

We all know in our guts if a decision must be made.

Double down in a crisis, especially in hiring people and signing locations.

A crisis is never about life or death.

Don’t put more fuel into the fire.

Be the „Chief Happiness Maker“ in a crisis; your people look at you.

Avoid one-trick ponies.

Understand customer perception.

Don’t invest in brands in their honeymoon phase.

Understand your cash flow and how to control costs better.

You must have a plan to get out of crises.

Good entrepreneurs are like good athletes; they need to look after themselves.

If you have interesting investment ideas for Robin, please contact him via.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-rowland-obe-77070a35/

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Recorded on 10. May 2024 via Zoom in London (Robin Rowland) – Mirissa, Sri Lanka (Mario C. Bauer) – Hamburg, Deutschland (Florian Schneider).

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