Soon after launching our course ecosystem, several major brokerages and private equity industry blogs reached out with collaborative requests.
We spoke to each of them, and the sentiment was clear: they want a piece (or more) of the curriculum and community.
High on the unexpected success we said "no," and have been improving the content and private alumni forum ever since. We also believed selling out to a broker, whose competitors are numerous, would influence our lectures to be partial towards their dealflow and services.
As a micro private equity fund without any "how to buy a company" course competitors, we think we're best suited to offer a useful perspective to entrepreneurs, without ulterior motives. This was enough to fortify our "no" in at least two more occasions.
But the Micro Acquisitions platform is not Fork Equity. It's just a portfolio project. A nifty one — that's for sure. But a project nonetheless. Which begs the question: shouldn't this ecosystem have an exit plan, just like every other platform we own?
I'm writing this post to "think out loud." But there is a lesson for all of us: you cannot let the baby become the parent.