John Ellison is a Deal Guide with Private Equity Primer and a managing member of Richmond Quantitative Advisors. He previously worked in investment banking, valuation, and equity research. He holds a CFA, has a fierce beard, and a deep passion for financial analysis and investing. We sat down with John to talk about his career path.

Deal Guide: What got you interested in M&A?

John:  If I’m completely honest, the initial interest stemmed from how lucrative M&A advisory and investment banking could be.  But, after joining the industry, what really captured my interest was doing meaningful work with really smart and motivated people.

Deal Guide: I feel that that is a common journey for many in the profession.  Come for the pay, stay for the skill development and craft.  Very cool.

Deal Guide: How did working in business valuation influence how you think about evaluating businesses?

John:  It made me realize that you have to take a truly holistic approach to assessing a business – looking at the business from every single angle.  For example, taking a top-down valuation approach like applying valuation multiples from M&A or public comps to the individual company can capture a variety of insights, particularly at the sector/industry level, but these methods will miss a lot of the distinctive characteristics of the company.  So, it makes a lot of sense to also take a bottom-up approach, like DCF and LBO valuation methods, particularly at a super granular level – like building out a model all the way from the individual unit/SKU level.  Not to mention, you also get a ton of insight by getting to know the management team, something you can’t get from the financial statements and external sources.

Deal Guide: Your wife is an accomplished auditor at one of the Big 4. What skills do you see that served her well in navigating a lasting career in such a large organization?

John:  From my perspective, I think it was a few things:

• She is very meticulous and takes pride in her work product – and therefore, she’s been a teammate that her team can count on.
• She has always been focused on the team and making sure she and everyone working with her is keeping up the pace – and if she needs to work harder to pick up the team’s slack, then she will.
• She’s always been focused on doing good work and building meaningful relationships – and this has allowed her to navigate within the firm and get a ton of support from the people around her.

Deal Guide: You have invested a lot of time reading books on communication. What motivated you to do that? Top tip from your studies?

John:  I think communication is one of the most powerful tools humans have, especially if it’s used effectively.  Through communication, we can make others laugh, cry, be motivated, feel important, etc.  The world belongs to those who can communicate their vision the best.  As for top tips, I have two:

• Listening is by far the most effective tool in proper communication.  When others feel heard, they feel cared for and they feel an affinity for the person listening to them.  This goes a long, long way in building relationships and ultimately having your views listened to, as well.
• Be a good storyteller. Being able to tell a clear, concise, and colorful story, is one of the best ways to convey your ideas and effectively communicate with others.  Facts are often forgotten, but stories are remembered.

I know Private Equity Primer makes similar points in M&A Bootcamp and Communicative Teamwork courses.

What did you wish you knew earlier in your career? 

John:  Two things:

• I wish I had known that no matter what field you go into, the top of the ladder or highest leadership positions are essentially sales positions. The heads of M&A firms, accounting firms, consulting firms, company CEOs, etc., are all focused on generating revenue, and as such, sales is the focus in those roles – along with all the other things like managing people, strategic thinking, managing operations and admin, etc.  So, find a career where you love what you do – because if you love it, it will shine through when you communicate with people, and this will naturally drive sales and revenue.
• I wish I had known how to code. Being able to instruct computers to do a variety of things automatically is like a superpower.  You can automate all sorts of things that would otherwise take hours or even days/weeks to do.  This would have saved me a ton of nights and weekends along the way.  (I would probably equate this to using LLMs and AI today, as well.  Using these tools will be imperative to driving efficiency in the new world we live in.)