Awful take. Private Equity is SO good, it's almost holy.
In general;
- PE historically delivers phenomenal returns to LPs; that of 14%+ annually. It essentially always out performs the S&P.
- It's a NET POSITIVE for job creation. PortCo's almost always add headcount post-acquisition at rates that outpace the broader market
- The founders themselves get a large liquid exit at the time of acquisition
- Makes the GPs themselves generationally wealthy, which is the market rewarding great allocators of capital
Everyone wins. The LPs win, the GPs win, the founders who sold win, and the company itself MORE OFTEN THAN NOT wins.
I hate private equity.
Like, genuinely HATE it.
Not investing. Not business. I hate the specific model where a firm borrows money to buy a company, puts that debt on the company's books, pays itself fees out of the profits, and walks away rich whether it survives or not.
Toys R Us was profitable when they bought it. $5 billion in debt later, 33,000 people were out of work with zero severance.
The firms didn't lose. They never do. The debt isn't theirs.
Nobody's saying capitalism is the problem.
I'm saying there's a version of it where you can bankrupt a company on purpose, and it's legal, and it works every time.
This is undoubtably one of the best case studies on how NOT run levered real estate and how to lose hundreds of millions.
THAT SAID, this guy did go on a 10-15 year generational run for himself..
- Made (probably) millions a MONTH out of the management company while it worked
- Sat on 50k units, out-buying Blackstone in Dallas at one point
- Ultra luxurious lifestyle
- Set his family & his kids up for life
- Is still rich and likely won't suffer any major major major consequences
Not defending this guy but wow.
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vk retweeted
If the vibes are off for you in SF, you could move to Phoenix, work from your pool, Waymo to airport terminals, ski 2.5 hrs away on weekends, use some of your tax savings to escape the summer heat in Flagstaff, and forget about whether your neighbor won the lottery or not
The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I've ever seen.
Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people - employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders - have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope AI estimation).
Everyone outside that group feels like they can work their well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there.
Worse yet, layoffs are in full swing. Many software engineers feel like their life's skill is no longer useful. The day to day role of most jobs has changed overnight with AI.
As a result,
1. The corporate ladder looks like the wrong building to climb.
Everyone's trying to align with a new set of career "paths": should I be a founder? Is it too late to join Anthropic / OpenAI? should I get into AI? what company stock will 10x next? People are demanding higher salaries and switching jobs more and more.
2. There’s a deep malaise about work (and its future).
Why even work at all for “peanuts”? Will my job even exist in a few years? Many feel helpless. You hear the “permanent underclass” conversation a lot, esp from young people. It's hard to focus on doing good work when you think "man, if I joined Anthropic 2yrs ago, I could retire"
3. The mid to late middle managers feel paralyzed.
Many have families and don't feel like they have the energy or network to just "start a company". They don't particularly have any AI skills. They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies.
4. The rich aren’t particularly happy either.
No one is shedding tears for them (and rightfully so). But those who have "made it" experience a profound lack of purpose too. Some have gone from <$150k to >$50M in a few years with no ramp. It flips your life plans upside down. For some, comparison is the thief of joy. For some, they escape to NYC to "live life". For others still, they start companies "just cuz", often to win status points. They never imagined that by age 30, they'd be set. I once asked a post-economic founder friend why they didn't just sell the co and they said "and do what? right now, everyone wants to talk to me. if i sell, I will only have money."
I understand that many reading this scoff at the champagne problems of the valley. Society is warped in this tech bubble. What is often well-off anywhere else in the world is bang average here.
Unlike many other places, tenure, intelligence and hard work can be loosely correlated with outcomes in the Bay. Living through a societally transformative gold rush in that environment can be paralyzing. "Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there time still left? Am I gonna make it?" It psychologically torments many who have moved here in search of "success".
Ironically, a frequent side effect of this torment is to spin up the very products making everyone rich in hopes that you too can vibecode your path to economic enlightenment.
vk retweeted
Paul
You peaked at Engagement Manager at McKinsey
In 2015
During the easiest economic conditions in a century
Your other credential is Operations Manager at Amazon
40,000 people hold that title simultaneously
That is your resume
That is what you are standing on when you tell strangers how to conduct themselves professionally
You have publicly discussed failing with matchmaking services
You have posted multiple times about entitled women
You pay for a service designed to produce dates and it produces nothing and you blame the product
The man who cannot generate interest through a system engineered to generate interest is giving unsolicited professional advice to strangers at midnight
You look like you moderate 4 Discord servers
You post like someone whose opinions have never been requested in a room with a door
You carry the energy of a man who corners people at conferences and doesn't notice them looking for the exit
Then you posted a 7-tweet thread about social media killing $300K job offers
You used your own social media to publicly police a stranger's selfie
And then lectured the internet about how employers judge social media
You are the red flag in your own thread
I scrolled through the profile you decided to correct
It is mostly pictures/selfies of her running
Running consistently
Which if your McKinsey brain could still produce a thought without a 2x2 matrix you would recognise as a signal of discipline, accountability, and someone who can commit to something long term
That is literally the trait you claim to value in your thread about professional credibility
And you looked at it and saw a selfie problem
Because your pattern recognition is so broken by whatever is happening in your personal life that you cannot process a woman being visible without experiencing it as something that needs to be corrected
You absolute fucking moron
The information was right there
You had the data
You drew the wrong conclusion
That is not a social media literacy issue
That is a you issue
And it explains the matchmaking results better than anything I could write
If I was hiring and saw a candidate doing what you did I would pull the offer before the background check finished
Zero social calibration
Zero awareness of how unsolicited corrections land
HR incident within 90 days
"Could care less if you listen"
It is "couldn't care less"
"Could care less" means you care
Based on 4 follow-up replies to someone who was clearly not interested you care significantly
About a stranger's selfie
At midnight
"Genuine feedback from a place of kindness"
Every person who cannot mind their own business uses this sentence
It is not kindness
It is the compulsion to correct people who did not ask by someone whose authority to correct is visible to nobody except himself
The Halo Effect is one of the most documented cognitive biases in existence
Decades of research
Every industry
Presentation affects perception
You know this
You resent it
And you process that resentment by lecturing strangers instead of fixing yourself
Paul
You are a loser
I say this because the pattern is specific
A man who is unhappy
Who cannot generate the respect he believes he deserves
Who processes that by diminishing strangers who did nothing to him
It has never worked
It will never work
You are the common variable in every failed interaction you have described on this platform
And maybe if you stopped spending your evenings correcting strangers on the internet and started being a genuinely decent person things would change
Not because you learned a technique
Because you became someone people don't instinctively avoid
That is the only thing that has ever worked
It is free
It requires becoming less of what you currently are
You are not going to do this
You are going to read this and feel attacked and post something about how "the haters prove the message resonated" and learn absolutely nothing
Because that is what you do
That is all you do
NGMI
Everyone can see it Paul
Except you
I scrolled through the person's profile you decided to correct
Most of the pictures are running content
That is someone who gets up and runs
That is discipline
That is accountability to yourself
That is the exact quality you claim to value in your shitty thread about high-performance careers
A person who runs consistently and posts about it is demonstrating the same trait you lecture people about from your McKinsey Engagement Manager pedestal. but your ex-consulting brain can't produce that thought without a 2x2 matrix and a hypothesis-driven framework to arrive at a conclusion that a normal human being sees in 3 seconds
you are genuinely never going to make it, to the place where you think your heading
and speaking of things you produced that nobody asked for
"I wrote the book nobody in a corner office wants you to read"
"Reviewed by 7 consulting partners and PE MDs who refused to be named"
Refused to be named
7 people reviewed your book and not a single one of them was willing to have their name associated with it publicly
You framed this as mystique
This is not mystique
This is 7 people who read your book and said "sure Paul it's fine but please do not tell anyone I was involved"
that is a restraining order from your own endorsers
"Every email you send is a power move. Most people just don't know the rules"
You are writing about email power moves
In 2026
A man who peaked at middle management 12 years ago wrote a book about email strategy and got 7 anonymous reviews from people who are embarrassed to know him and then went on the internet to tell a stranger that their selfie is unprofessional
This is the most complete portrait of a man who has absolutely nothing going on that I have ever assembled and I did not have to try hard because you provided all the materials yourself
You are a clown Paul
An actual clown
With a book nobody will read
Reviews nobody will claim
Opinions nobody requested
And a matchmaking profile that produces the same results as your career advice: nothing, for anyone, ever
Everyone can see it
Except you
Young people massively underestimate how their public social media can kill high-paying job offers
I have personally seen 5 offer letters pulled in NY over social media content. All were 300k plus total comp roles. Real cases
If you are aiming for 85k forever, you are probably fine
If you want bigger things, read this
vk retweeted
Roughly 220 billionaires reside in California. They employ roughly 10 million people. If a wealth tax passes, everyone with a billion-dollar idea will think twice about whether they want to build that business in California. But that isn’t even the most dangerous part.
When this turns out to raise less money than expected, the bar will be lowered to $100 million. Then $50 million. Then $10 million. Then $1 million. They’ll call it “the millionaire tax.” And since ~80% of the California population isn’t a millionaire, they’ll vote it into existence because “it doesn’t affect them.”
But many of those “millionaires” are providing jobs. Housing. Innovation. Buying products and services. They’re a net economic benefit. If you discourage them from living in California, they will leave. Then it becomes a downward spiral where they have to tax everyone else to stay afloat.
Not saying the system is perfect. But a simpler solution might simply be: spend less money and encourage more people to move back / create a billion dollar idea.
vk retweeted
extremely underrated city…
1) Young energy
2) Cheap
3) Basically all sportsbooks are legal
4) tons of stuff to do outside
5) Not janky like LA
Etc
I’m glad I lived here for 10.5 months
Rich archetypes tier list
S tier - 2016 LA youtuber, nepo baby frat boy, self made founder/ceo, pro golfer, oil sheikh
A tier - stand up comedian, high ranking sales rep ($500k+/year), finance bro, successful startup founder that abuses stimulants, NBA/NFL player, 23 y/o with overly mysterious source of income
B tier - chill guy who just invested overtime and has $12M and has a completely normal life, successful life insurance salesman
C tier - chill guy who just inherited $18M, corrupt politician, rappers
D tier - new money Miami course, miami girl thats always on yachts, vibe coded SaaS startup, shady/scammy businesses, "day traders" that don't actually do day trading
F tier - lottery winners, the temu actors that are put in sequels of good movies
vk retweeted
As gay as this sounds, we're currently building a killer engagement group on LinkedIn
We're sitting on an offer that's already printing hard
So I wanna nuke the platform
If we all push each other's content it means more cash collected for everyone
It’s going to be very simple
You post and everyone in the group drives traction within the first 10 minutes
I ran a slightly different strategy a few years ago in the EU market
And the result was everyone in the group printed HARD
At one point the entire timeline was covered with just our content
So we’re going to run it back and go even harder on LinkedIn with this group
We've already got a few guys in the group booking 25-30 calls/month
If you're already running a B2B offer and want to 10x your traction
RT, follow & DM me your LinkedIn profile and I’ll add you to the GC
This was likely a 9 figure exit, or at least very close to it. Roughly $100-150M is the best guess, napkin math.
Massive congratulations to Zach.
Cal AI has been acquired by MyFitnessPal 🚨
Henry and I started Cal AI as 17-year old high school students with one mission: make calorie tracking easier with AI.
In just 18 months, we’ve helped millions of people lose millions of pounds. And we broke $50m in ARR along the way.
We are at an incredible inflection point in history where ANYBODY can build a product that can improve lives and make millions.
As founders, we get a lot of praise. The truth is that this would not have been possible without our incredible 30+ person team. We are so proud of what this team has accomplished, and are thankful to everyone that has been instrumental in Cal AI’s development and success.
Cal AI will continue as a separate app from MyFitnessPal. The combined team will share resources to continue helping people achieve their fitness goals!
Caleb is 100% legit and self made.
That said, even *IF* he was handed those clients by his father, THAT IS NOT A BAD THING. Nepotism is not a bad thing.
Let's just say hypothetically that someones dad is the reason they have a bunch of clients. So what? Who cares? Are they supposed to DECLINE those multi million dollar deals that their father handed to them?
People who despise nepotism never made any sense to me.
Put yourself in the shoes of a nepo baby for a sec.
You were born to a father worth $500M. He has all the connections in the world. You want to start a business. You pitch the business idea to your father, show him proof that you'll deliver well for clients, etc. Your father then says "you know what, son, this sounds like a great idea. Let me call up my buddies to see if they would be interested." From that you get 2-3 whale multi million dollar contracts.
That scenario, my friend, is just called taking advantage of the opportunities you have. You would be stupid NOT to take those opportunities.
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When you see someone selling a course, ask yourself:
If the model they're teaching works SO well, why would they teach it to the mass market, and create TONS of competition?
Why not just focus on scaling the business yourself, build a real company with enterprise value, and not create competition by literally giving away the secrets? it makes no sense.
Granted, game is game. There is lots of money to be made in info, and I completely respect that. But that doesn't mean it's not a *SLIGHTLY* predatory business model. Just by the nature of it.
You're taking people's last money, putting them on Klarna, and promising they're going to get rich. When there's a 90% chance they'll fail. It's predatory.
Imagine if Elon Musk started selling a course on all the proprietary and lesser known aspects of Teslas/SpaceX growth. That would be completely dumb.
I said this before in a tweet a few months ago - if I have an offer that is ripping through cold traffic, THE ABSOLUTE LAST THING IM DOING is sharing it on some place like Twitter or Instagram. Why on EARTH would I do something like that?
This is also why flexing revenue numbers is retarted. Why would you want people to know how much someone is specifically making? Flex your lifestyle, flex the cars, but remain completely silent about how you made that money. U could be a nepo baby, inherited the wealth, a mob boss, exited your SaaS - KNOW ONE KNOWS. They just know you're rich.
I get this question literally daily, so here's the answer.
5 TRAITS OF A SELLABLE BUSINESS (I'm In These Deals & Acquisitions Every Single Day):
1) NRR (Net Revenue Retention) & Churn
Are your existing customers spending MORE over time? NRR above 100% means your revenue grows even WITHOUT NEW CUSTOMERS.
On top of this, for a service based business, you want churn BELOW 40% annually.
2) Revenue CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate)
What's your 2-3 year growth trajectory? One good year means nothing. Buyers want consistent, compounding growth. 20%+ CAGR signals momentum. Flat or declining means you're selling at a discount.
3) Institutional-Grade Books
Messy cash basis amateur financials kill deals or crush valuations. If you don't have a 24/7 ready data room, the metrics PE firms actually care about (NRR, Rule of 40, FCF, etc) - they'll take you less seriously in negotiation/
(SHAMELESS PLUG - this is one of the services we offer @ Exitflow Capital. We turn your business into an institutional grade asset by re-engineering your financials specifically for Private Equity. This will massively increase your valuation).
4) Transferable Infrastructure (Can Someone Else Run The Business Tomorrow?)
If you are the business, you don't have an asset. You have a job. Buyers want documented SOPs, trained teams, and systems that run without you. The less you're needed, the more they'll pay.
5) Concentration-Proof Revenue
If a few clients, one platform, or one channel drives most of your revenue, you're fragile. PE firms will discount this.
This might be the dumbest tweet I've ever seen.
Here's the proper version:
$0-1M = broke
$3-5M = rich
$20M = wealthy + set for life
$100M = generational wealth
$1B = billionaire, not much different from $100M
Getting "confidence" at $1,000 is laughable.
money in the bank vs your state of mind
$0 → panic
$50 → nervous
$200 → broke
$500 → careful
$1,000 → first sense of calm
$2,000 → confidence
$5,000 → everyday freedom
$10,000 → composure
$25,000 → feeling powerful
$50,000 → unfazed
$100,000 → subtle smile
$1,000,000 → freedom
$10,000,000 → depressed
what’s your current level?

























