Today’s guest is Adam Mopsick. Adam started a construction business in Miami in 1996. Twenty-five years later, he sold it to private equity for life-changing money. The 2008 recession killed his GC business and forced him to reinvent, building an owner's rep firm from scratch that grew every quarter for six years. When he finally got the exit everyone dreams of, he discovered the hardest part wasn't the deal. It was figuring out who he was without the business.

Most founders think the exit is the finish line. Adam learned it's just the starting gun for a different race. He stayed with the acquirer less than a year before walking away. For 25 years, his business had been his identity—his team, his purpose, his daily mission. When that disappeared, the money didn't fill the void. He tried fishing. He may have become slightly obsessed with padel. But what he needed was another mountain to climb. Two years later, he's sitting on boards, mentoring and coaching founders, and advising a variety of startups. His non-compete is almost up. And he's starting to get the itch again.

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Here's what we discuss:

• Why construction's "terrible service" is actually a massive opportunity
• How recurring revenue business models trade at higher multiples than project-based work
• The real difference between running projects and building a business
• What private equity actually looks for in acquisitions (and which ones are founder-friendly)
• Why the hardest part of an exit isn't the deal—it's the identity crisis that comes after
• What it feels like when the business you built becomes someone else's
• How to think about your next chapter when the thing that defined you is gone

Iconic Links:
Learn More: https://www.iconicfounders.com/
Connect: theturn@iconicfounders.com
Production: Lower Street https://www.lowerstreet.co/