Alexis Sikorsky - Special Advisor to Founders #308

17 Mar

Alexis on ADHD, Leadership vs Management, and Advising Founders to Grow and Exit

Season seven of the Us People Podcast features host Savia Rocks interviewing Alexis, a special advisor who helps founders grow and sell companies. Alexis shares being raised in Geneva with undiagnosed ADHD, starting a first business at 15, studying communication and film in Paris, working on movies, and moving to Africa before building and later selling a software company in 2019, then retiring for three years.

He explains he is a leader rather than a manager, and says his advisory work began after seeing entrepreneurs repeat his costly lesson / mistakes, which he estimates cost him five years and $50 million; he wrote a book to share methodology for growth and exit and built a fractional team of experienced leaders. Key themes include action-based relationships and reputation over networking, founder-stage focus on client satisfaction, the need for process after ~$10M revenue, risk and failing fast, hiring people smarter than you, kindness, being yourself, and finding Alexis via LinkedIn.

00:00 Meet Savia Rocks
00:22 Legacy and Trauma
01:10 Season Seven Intro
02:08 Alexis Background
04:52 Identity in the Mirror
07:29 Why Become an Advisor
12:08 Relationships and Reputation
15:16 Leadership and Culture
17:42 Business Stages Explained
21:36 Risk Versus Clients
23:08 Fail Fast Mindset
25:25 Hire Smarter People
27:45 Advice And Identity
30:06 Defining Success Goals
32:22 Helping As Success
34:26 Never Fully At Peace
36:44 Kindness And Truth
38:57 Find Alexis Online
41:22 Closing And Outro