After the Deal: Why Adam Rossi Wanted to Undo His Exit
“Adam Rossi built a 250-employee software business and eventually sold to SRA International for a very large sum of money. His biggest struggle after the sale was figuring out what to do with himself'” shares Sam Thompson, a Minneapolis business broker and the president of M&A firm Transitions In Business. “In this episode we discuss how sudden wealth can create awkward requests from extended family, why the first company you buy after an exit is the one most likely to fail, and how a family member’s reaction to his sale tested his resolve.”
Adam Rossi built a 250-employee software company serving law enforcement and intelligence agencies. They routinely beat Lockheed Martin in head-to-head bids.
Then a banker came back with five acquisition offers — each at the “absurd” number Adam and his wife had thrown out as a hypothetical. The winning bid came from SRA International, a publicly traded defense contractor, for a price that created generational wealth for his family. Adam took all cash and walked away with no earn-out.
But as Adam discovered, the hard part wasn’t negotiating the deal — it was figuring out what to do after it closed.
In this After the Deal episode, you’ll discover:
- Why Adam wished he could “undo the whole sale” in the years right after his exit.
- The surprising reason he took all cash — and why he now warns founders to consider keeping equity.
- How a family member’s reaction to his sale tested his resolve.
- Why he refused an earn-out — and what happened when he ended up working there anyway.
- The hidden downside of having no financial diversification before a sale.
- Why the first company you buy after an exit is the one most likely to fail.
- How sudden wealth can trigger awkward — even entitled — requests from extended family.
Listen now to discover what nobody tells you about selling for life-changing money.