My Guest
Derek Bullard is a serial entrepreneur and founder who has spent the past three decades building and exiting companies in the healthcare ecosystem. He founded his first company, Access Family Services — in the late 1990s, growing it to over 500 employees across multiple states before selling a majority stake to HIG Capital in 2012. He subsequently served as President and CEO of Siskin Children’s Institute, a Chattanooga-based nonprofit providing developmental-pediatric services, during which time he helped grow the number of children served from 2,500 to more than 7,000 annually. He also founded RD Home Care, a non-medical senior care business, which he sold to a strategic acquirer.
In 2020, Derek founded RD Autism Health. He reassembled much of the leadership team from his first company to launch it, and in early 2025 sold a majority stake to Triton Pacific Capital Partners — his second private equity exit — while remaining actively involved as CEO.
Derek’s entrepreneurial journey began not in business school but through a personal experience: becoming a licensed foster parent in his early twenties led him to an unexpected passion for advocating for individuals with special needs, which ultimately drew him out of a nascent banking career and into healthcare. That origin story has defined both the companies he has built and the values that have guided how he has built them.
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The Unseen Realities of Selling Your Company to Private Equity – In The Trenches
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Episode Summary with Timestamps
- 00:00 Introduction and episode overview
- 03:35 Derek Bullard’s career journey and milestones
- 07:12 Initial sale of youth mental health business to private equity
- 10:36 Motivations behind the first exit: personal vs commercial
- 13:20 Lessons from a failed sale and key takeaways
- 15:53 Post-exit emotional and psychological insights
- 20:52 Inherent realities of selling to private equity
- 22:52 Managing private equity relationships and decision-making
- 26:31 Selling to strategic vs private equity: key differences
- 34:19 Post-close roles and integration in private equity deals
- 45:27 Attributes that make a business attractive to private equity
- 48:12 Importance of corporate hygiene and financial reporting
- 51:28 Selling to a strategic acquirer: experience and contrasts
- 54:40 Personal considerations when selling to a strategic
- 01:02:08 Lessons learned and advice for sellers
- 01:11:24 Managing staff communication during sale process
- 01:14:29 Most meaningful lessons from the past year
- 01:16:21 Tools and practices for well-being and resilience
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