Interview with Mike McCraw

Mike McCraw is an amazing man and an even more amazing worker. McCraw is a managing director at Founders Advisors. I sat down with him to gain some insight into his life and learn something from his experiences.

Here are some questions we got to discuss!

What does your job entail?

Mike works with a company that gives advice to businesses to help navigate their journey. They mainly stay in the lower middle market and help founder based businesses move on to the next chapter. That next chapter can be getting a partner, exiting the market, or growing through acquisition. Mike creates relationships with these business owners and helps them in the best way he can. Mike shared one of his own experiences helping “Another Broken Egg” reach its potential. He met with the owner, Ron Green, grow from 10 restaurants in 2012 to 65 in 2017.

How do you generate success in and out of work?

Mike likes to watch others who have traveled his same path to learn more about what he is doing. He believes that mentorship is really important and people should learn to take that offer up more often. He also believes another large part of success is having intentionality in your relationships. Mike is intentional with his kids and with the owners he is working with in order to be more relationship driven versus business driven.

How do you stay educated?

To continue to learn past school, Mike enjoys reading books. He is a big reader and likes to read books to help grow his knowledge. Some of the books that Mike suggests are Shoe Dog and Profit From Core.  He also surrounds himself with others that can help him gain a better understanding of the world around him.

Who is your hero?

Mike has several people that have impacted his life in a heroic way, including his father. Mike was a student athlete so growing up there were many coaches and teachers that poured into his life and helped him become the man that he is today.

What is your morning routine?

Every morning at work, there is a 45 minute period where employees can take time to do something for themselves. Mike likes to take this time to pour into the word because faith is a large part of his life.

Parenting tips?

Mike is obviously a business man so needs to schedule out time for his kids. He says it is okay to put them on the schedule, it makes them feel important and gives you a set time to spend with them. Mike says, “Don’t give your kids what is leftover.”

Thank you so much Mike for sharing all of this and being a great business man and father.

Take some of Mike’s answers and try to use them in your own life, it is great advice. Thank you for reading and if you have any further questions or information, contact thomas@thomascox.co.