I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
I scored you many goals
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First week of “relax” and meetings to celebrate my well-deserved holidays. Having been for so long on the infrastructure world, logically I’ve been catching up and meeting people from banks, private equity firms and infrastructure investors, in general. In a coffee with investors talking about how I could help them in the future, I was asked something like… why would I be a good advisor for them. I was thinking that we were practising the art of conversation and coffee tasting and this caught me totally out of guard. “Because I scored you many goals” – without thinking. Not the best answer, I’m afraid, but they loved it, and we could continue our coffee. And you know that I love coffee… Well… I correct. You know that I love good coffee… And why did they like my answer? Well… This is a constant in business. If you wonder, why the FBI uses hackers to protect their IT system or help them to “spy” on others’ computers… well… I’m sure you can guess. The best security guys can perfectly be former robbers. So, I guess that someone wanting to buy infrastructure, or any other thing would love to have a seller from the other site of the table advising them. I know where all the tricks and flaws could be in an asset. I’ve delivered many. It’s like buying a house… you would love to have a former real estate agent with you. Don’t you? If so, and you want to learn a few tricks about infrastructure, you need to take a look to this. ​The 15 Top Lessons of a PPP Project Nightmare - The audiobook​ PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
I talk about Personal Growth, Management, Infrastructure and More | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
They thought the deal was done. Preferred bidder. Banks aligned. Lawyers billing like there’s no tomorrow. Financial Close… just weeks away. Then Lehman Brothers collapsed (2008). And across the world… PPP deals froze. In the UK, dozens of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects suddenly faced: No liquidity Banks pulling out Margins exploding Some survived. Many didn’t. I remember those days well… as I was parachuted to the A30 Project in Montreal whose financial closed happened end of...
Someone lied to me yesterday. And not even a good lie. A lazy one. A client texts me on WhatsApp: “Aqualia came. They say we need to build an additional drainage point to install the final water meters. We have 10 days.” 10 days. That was the giveaway. Let me translate this for you. Aqualia. The most incompetent utility provider in Spain after Endesa (about those guys, I can talk another day). The same Aqualia that took 7 months to even show up. Now suddenly… they give us 10 days? Come on....
In 27 minutes on the phone, I domesticated the beast. “How did you do it?” my project manager asked. Using his ego. Context. Contractor. Spain. Penthouse. Water coming from the ceiling. “Go fix it. It’s under warranty.” “No. Warranty expired. When I left, there was no leak.” I’ve seen worse. And more creative lies. This one was just… lazy. Less than a year since notification. In Spain, that’s a 3-year warranty. But fine. Let’s play. In judo, you don’t fight strength. You use it. Same here....