🌕 José Arozarena YA en Cracks Podcast
In this excerpt from the Cracks Podcast, José Arozarena (Speaker B) recounts the dramatic sale of his company. He describes how a mentor warned him not to sell, predicting a ten‑year, ten‑fold growth, yet the company’s valuation on paper actually rose 22‑fold over a decade. When the sale finally happened, José kept a core team of five or six people but had to lay off hundreds, delivering severance checks through a glass wall. The emotional weight of the process is highlighted by a birthday scene on a flight from Madrid to London, where the crew sang "Las Mañanitas" while his family at home remained silent. After returning, he hired a new CEO and faced an aggressive negotiation with a Mexican buyer, involving a massive conference call with 97 participants (6 of his team, 91 opposing lawyers). He notes the astronomical cost of that call, then writes a decisive email stating the deal must close on Tuesday or not at all. The transaction concludes with a single click, prompting him to reflect on the feelings at that moment. The narrative blends quantitative growth metrics, leadership decisions, emotional moments, and high‑stakes negotiation tactics.
