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Jean-Louis Lelogeais talks with Jason Barnard about the entrepreneurial long game.
The Entrepreneurial Long Game! Jean-Louis Lelogeais, co-founder of PEO Partners and SVP Global, reveals the mindset shifts that transformed him from startup consultant to managing over $21 billion in assets. Drawing from 40+ years building three successful ventures—including surviving the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis—Jean-Louis shares his proven framework for entrepreneurial endurance. Learn why big ideas require passionate commitment, how setbacks become your greatest teachers, and discover the critical timing for building legacy-focused leadership teams.
In this inspiring episode, you’ll discover:
– Why “big ideas that change the world” are essential for long-term success
– How to build staying power when ventures take longer than expected
– The partnership advantage: why 1+1 equals more than 2 in entrepreneurship
– How to create feedback loops that prevent costly mistakes
– The legacy mindset shift that separates successful exits from failures
This conversation offers a blueprint for entrepreneurs ready to play the long game and build businesses that outlast their founders.
#Entrepreneurship #PrivateEquity #StartupStrategy #BusinessStrategy #LongTermThinking #Legacy #VentureCapital #BusinessGrowth #EntrepreneurMindset #Leadership #BusinessBuilding #StartupLife #Podcast #FastlaneFounders
What you’ll learn from Jean-Louis Lelogeais
This episode was recorded live on video June 24th 2025
Links to pieces of content relevant to this topic:
https://www.peo-partners.com/viewer/viewer.html?link=https://www.peo-partners.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Liquid-PE-White-Paper-March-2025-FOR-WEBSITE-APPROVED.docx-1.pdf
Jean-Louis Lelogeais
Transcript from Jean-Louis Lelogeais with Jason Barnard on Fastlane Founders And Legacy. Entrepreneurial Long Game
[00:00:00] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: When you start as an entrepreneur, you’re doing it all, right? So the fun part of it, the intellectual challenge, because I would tell you. Also for me, the big idea also has to be intellectually challenging. But the reality is, your day to day. It’s not that you still need to prove the wires.
[00:00:20] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: You need to do the admin side. You need to maintain the QuickBooks. So if you’re not passionate, all that kind of, because there’s no resources to get a whole team to do a bunch of things for you. So you got to be ready to get your hands dirty and do a lot of stuff that may seem beyond you, and it is not particularly the most thrilling stuff but you do it because that’s part of what’s required and what drives.
[00:00:50] Narrator: Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard. Each week, Jason sits down with successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and executives, and gets them to share how they mastered the delicate balance between rapid growth and enduring success in the business world.
[00:01:06] Narrator: How can we quickly build a profitable business that stands the test of time and become their legacy? A legacy we’re proud of. Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard.
[00:01:19] Jason Barnard: Hi everybody and welcome to another Fastlane Founders and Legacy with me, Jason Barnard. And the quick hello and we’re good to go.
[00:01:27] Jason Barnard: Oh, welcome to the show.
[00:01:33] Jason Barnard: Impossible to say or sing.
[00:01:37] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: That was pretty close. and I’m not going to try to sing back to you, Jason even though my wife is Korean and I’ve spent many hours at karaoke. But, it’s still hopeless. But it’s very good to meet you. And how are you doing today?
[00:01:57] Jason Barnard: I’m absolutely fine, Mr. Lelogeais. What I did like about that is you said that your name is impossible to sing or say, so I thought I would sing it completely wrong because that’s what you’re used to. That’s been your life. As long as you’ve been in America, you’re from France, but you live in America and you’re an entrepreneur.
[00:02:16] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Yeah, I got to tell you that. That’s one big advantage. Having a name like this in the States, I’m the only Jean-Louis Lelogeais in all of America. I can guarantee you that. And what’s really nice about the professional journey is if you meet somebody 15 years ago, there’s a chance they might remember that name versus Michael Johnson might not quite resonate the same way. So I must say it’s been a bit of an advantage that way people typically remember.
[00:02:45] Jason Barnard: And that’s a really interesting point, a unique name is hugely powerful. And in SEO and Brand Optimization within Search and AI, it’s incredibly important as we’ll see.
[00:03:00] Jason Barnard: But here, when I searched your name, this is the result. I got lots of blue links, your photos. But there’s a Knowledge Panel, hiding behind it that doesn’t appear. And one of the huge things that I find is this makes you look less impressive than this.
[00:03:22] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: What you’re referring to is the video with my partner, Randy.
[00:03:27] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Is that what you’re referring to?
[00:03:29] Jason Barnard: It’s the fact that Google doesn’t fully understand you to the extent that it’s willing to present you with this incredibly good looking search result for your name.
[00:03:39] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Yeah. So Jason, obviously offline, we should absolutely have a conversation. I’m turning 67. I’m very low tech and we need to make better usage of all the tools out there and so would welcome learning from you.
[00:03:58] Jason Barnard: Yeah, it’s a huge question of framing and how well the algorithms Google, ChatGPT and so on understand you rather than your achievements.
[00:04:08] Jason Barnard: And from what I understand, your achievements are huge. Can you give us a quick rundown?
[00:04:12] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: I’m not sure. You’re too kind. But obviously, 40 years into business, there’s obviously a number of kinds of milestones and things you accomplish.
[00:04:25] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: But I’m not sure, for the listeners, whether it makes sense to me going chronologically, which might be super boring. But just to highlight some themes, I started at Booz Allen and Hamilton, which is a strategy consulting firm out of New York. And even at Booz Allen, the way you made a partner is you had to be essentially an entrepreneur. You had to come up with a segment of your intellectual, or IP, if you want to call it that. That would be interesting to a segment of customers, and you basically had to build your own franchise.
[00:05:14] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: That’s the way. The old partner said, yeah, he is bringing your business, he’s bringing revenues because, at least that’s the way it was at that time. So Booz were the formative years after doing business school at MIT Sloan. And in terms of my career, I think I always had the entrepreneurship bug. So I did a two year stint at Chase Manhattan Bank. They were my largest client at Booz Allen. And so they made me the offer. It’s a very classic kind of scenario where, you know, come inside and see whether you can implement all those recommendations. And I must say it was a super interesting and humbling experience because you know what seems good on paper in a presentation, you get inside a very large organization like Chase. And you discover that it’s more like an oil tanker, meaning that you’re pulling your lever and then you start to realize it’s going the wrong direction by the inertia of trying to change it again. It’s not like you’re maneuvering a sailboat. So it was a super humbling and learning experience about the importance of implementation. That became the next chapter for me and very quickly I realized that I’ve had the entrepreneurship bug since the very beginning. After Chase, which was acquired by Chemical Banks, the course changed and was no longer what I was interested in. I was involved in it in the first wave of internet ventures, and got involved in a Paris space company called DataOps. And that was back in 96 and that journey wind up being a super interesting journey because as you recall, 2001, 2002, all those first waves of internet company that went and fetch amazing valuation.
[00:07:28] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And then a few months later, they were worth nothing.
[00:07:32] Jason Barnard: I was in the middle of that.
[00:07:36] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: So only a few companies could have survived and I must say it was an amazing experience because we were VC backed including a company out of the West coast called Partech and the VCs didn’t understand that business.
[00:07:53] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: It was a very innovative business at the time. But in fact, we are ahead of its time, you know. Now with ChatGPT, it looked so easy what DataOps was doing, but DataOps was essentially analyzing words super, super fast and using modeling techniques. It’s particularly based on chaos theory to identify among those words, very early signals of change, and even you could program it to focus on tonality and that was really an idea ahead of its time with so many applications.
[00:08:28] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: But the VC guys didn’t understand the business model. So you get 5 million bucks from them, then the money is spent, they’re pushing you one direction and we got very close to bankruptcy. And thank God the founder of the business, we managed to stop the bleeding if she will. Before it was too late. We bought back the VCs, we did another annual round because it’s all about staying power. So we survived that kind of up and down of that internet wave, if you will. And then, the company got sold in 2006 to Lexus Nexus.
[00:09:12] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Not a great success story. It was sold for 5 million Euros. But I got to tell you, surviving that wave and being able to still show something for it was a great experience. But I only stayed with day tops in a full-time capacity from 96 to 99 just because it made sense to position the business in the states and we had an LOI from Moltex, which was moltex.com. So that my role was involved for a couple of years.
[00:09:48] Jason Barnard: Which actually brings us to the idea of big ideas and the long game, which is the point here today is it’s a big idea and sticking for the long game is hugely important. And you were saying you need to insist and stick with your idea and be confident in your idea even when it’s not necessarily working.
[00:10:09] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: That’s exactly right. First of all, I think the themes in my mind we’re happy to touch on. On the other two ventures as well, and so far, I don’t need to tell you Jason, entrepreneurship, startups, the hit rate is very low, right? Most of those businesses are going to fail. And I must say, I’m pitching myself because of day jobs, obviously, even though it was not glorious and we didn’t. It was not a unicorn. I would still consider it a marked success given the circumstances there was an exit and an institutional buyer.
[00:10:48] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: SVP which is my next venture, is now on its way to be a 26 billion private equity type firm focused on distressed investing. And we started, my partner and I going to Kinko to print the pitch deck. So it was literally we started from scratch and PEO Partners, my current venture. Again, we’re pinching ourselves.
[00:11:10] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: We have a little bit less than 300 million under management. Somehow, it’s almost going to, it feels like 3, 4 3, which is unbelievable in a career. Usually, you potentially have one failure. You learn from those mistakes.
[00:11:26] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And that’s how you become successful—it’s never a straight line. But so far, knocking on wood as it said. But to your point, I think the themes are really, in my mind across all those businesses, we could talk about it but you got to be passionate about the business. And to be passionate about the business for me, that means it’s got to be a big idea. There some people are very passionate about opening just a pastry shop. In New York, that would give very nice croissants or baguettes, and that’s completely fine.
[00:12:03] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: You can be passionate about that. But for me, it’s passion about big ideas that can really change the work and make a big impact. So that sounds super ambitious, but that’s what drives me. Not simply doing a small business as an entrepreneur and being passionate about it. And obviously, if you think the idea is going to really change the word in a good way and have a good impact, then it’s easy to be passionate about it.
[00:12:33] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And passion is going to be essential because staying power is key. DataOps, I can tell you, it was a trying time. Many times. And the same thing with SVP, Strategic Value Partner.
[00:12:50] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: I remember vividly in December of 2002, my partner was not sure we’re going to make it.
[00:12:56] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And then that was one tough kind of original, tough milestone. And then again, we’re not in financial markets, but there was the global financial crisis. We also saw destiny and lost a lot of assets. So there was, again, it sounds easy to say 26 billion today, on its way to 26 billion.
[00:13:18] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: But it was a lot of trying times along the way. So staying power, that passion, that’s what drives you and you’re able to have. So staying power is very critical because it never happens as fast as you think. I see all those young entrepreneurs and they just don’t know what the journey they’re getting started on.
[00:13:40] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And even SVP, by the way, was my partner. We say, we often say, if we knew what the journey was going to be, I’m not sure we would’ve started it, if you will.
[00:13:49] Jason Barnard: And then you’ve got the whole question about the journey. And if you can enjoy the journey, then you are winning. And if you are going to be passionate with a big idea,
[00:13:58] Jason Barnard: then you’re likely to enjoy the journey and that long game that you’re talking about makes sense.
[00:14:04] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Yeah, absolutely. I’m going to say obvious things. Again, your audience is pretty sophisticated, but hopefully it’s helpful for everybody’s testimony.
[00:14:15] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: It resonates in a different way, but when you start as an entrepreneur, you’re doing it all right? So the fun part of it, the intellectual challenge, because I would tell you also for me, the big idea also has to be intellectually challenging. But the reality is your day to day.
[00:14:34] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: It’s not that you still need to prove the wires. You need to do the admin side. You need to maintain the QuickBooks, so if you’re not passionate, all that kind of, because there’s no resources to get a whole team to do a bunch of things for you. So you got to be ready to get your hands dirty and do a lot of stuff, you know, that may seem beyond you and it is not particularly the most thrilling stuff, but you do it because that’s part of what’s required and what drives you.
[00:15:09] Jason Barnard: And then the setbacks. How do they drive you forwards?
[00:15:15] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: I always say that the setbacks are so critical. Again, at my age, 40 years into it, hopefully you don’t even wait for the setbacks. You’ve incorporated all the knowledge, but the setbacks to be humble enough to have the early signals and figure out when you’re supposed to pivot and get the right inputs.
[00:15:38] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: But the setbacks are essential because, I would say to me, look, there’s some people that are very successful entrepreneurs with massive egos and are single minded. Elon Musk is a good example. I’m sure he has amazing teams.
[00:15:57] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: He has been able to plow through and have vision and achieve amazing things. But my journey has been very different. I feel first of all, it’s always good to have a partner, so one plus one to me equals a lot more than two.
[00:16:14] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: You go through setbacks. One of them is ready to fold the towel. The other one says, come on, you’re not looking at it the proper way, and we should keep going. The second part of it in terms of the culture and what I’ve always tried to do is make sure that you incorporate everybody, you are humble.
[00:16:38] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: You put the ego aside and you recognize that the entrepreneurship journey, you don’t have all the answers by definition and the more you can solicit inputs, look at what didn’t work, get everybody’s input about why you made the wrong call. And that to me is essential, whether it be your team. You create a culture because over time you build a small, decent team and you want a culture. And that breeds entrepreneurship. Getting feedback from everybody, everybody’s the front line, is essential.
[00:17:17] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And listening to those people, getting advisors for your business. You take the time and periodically to, Hey, do you mind, I’m going to tell you the story, the state of the Union, there’s a bunch of stuff I’m struggling with, and they have a good perspective because they’re less close to the business and you have to be willing to say, look, I’m going to listen to. They’re there for a reason. You’ve invited them to the advisory board. So again, you got to get, once you solicit their inputs and sometimes you know, they have ownership stake in the company. So all the reasons you take that seriously and then you solicit many other people, create an ecosystem of external people that may not be in your cap table, that may not be directly associated with the project, but could be super helpful with different lenses and learning curves. And you might become one of them because we can certainly use your knowledge base in terms of media and advertising.
[00:18:19] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Because a bunch of the things we’re doing at PEO, they’re really B2C, which I don’t know anything about so that would be interesting.
[00:18:30] Jason Barnard: Right. A hundred percent. Now the next question is about legacy, because we’re in a company. I’m an entrepreneur. I created Kalicube®.
[00:18:40] Jason Barnard: How should I pursue my legacy if I’m going to leave the company at some point?
[00:18:46] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: To me, obviously, if you are an entrepreneur, let’s say, it was the journey I described where you’re thinking that what you want to take on is a big idea that can change the world by definition.
[00:19:03] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: And especially now at this stage, where I’m turning 67, that by definition you’re not going to see through the target of end results, right? So you almost have to start thinking about legacy from the very beginning, right? And so I think, to me that means obviously, having a plan for that. Which is always an interesting challenge, Jason because when you’re a startup, you’re always resource constrained and essentially you’re starting the journey and people back you not somebody else. And so you need to get to that stage early enough to start bringing the right people to the organization, which could become the successor to the business, right? But the challenge, right, Jason, is finding. It has to be done at the right time because what you discover is talented folks very often. They want both to be paid so they don’t like the risk but they still want the upside of getting a significant equity stake in the business. And so you have to try to reconcile when you can bring the right talent into the firm at what stage?
[00:20:29] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: But certainly legacy is essential to me because this last journey we’re on, we call it the trillion dollar idea. Not that we’re going to get all trillion to manage in terms it’s an investment management business and an investment management technology but to me it’s essential that in four, five years that people recognize that we were a leader in that space and that it’s a recognized space now. It’s an innovation in private equity portfolio management and that would be an amazing legacy.
[00:21:02] Jason Barnard: Yeah. And that speaks to me a hundred percent that in five years time, people remember that Kalicube® were the first in our space and I was the first in my space.
[00:21:12] Jason Barnard: And I think that’s an important part of legacy, both for the company and whoever I pass it to but also for me as I grow older and eventually pass away.
[00:21:22] Jean-Louis Lelogeais: Yeah, exactly.
[00:21:23] Jason Barnard: I think legacy is an incredibly important aspect of all of this. If we’re entrepreneurs, it’s because we think we’re doing something meaningful.
[00:21:31] Jason Barnard: Big ideas, as you said, passion and being in for the long game and that legacy is the result of those three things. Passion, big idea, long game. So thank you so much, Jean-Louis. I’ll give you the outro song. A quick goodbye to end the show. Thank you, Jean-Louis.
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