We recently sat down with Mark Mansour, Founder and Senior Managing Partner at MCM Capital Partners, in an effort to shed some light on the fundamentals of private equity. In this interview, Mark discusses, among other things:

• Options for business owners seeking liquidity or an exit strategy and the advantages and disadvantages of each
• An overview of the private equity business model
• How private equity firms analyze a company's value and which characteristics play the largest role in the assessment
• What a business owner should look for in a private equity partner
• Typical reporting requirements to private equity partners for management teams
• Advice for business owners contemplating an exit