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Michael A. Brown
Serial entrepreneur. Private equity advisor. Investor. Author. Michael has spent over two decades building companies, helping others scale theirs, and, most importantly, paying the lessons forward.
Education
B.A. Business Technology Administration & European History, UMBC
M.A. Technology Management, Georgetown University
Founded First Business
2004, Lawncare & landscaping, high school
Founded IT Services Firm
2013, Atlassian services & license resale
First Exit
2021, Sold to private equity
Second Exit
2024, Sold to a strategic buyer
Current Role
PE Operational Advisor, Board Member, Investor, CEO, and Fractional Executive
Based In
Tampa, FL
It Started With Landscaping
In 2004, a teenage Michael Brown was already learning what it meant to run a business when he and a few friends started a lawncare and landscaping company. Together, they scheduled clients, managed a small crew, and ensured payments were made on time. It was not glamorous, but it planted something.
A few years later, Michael completed a double major in Business Technology Administration and European History at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Shortly after, he attended Georgetown University where he earned a Master's in Technology Management, all while growing his company.
"I moved my entire life savings from my personal account into my new business checking account, and then I started to get to work — selling something, anything."
The Leap
In 2013, after working at his first full-time job providing Health IT services to the federal government, Michael decided to go all in, using his car and some assets he had accumulated as collateral for a SBA-backed line of credit, found a niche in Atlassian services and license resale, and started building.
Over the next several years, he grew the firm into a specialized technology services provider, winning government contracts, building a team, and developing the systems and processes that would eventually make it an attractive acquisition target.
The Exit and What Came After
In 2021, Michael sold his technology services company to a private equity group. It was the culmination of nearly a decade of building and the beginning of a new chapter.
In 2024, working closely with the private equity group that bought him in 2021, he sold the company to a strategic buyer.
Today, Michael partners with private equity firms as an operational advisor, consultant, and board member. He helps PE-backed portfolio companies scale, adopt new technologies, and achieve strong exits. He knows the playbook from both sides of the table.
He's also a frequent guest speaker and lecturer for corporations and universities, and has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs through the messy, exhilarating, often lonely process of building something from nothing.
Why the Book
Too much of what entrepreneurs need to know stays locked behind closed doors, shared only among people who already know each other, guarded by NDAs, or simply never talked about. Michael wrote The Pragmatic Entrepreneur to change that. It's the book he wishes he'd had when he started: practical, honest, and built around the reality that building a company is neither a spectator sport nor a solo journey.