Ackman's $57K Lunch Deal

Andrew Wilkinson shares how he strategically met billionaire investor Bill Ackman through a charity lunch auction.

"I wanted to meet Bill Ackman. I'd been reading about him for years, watching every YouTube video, listening to every interview. First, I tried emailing him about potentially redesigning the Chipotle website since he was an investor. He replied but just forwarded me to a board member.

But I knew I had his email now, and I just had to wait for the right opportunity. Then I saw this charity lunch go up. Every year he auctions off a lunch, but this was in 2017 when he was having a terrible down year - he got divorced, had the Herbalife stuff, invested in Valeant Pharmaceutical, everyone was kind of shitting on him.

He was being very quiet, so there weren't as many bids as usual. I ended up bidding $57,000 to have lunch with him. I had no expectation there'd be any business because he's a hedge fund manager and I'm a tech investor, but I knew he'd be an interesting person to meet.

We ended up connecting, and at the end of the lunch, he pulled me aside and said 'Hey, I like you. If you ever want to do a deal together, let me know.' Years later, we ended up buying a business and he invested with us."