Mark Johnson is the Managing Partner of Astra Capital Management, a mid-market growth buyout firm specializing in the communications and technology services sectors. Mark co-founded Astra after twenty years of experience investing at JH Whitney, Blackstone, and Carlyle. He partnered with seasoned deal and operating executives and brought the best practices from large shops to Astra with an entrepreneurial lens to address a focused strategy in a new way.

Our conversation covers Mark’s unusually planned life path, lessons from industry giants, and the formation of Astra with a utopian ideal in mind. We discuss the Astra team, thematic sourcing, financial creativity, deal dynamics, value creation within portfolio companies, factors of long-term success, co-investments, and club deals.