When he became a partner at O’Sullivan Graev & Karabell LLP in 1996, Ilan Nissan said on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast, he created a business plan.

“I thought about all the people I knew that could help me,” said Nissan, now the head of M&A and private equity at Goodwin Procter LLP. “Relatives, friends of relatives, people I didn’t know very well. I spent a lot of time updating it and culling it and revising it. I started to try to create this web of people I constantly engage with. It takes a long time, but it coalesces.”

Nissan was trained as an M&A lawyer, but he also thought about ancillary practice areas that would help him build a client base, with fund formation being a particular area of focus because it’s “the lifeblood of a PE sponsor,” he said, and an activity in which the most senior people in the organization are deeply involved.

Generational succession is a central issue at sponsors that have done well. Nissan said that counseling clients on fundamental changes in their organizations is “the most difficult and my favorite aspect of what I do. There are not that many people who are positioned to do it,” because few people have the requisite knowledge of the firm and rapport with its senior and midlevel people, Nissan said.

“If you’re doing your job right, a lot of people will put stock in what you say because they know you have history with everyone and they know you’re more easily able to negotiate with them and their representatives,” he said.

Listen to the podcast with Ilan Nissan below:

More podcasts from The Deal are available on iTunes, Spotify and on TheDeal.com.