John Durante is the co-founder and former president of Durante Rentals, a leading provider of construction equipment and tool rentals in the New York Tri-State Area. Construction professionals depend on Durante Rentals for cost-effective, on-demand access to specialized machines such as mini excavators, skid steers, light towers, generators, compressors, forklifts, and boom lifts. Since its founding in 2009, the company has expanded significantly, growing to ten stores in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and making the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies seven years in a row.

John and his co-founders recently sold Durante Rentals to Clairvest Group, Inc., a Toronto-based private equity firm. For John, the successful exit is the latest milestone in an enterprising and varied career. Prior to launching Durante Rentals with his cousin Anthony and their partner Chris Jones, John worked in his father’s business, which the family sold in 2000. He then became a real estate investor—and pivoted again thereafter by attending law school, earning a degree, and founding his own law firm.

In this CEOMinutes interview, John talks to Offit Kurman Principal Rod Biermann about bringing a business from inception to exit, his time as a lawyer, how his life changed following the Spring Nor’easter of 2007 and the Great Recession that followed, and more.