Think Like an Owner

My guest Aaron Green founded a staffing company called Professional Staffing Group, or PSG, in 1996. He has grown it along with 6 other related companies to just shy of $100m in revenue and 2,000 employees. Most of my guests operate small companies and PSG of course started small, but I wanted to learn from an owner who had managed to scale a company and their role in it over a long period of time. Frequent listeners of Think Like an Owner may notice a connection to previous guest Jared Henderson, CEO of Assist Services. Aaron is an investor in that company along with Tim Ludwig, who introduced me to both, and we chat briefly about the company near the end of our conversation. Over the course of the episode, we talk about hiring for growth, books and models for managing that have worked for Aaron, how he's learned to delegate, and how he spends his time today as his company has grown. I learned a lot from this conversation with Aaron and I hope you walk away with a few lessons and insights too. For the full transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest, Mitchell Blackmon started Patriot Chimney, a chimney service and installation business in Roanoke, VA, last year with his brother Matt and his friend Billy. They have recently made their first hire and have another one coming shortly, a testament to the growth they've been experiencing. If you liked the recent episode with Rich Jordan, you're going to like Mitchell's story too as he's thinking about many of the growing pains and plans. We talk about getting into college despite losing the opportunity to play college track & field due to an injury, starting a home cleaning business, how wrapping his trucks has brought in more customers, developing a new routing system, and how he's hiring new employees. This episode is an example of what I love about the small business investing and operating space. Discovering new businesses and industries you never knew existed. I knew nothing about the chimney business and loved learning about it from Mitchell in this episode. I hope you find a few great takeaways from his story. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Lacey Wismer. Lacey runs her recently started search investment fund called Hunter Search Capital and has been conducting research on female searchers and unique challenges they encounter while seeking and operating a business. We talk extensively about women in search along with how she's seen the model grow over her career, alternative models in search, constructing a searcher's board, and how she's instilling entrepreneurial values with her two daughters. Speaking of, her 11 year old daughter has a bakery business for residents in the Park City, Utah area. If you live nearby, you can place an order on her website at bananasbakedgoods.com. She makes cupcakes, macarons, cakes and more, an entrepreneur in the making. This conversation was super interesting, thought-provoking, and fun and I hope you benefit from hearing her experience. For the episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest is Rich Jordan. Rich bought a home service plumbing business only a few short weeks ago in Pennsylvania. If you're on Twitter, you might already be familiar with Rich as he has been tweeting about his time running the business and has been so much fun to follow. If you're not already following him you're missing out. During the episode we talk about Rich's first few days in the business getting his hands dirty, fighting off competing offers for his plumbers from competitors, and a few moves he's done to grow revenue 60% in only 8 weeks of ownership. If you liked the Collin Hathaway episode from a few weeks ago you're going to love this one as Rich reminds me of an early-days version of Collin. He is just getting started but has made tremendous progress already and I hope you enjoy getting to hear about his short journey so far. For the full episode transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest, Mark Sinatra, raised a traditional search fund with a partner in 2006 after graduated from Wharton and a year and a half later acquired an HR company called Staff One HR. I'll let him tell the full story but there were significant ups and downs running the company including moving the company from Southern Oklahoma to Dallas, managing staff turnover of roughly 85% during that move, and losing their biggest customer who was 30% of their revenue. Despite those downs, the company grew significantly and led to a successful exit, leading eventually to what Mark focuses on today which is investing in search funds. During the episode, we also talk about hiring great employees, building culture in a growing organization, and advice to prospective searchers. Mark was very open in sharing his experience and I hope you find some great takeaways from his story. For the full transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

A.J. Gordon runs Gordon Aluminum in Schofield, WI, a company that was founded by his grandfather, passed to A.J.'s father, and eventually to A.J. himself. The company has a fascinating story told in great detail that includes machines breaking down, closing business lines, multiple recessions, and a lightning strike that set fire to their offices and burned their computers and data, forcing them to start from scratch. This is a story about a company and family's will to survive, rebuild, flourish, and constantly improve. We also talk about lessons passed down to A.J. by his father and grandfather, what he's teaching his kids from his experience, and the stress and excitement in running a company with a storied history. For the full episode transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

I interview many folks with unique backgrounds and Jared is among the most unique. Jared worked at NASA, then McKinsey, got his MBA at Harvard, then alternated between working at McKinsey and Teach for America, ran for governor of Arkansas, and last year became the CEO of Assist Services. Assist is a Portland based transportation company for underprivileged children to help them get to and from school and other important locations. Jared is leading Assist Services to become a nationwide company, all remotely from his home in Arkansas. I've been very excited to have him as a guest because of his focus on social missions, building a great team to serve a very vulnerable group, and expanding a storied regional company to a national level. Enjoy the episode. For the full episode transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest today is Collin Hathaway. Collin runs a small micro private equity fund in Seattle, WA called Skylight Capital and has developed a strong core competence in plumbing, HVAC, roofing, and other home services businesses. He also has one of the most interesting stories I've heard of getting into micro private equity. During the episode we talk about his path to Skylight, why he focuses on home services businesses, characteristics he looks for in new acquisitions, and a little bit of his home services operating playbook. I've been trying to get Collin on the podcast since our first conversation a year ago and I wish this episode could have been longer. Collin is a great, entertaining storyteller and I hope you enjoy his hearing fascinating journey so far. For the full episode transcript and other information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My two guests for this episode are Ryan Lechner and Nico Gimenez who have raised a traditional search fund together as partners called Bonsai Group and are a few months into their search. I've had searchers with partners on the podcast before, Sam Rosati being a great example, but I haven't had them on the podcast before together. What made this episode particularly fun is Ryan and Nico are lifelong friends and it shows. Finding a partner for a search with aligned values can be very difficult and luckily for them they had a very long due diligence period. In this episode we talk about why they chose to search as partners, how the role is divided now and might be upon close, how their outreach strategy has evolved, and a company with a very niche monopoly in surfing. For the full episode transcript and more information visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest is Brian Vanderheyden who ran a search from Chicago starting in 2015 and 2 years later in 2017 acquired a company called Richmond Alarm Company in Richmond, VA. Richmond Alarm was founded 73 years ago and Brian acquired the business from the founder's two sons who had taken over the business from the father. During the episode we talk about Richmond Alarm's history and their in-office museum of 73 years of security technology, how he's developed his team over time, the dynamics of the security industry, and why he admires Chick-fil-A. Enjoy the episode. For the full episode transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest today is Scott Picker. Scott was born and raised in Oregon and went to college at Washington State University where he majored in agriculture education and horticulture, before starting Aspen Creek Landscaping in Sherwood, Oregon. Over the last 20 years, Scott has built a 55 employee landscape construction and maintenance company focused on high end residential and local wineries. During the episode we talk about him planning out and building Aspen with his wife from the ground up, how it has evolved over time and how he's had to change his role to suit the company, building a great, customer focused team, succession planning, and his side business raising 160 longhorns on his ranch. This episode was an amazing look at what running a company looks like on the inside and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. For the full transcript and more information, visit our website at alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

Most of the investors I've had on the podcast aren't interested in consumer businesses, which is precisely why I wanted to talk to a consumer focused investor. Enter Ben Rudman. Ben is the founder of Charis Consumer Partners, a consumer focused independent sponsor, and has a passion for consumer businesses that is hard to resist. In this conversation, we review his time developing his expertise in consumer, why it's such a challenging place for investors and where he looks to invest, some pitfalls and things to avoid in consumer, and what he's learned being an operator. Whether you care about consumer or not, this episode is a must listen and filled with insights on investing and building companies. Ben is a wealth of knowledge and experience and I hope you find some great takeaways for yourself. For the full transcript and information about Think Like an Owner, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest today, Mason Myers, has spent the last 10 years building an incredible investment vehicle called Greybull Stewardship. With Greybull, Mason has acquired 11 portfolio companies with an evergreen fund structure with opportunities for LPs to add or withdraw capital only every four years. This structure gives Greybull a very long time horizon to offer the right owners a great home for their business. Mason's founding idea behind Greybull was to build the firm he believed owners deserved to sell to and one that could get better over time. Mason is a big fan of Berkshire Hathaway and has applied many similar concepts at Greybull that we spend time going over. We also talk about Mason's time as an operator and how it makes him a more effective investor, how Greybull strengthens over time with its network of owners, operators, and LPs, and how to be a good steward of an owner's life's work. For the full transcript and more information, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest today, Joel Blake, has a fascinated story about how he became an owner of a manufacturing sales company called Marketing Technologies. Before acquiring, Joel first worked for the company as an employee before he and another partner took over the business from the two retiring owners. Joel calls this model entrepreneurship through apprenticeship and it's a major topic of our discussion. Joel also, as you can imagine, has a deep appreciation for sales and we talk extensively about how to cultivate a sales mentality and develop the ability to connect with people you're meeting with for the first time. We also talk about his transition to being an owner and working through that process with the previous owners, how owners can prepare their business for transition, what being an owner is like after being an employee, and what he's learned from being a parent of two young children. I loved this episode. It's been one of my favorite of the podcast so far and I hope you come away feeling the same. Enjoy. For the full transcript and more episodes of Think Like an Owner, visit alexbridgeman.com. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

I've done a few search fund focused episodes, for instance last week's episode focused on life during a search. In this episode exploring search funds, Betsy Brandt joins me to talk her preparation in launching her search fund, Forest Park Capital. I wanted to hear more about how a search fund is planned, the benefits of an MBA program, how capital is raised, and so on. Betsy was kind enough to share her experience working in investment banking and operating at a private equity backed company, going through the search program at Harvard, starting and setting up her traditional search fund, and a few advantages of being a female searcher. This episode is a great review of the many questions asked when considering launching a search. If search is an option you've weighed at any point, you will enjoy hearing from Betsy. Enjoy. For show notes, episode transcript, and more, visit alexbridgeman.com. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

I continue exploring search funds and with this episode I talk with a searcher who is in the middle of the process and thus is experiencing it's ups and downs live. My guest, Jules Brenner, runs a self-funded search called Manufacturing Succession and as the name implies is focused on acquiring a manufacturing company. Jules has an interesting background with engineering and start-ups and talks about how that background guides his search. In addition to life as a searcher, we talk about preparing for a self-funded search, owner outreach, and searching as an engineer. If you're an investor interested in manufacturing companies or just want to connect and learn more about Jules, go to manufacturingsuccession.com/contact. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com. Links Mentioned Manufacturing Succession Salesmate.io Big Ass Fans

Trish Higgins was the guest on my very first podcast episode and was kind enough to share her time with me when I had no downloads, no show, and no website. Funny enough, that first episode is still my most downloaded episode to date. A lot has happened since then and I'm very excited to have Trish on the show for a second episode. In this episode, we cover Trish's recent move to the operating side, how Chenmark has evolved including what's become easier and more difficult over time, and we dive briefly into landscaping. For those listeners interested in eventually operating your own company, Chenmark has begun recruiting future operators into existing leadership roles at current portfolio companies where they will be trained for eventually running a future portfolio company. If this is interesting to you, I highly recommend reaching out to Trish. Finally, Chenmark writes a weekly newsletter called Weekly Thoughts about their views on investing and operating small companies, behavior and psychology, and concepts from other disciplines that can be brought over to business. I've been a reader for years and I've found it extremely valuable. Go to Chenmarkcapital.com/weeklythoughts to subscribe. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com. Links Mentioned Chenmark Capital Yale Case Study Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Weekly Thoughts

I'm continuing to focus on specific themes within small company investing and this episode focuses on owner outreach during a search. My guests for this episode are JR De Agostini and Max Artz from Peterson Partners who ran their own search and are now running the search investment fund at Peterson. Our conversation covers how to craft your message to owners, filter through owners who aren't actually interested in selling, build relationships, and a short detour near the end on the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com. Links Mentioned Peterson Partners

I've wanted to record a few episodes that focus on specific themes, industries, and strategies around acquiring small companies and this episode is the first in a few to come. My guest today is an anonymous Twitter account named Defensive Capital who I've gotten to know over the past few months. True to the account's name, he works in supply chain in the defense industry and our conversation focuses on opportunities for entrepreneurs and searchers in the industry. If you have any interest in the defense industry or manufacturing, you're going to like this one. Enjoy. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest Ali Aydar has a fascinating background. Today he's the CEO of Sporcle, an online trivia business, but earlier he worked in various venture backed companies playing the finite game and decided to play the infinite game at Sporcle instead. He is the first business owner on the podcast and we talk about operating a business through tough times, the advantages of having permanent capital in a business, and his choice in leaving the finite game. Ali is a wealth of experience in operating companies and we've both been thinking about this episode for a while. If you like our discussion on finite and infinite games, Andy Ellis and I also talked about the concept extensively in an earlier podcast episode I will link to in the description. Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. For show notes and links, visit the podcast page here. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guests today come from the recently created ESOP holding company called Empowered Ventures which today owns TVF, a textiles company in Indianapolis. Chris Fredericks is the President of TVF and Empowered Ventures and will be joined by Spencer Springer full time once Spencer's MBA program with Northwestern is wrapped up. During this episode we talk about pros and cons operating an ESOP and using it to acquire companies, how they build an employee owned culture, and some of their plans for Empowered Ventures. Chris and I connected late last year and I knew it would turn into a podcast one day and I'm very glad it has. One other note, you might notice my closing questions happen 2/3rds of the way through the episode and not at the end. Our trains of thought just kept going and hope you enjoy the results. Links TVF Empowered Ventures I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is a person who writes anonymously on Twitter under the pseudonym Clearing Fog. We connected a few months ago on Twitter and in this episode we talk about his career in investment banking and private equity, why he writes anonymously and his thoughts on writing publicly, and what he's thinking about next. I don't come across many people in traditional finance careers who have a blog and Twitter account and I thought it would be interesting to hear from someone who thinks a little differently. Please enjoy, I hope you like the episode as much as I did. Links Letter to Younger Self Clearing Fog website Clearing Fog Twitter Nikhil Krishnan Taylor Pearson David Perell I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest today is Greg Geronemus. Greg and his partner David Rosner founded a search fund named Footbridge Partners after their time at Harvard Business School and acquired a tour operating company called smarTours. Four years later they sold smarTours to a private equity firm and raised a fund to invest in other searchers. Greg and David take a more concentrated approach and aim to invest in 8-10 searchers, rather than dozens, to spend more time and energy with each individual searcher. Greg and I discuss their search fund days, investing in search funds, and how the model has evolved and may continue to change. I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did. Links Mentioned Footbridge Partners David Rosner smarTours Summit Park Ninth Street Capital 280 Group I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

This is my second episode hearing from investors on how they are adapting their companies, this time with Justin Turner from Traction Capital Partners. For more background on Justin and Traction, I recommend listening to our earlier episode, episode 4, with Justin and their associate Peter Bell. In this episode, Justin talks about how his two portfolio companies have performed and what he's thinking about next. I hope you enjoy the episode. Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

I recorded this episode with Mikel Berger from Little Engine Ventures and another with Justin Turner from Traction Capital Partners to hear from investors on what's going on in their companies today. I asked Mikel what he's seeing in his portfolio companies, community, and what he's been advising his companies to do. I hope this helps you when looking at your own businesses and sheds some light on what others are experiencing. Both Mikel and Justin have been on the podcast before and if you want learn more about them I recommend listening to those as well, which are episodes 4 and 10 of the podcast respectively. Also, I'm trying something new with this episode. If you have a follow-up question for Mikel you can ask via this Google Form I've created and they'll be answered in a later post. Enjoy the update from Mikel. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Michael Girdley who is chairman and head of strategy of Dura Software, a holding company that acquires small software companies based in San Antonio. Michael is also a co-founder of Geekdom Fund, a small venture firm, and a co-founder of Codeup, a coding bootcamp in San Antonio. I've had guests from software on the show before but this episode was particularly good and I learned a ton. I've wanted to learn more about investing in software and Michael provided a fantastic overview of the space and Dura and their strategy. If you want to invest in software companies, this is an episode you'll enjoy and get a lot of value from. Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links Dura Software Codeup Geekdom Fund Buc-ee's I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Will Schoeberlein. Will started his career in investment banking and private equity before taking a leap to Southeast Asia to work on startups and software. He finished his time in Asia in Japan where he met his wife and he has since developed a small company acquisition thesis on the Japanese market. In the episode we discuss his thoughts about investing in private companies, acquiring companies in the U.S. and Japan, aging Japanese business owners and what that means for their economy, IPOing in Japan, and our shared use of Twitter. Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links Golden Southeast Nihon M&A Center Teledyne I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guests on this episode are Lui Pangiarella and Akram Sabbagh from Second Squared, an emerging search fund accelerator looking to bring the search fund model to Australia for the first time. The three of us discussed educating the marketplace, the mindsets of investors and owners in Australia compared to other countries, how they view themselves compared to counterparts in the U.S., and more. As they'll describe, Australia does not have a M&A market that is nearly as developed as the U.S. and a large part of their role is education. I had a great time learning about the challenges with introducing search concepts and acquiring companies in Australia and I hope you enjoy it as well. Links Mentioned Second Squared I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Sam Rosati who, along with his brother Joey, ran a search fund called Pursuant Capital in the Tampa area and acquired a waste management broker called Alpha Dumpsters. There are a couple pieces about Sam and Joey's story that are unique. For one, it's one of very few search funds I've seen run by two searchers instead of one. And two, they are continuing to look for further acquisitions. In the episode we chat about Sam's experience searching for companies before and after acquiring Alpha Dumpsters, how he and his brother split roles, lessons learned, and what they want to do next with Pursuant. If you're looking to run a search fund, you're going to like this episode. Links Mentioned Pursuant Capital Alpha Dumpster The Partnership Charter I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest, Mikel Berger, is the co-founder and partner of Little Engine Ventures, along with co-founder Daryl Starr. Little Engine Ventures is a very unique investment firm in the already unique world of small company investing. They have a strong regional focus of companies within a 2 hour drive of Lafayette, IN and are building a firm, brand, and community that resonates with small, midwest business owners. Little Engine also has a very unique partnership structure that includes a maximum investment for an LP, along with a minimum, and allows them to close deals faster than most private equity firms that raise capital by deal can do. In this episode with Mikel, we cover his software background, how he describes Little Engine Ventures and their target business owner, how he protects investors and business owners, among other subjects. This was a fascinating conversation, and I hope you agree with me by the end of it. Links Mentioned Little Engine Ventures DelMar Software Building a Story Brand RelaNet I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Tim Ludwig, managing partner of Ohana Capital in San Diego. Tim is a search fund investor through Ohana and has extensive experience, having invested in 75 deals over his career. More recently, Tim has been investing in companies directly rather than investing in searchers through a fund. During our conversation, we cover topics like being a search fund investor vs investing directly, the history of search funds and investing in them, the search fund climate today, and Tim's exciting and sometimes dangerous study abroad experiences in Colombia and Spain. Tim was in Portland on business and was kind enough to share part of his morning with me for this podcast. Links Mentioned: Ohana Capital Stanford Search Fund Study Predictable Revenue Nonviolent Communication Radical Candor Never Split the Difference Random Lengths I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Andy Ellis, a managing partner of Localize Capital in Pittsburgh which, as the name suggests, focuses on investing in companies and entrepreneurs around the Pittsburgh area. Little known fact about me, I used to live in Pittsburgh as a young kid and was extra excited for this conversation because of that. Andy grew up in Pittsburgh, worked in Southern California, and eventually moved back to Pittsburgh to help form Localize. Andy and I talk extensively about the structure of Localize and how they choose to invest in companies over a very long term, with a core idea being to look for owners who think not just in years, but generations. You may have heard of the concept of finite and infinite games, a concept written about by author James Carse. A finite game has known players, a beginning and end, and set rules, whereas infinite games have known and unknown players, no end, evolving rules, and the goal is to perpetuate the game. If this concept sounds interesting, this conversation is for you as we discuss this concept in the context of private equity and entrepreneurship. Please enjoy the episode. Links Mentioned Localize Capital Bryan Materials Group Finite and Infinite Games I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest today is Kevin Graham, an Australian native living in Thailand running a web hosting company called Site Arrow, which he uses as his acquisition vehicle to buy other web hosting companies. The topic of software in micro private equity has come up more and more often and has been a recent focus of mine to learn more about, and Kevin was very helpful to that goal. While a great deal of the technical side of our discussion went over my head, his thinking around using permanent capital to perform a roll-up of sorts of small web hosting companies was fascinating. Beyond web host acquisitions, we also briefly discussed digital nomads and the life of living abroad. I hope you find our discussion as interesting as I did and if you or someone you know is in the business of acquiring small software companies, I'd love to chat as I want to continue learning about this space. Please enjoy the episode. I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

This space has some of the most unique backgrounds and my guest on this episode is no exception. David Krock joined a band as their drummer coming out of high school, did not go to college, and wound up starting a recording studio which led him on a path to entrepreneurship and micro PE investing, which he does today through his firm Sunset Coast Capital. David is your quintessential outside-the-classroom learner and has a rare depth of thought and experience. The topics of our conversation include his early years switching from music to entrepreneurship, the advantages of seasonal and cyclical businesses, lessons learned along the way, and a way he's trying to emulate Amazon. You can follow David Krock on Twitter and on through his sites DavidKrock.com and SunsetCoastCapital.com. Please enjoy our conversation. Links • Scaling Up • Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits • DavidKrock.com • SunsetCoastCapital.com Show notes 1:14 Music background and switch to entrepreneurship 2:51 Parallels between music and business 7:13 Leaving the recording business behind 7:58 Advantages/disadvantages due to music background 9:36 Lessons learned by failing 10:50 Not being afraid to ask for help and potentially look dumb 11:30 Initial businesses started & growing into an entrepreneur 16:20 Starting entrepreneurship meetups 19:02 Becoming a consultant 22:06 What industries/characteristics do you look for? 24:00 Investing in a retirement community 25:55 Wedding industry/business model, being a seasonal business 31:55 Building the business in the offseason 34:40 Cash management strategies for cyclical/seasonal businesses 41:00 Using earnings from portfolio companies to reinvest 43:41 Funding projects within portfolio companies 45:07 Calculating returns 50:52 Using Amazon's model in micro PE through Sunset 1:02:58 Which service are you going to turn into a business first? 1:03:56 What class would you teach in college? 1:07:57 Most fortunate event that was completely random? 1:09:07 Best business you've ever seen? I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

This episode is unique and is a joint episode with Karen Spencer from Searchfunder, Walker Deibel, and myself, and is something I'm calling "Author's Chat." I recently sent out a survey to see what content listeners and readers might enjoy hearing most and many of them said that conversations with authors of books relevant to micro PE would be interesting to them. This is one conversation along those lines. Karen and I's guest, Walker Deibel, is an acquirer of 7 businesses, author of the book and site "Buy Then Build", and is an active investor and advocate for entrepreneurship through acquisition. This conversation focuses on his book and lessons and stories from his investing and operating experience. I hope you enjoy our conversation and if you want more episodes with authors, please let me know! I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My fifth guest of the show is Nick Haschka, an MIT graduate living in San Francisco focused on buying small private companies through his firm Cub Investments, along with two other partners. Together, they recently purchased a business called The Wright Gardner which provides interior plant leasing and maintenance services to companies in the bay area. One thing that is interesting about Cub's approach is their use of add-on acquisitions to expand the plant leasing business and part of our discussion is on how they view the risk with add-ons versus platform acquisitions, which was very interesting. The more I read and learn about the micro PE and permanent capital space, the larger and more diverse it feels. Every investor invests differently and each story is different. Nick is no exception, and in our discussion we cover how his background has influenced his investing, his unique work experience, misconceptions he sees in small company investing, and his disagreements with the concepts of competitive advantage and Porter's Five Forces. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Show Notes Links • Cub Investments • The Wright Gardner • Credit Parent Notes 1:30 Brief overview of Nick's background 4:00 Strategy of focusing on local businesses, found The Wright Gardner 5:04 No external investment, utilizing SBA loan program 5:30 What experiences prepared you best? 6:44 How do you view add-on acquisitions at Cub and diversification? 9:31 Weighing buying a new platform business versus an add-on 11:32 Risk of investing in an add-on and integrating it into your existing companies 14:42 What is involved in the Cub Investment "car wash?" 16:46 Examples of new processes added to companies 18:18 Are there benefits to not having experience in the business you're going to acquire? 19:31 Misconceptions with buying small companies 23:34 What gets looped into the earnings number that you need to remove and how do you view that process? 25:22 Role of the 80/20 rule in due diligence and working with the seller 27:53 Role of the previous owner after acquisition 30:29 Is the size of purchase an indicator of the replacement value of relationships with customers? 32:28 Growth of Cub Investments 34:26 Change of valuations recently 36:39 Competition for deals 37:34 What class in college would you teach? 39:10 Most fortunate event that was completely random? 40:47 Best business you've seen? I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

Today I'm chatting with Peter Bell and Justin Turner from Traction Capital Partners in Tacoma, WA, just south of Seattle. Peter and Justin both reached out over Twitter and the more I learned about their firm, the more interesting to me it became. Traction is a small private equity firm that blurs the lines between a private equity fund and a permanent capital vehicle, which is what made them so interesting to me. They have a handful of long-term investors and seek to buy and hold great companies indefinitely, which gives them the unique ability to make long-term oriented decisions and wait for great opportunities. We begin with Peter telling me about a content idea he has for Traction and move through the topics of starting a private equity fund, lessons learned, what they look for in both businesses and owners, and a few stories. Peter and Justin are both deep thinkers and have been fun to get to know, and I hope that shows in the episode. Links • Hodinkee • GF Data Show notes 1:25 Peter's video/audio content idea 2:50 Firms using content to attract deal flow and find business owners 4:28 Backgrounds and early days of Traction Capital 6:10 Justin's jump to private equity and general views on investment banking 6:45 Founding of Traction in April 2017 7:26 Peter's background and work in investment banking and BlackRock 8:38 Team at Traction, division of labor 9:28 Balance between using Traction as an investment firm and offering a service to the seller 10:20 Traction's operating philosophy compared to traditional private equity's perception 10:50 Group of investors and their philosophy 12:26 Evolution of Traction's source of capital 13:43 Benefits of being a permanent capital vehicle with closing deals 15:10 General discussion on current valuations 16:06 GF Data 16:44 Lessons learned in starting Traction 18:40 Lessons learned in operating companies in that first year after acquisition 19:25 Importance of people in small companies 20:20 Perception of private equity 21:34 Growth of Peter at Traction 22:22 Looking for intellectually curious people, private equity is designed for insatiably curious people 23:49 Frustration with deals not closing 25:38 How small can private equity funds invest?, Economics of investing in small deals 28:18 Traction fits between private equity and search funds 29:16 Backgrounds of Traction partners and benefits of having operating backgrounds 30:29 Differentiation of Traction 31:25 Optimum business owner and ideal characteristics 32:33 Finding passionate business owners who are focused on their people and business, rather than the highest price 33:50 Looking for businesses where the owners has effectively has taken themselves out of the day-to-day 34:41 Questions to ask during due diligence 35:03 Red flags that come up during research and due diligence 40:09 Importance of background checks on management 41:02 Relationships with intermediaries and the evolution of those relationships 42:29 Establishing credibility and a reputation at Traction 44:40 Will Traction go upmarket or remain in micro PE size? 44:57 What class in college would you teach? 47:30 Mental models used in private equity 50:09 Most fortunate event to have happened to you by chance 54:02 Best business you've ever seen I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

This is my first conversation on this podcast with more than one person. I'm meeting with the team from Searchfunder.com, an online community dedicated to search funds and the various parties involved. A search fund is the smallest form of micro private equity I've found thusfar and is typically one entrepreneur seeking out a company to buy and run as the CEO. The team consists of the two co-founders, Luke Tatone and Mark Yuan, and their COO Karen Spencer, all of whom are graduates of MIT. Luke is the first speaker, followed by Mark, and finally Karen. During our conversation, we discuss what a search fund is, how they're structured, who participates in search funds, and how they've evolved over time. If you are interested in running/buying/or even starting your own company one day, this conversation is for you. I met the team after signing up on Searchfunder only to discover all three of them lived here in Portland, OR. Mark initially reached out and invited me to coffee where we chatted about all things search funds and I quickly met the rest of the team. This conversation is the result of one of my most recent, and favorite, small world stories. I hope you get as much value out of this conversation as I did. Links mentioned Stanford Report Asurion Stanford 2018 Report Housatonic Partners Alpine Investors Peterson Partners Show notes 1:38 What is a search fund? Structure, goals, parties that participate 3:08 Harvard business school: Royce Yudkoff, Richard Ruback, Jim Sharpe 3:26 Search fund accelerators 4:18 What individuals create search funds? 5:38 Risks of launching a start-up vs running a search fund 7:20 Shift from finance professionals to operational professionals 7:47 Most valuable experience to have had prior to launching a search fund? 9:00 It is important to investors that you're able to lead a team 9:32 Number of searchers that Searchfunder.com has studied and had on the site 10:01 Strong growth in number of search funds launched and corresponding acquisitions 10:34 Number of search funds formed last year compared to five years ago 11:09 Reasons for growth in number of search funds 11:30 Who are these searchers buying from and why is the owner selling, normally? 12:22 Steps in creating a search fund and acquiring a company 13:30 Best thing to do to learn about search funds, intern for one 15:44 Importance of practice and repetitions 21:33 Average distance between the searcher and the company eventually acquired 24:19 Normal size range and multiple size of companies acquired 25:44 Why do these companies have lower multiples than larger companies? 26:30 A business is only as worth as much as someone is willing to pay 27:27 Lower bound of company size in search funds 27:51 What types of companies are these search funds buying? 29:00 Examples of companies acquired 39:14 Role of interns 40:01 How many companies close after signing an LOI? 40:40 Structure of deals 41:58 Using seller note 42:39 Benefits to self funded in terms of deal structure 43:09 What should a searcher do in their first year with the new company 44:35 Holding period 45:55 Search fund market on Searchfunder.com 46:15 Stanford report on search funds 47:45 Why they started a site on search funds instead of a search fund 49:43 Would you like to run a search fund in the future? 50:15 How Karen joined Searchfunder.com and importance of your alumni network 50:55 More than just search funds on the site, goals for the site 53:11 Gap between mature private equity and micro private equity/search funds 53:37 How do these larger private equity firms access this space? 55:08 Economics of mature private equity firms buying these small companies with in-house staff 57:33 What's the most fortunate event to have happened to you by chance? 1:00:40 Best business you've ever seen

My conversation today is with Mike Boyd. Mike is originally from Brisbane, Australia and currently lives in Singapore where he runs one of the leading car rental comparison websites in the world - Vroom, Vroom, Vroom, among other portfolio companies. He has been an entrepreneur for virtually his entire life, starting at a very young age. Mike built on his experience starting businesses and has evolved to buying them whole. Today he invests his own money, permanent capital, into digital-only companies and intangibles globally, with the goal being to build a portfolio of cash-flow producing companies for the very long term. Our conversation includes discussion on his early entrepreneurial stories, how he became CEO at such a young age, what he looks for in digital investments, and his experience building a remote team. This one, and our prior phone call, are two of the most memorable conversations I've had about business and investing. I hope once you finish listening, you will feel the same way. I got to know Mike after he reached out over Twitter after seeing my conversation with Trish Higgins and was very generous with his time and experience. If you work in micro private equity or permanent capital, or know someone who does, please feel free to reach out through my website or Twitter - I'd love to have a conversation. Links mentioned Mudbrick Capital video on future of workplaces Vroom Vroom Vroom Upwork CEO AMA Hiccup Insurance CarHire Envato Show notes 0:00 Introduction 1:49 Early entrepreneurial businesses, keg rental business, video on future of workplaces 2:15 Planning 18th birthday party 4:50 Decision to start keg rental business, Coolybar Keg Hire 6:50 Story about inbox filled with orders for keg rentals, top of Google results for "keg hire Brisbane" 8:40 Evolving beyond college, moving from Brisbane to Singapore, started non-profit called The Hive 10:20 Getting to know various entrepreneurs through starting non-profit program, mentorship 11:45 Using photos to market Coolybar Keg Hire 12:12 Digital/social media consulting 12:50 Vroom Vroom Vroom opportunity 13:30 Owners of Vroom Vroom Vroom reached out 15:26 Offered, and accepted, to run Vroom Vroom Vroom as CEO 17:01 Starting adding/fixing processes within the company, scaled 21:20 Frequently seeing poor business skills within digital world 22:10 Discussion on why only digital companies, finding these companies, filtering 23:28 Vroom Vroom Vroom business model 25:45 Why Mike moved to Singapore, remote workforce 27:30 Training freelancers for remote work 28:50 CEO AMA's, http://ceoama.co/ 33:40 Sourcing acquisitions and deals, finding new digital companies, filtering 34:25 Hiccup insurance 35:44 Mudbrick Capital, private company diversification 36:20 Finding opportunities in digital intangible space 38:05 Types of digital companies sought out 40:12 Challenges in reinvesting capital in digital companies 42:20 Types of companies found, examples, transacting sellers 45:40 Purchase price multiples 48:00 Example prospective acquisition company 52:30 Demographics of owners 53:27 Benefits of permanent capital for sellers, Mudbrick value proposition to sellers 57:54 Reasons why digital companies with great economics don't receive higher multiples than 2-4 times EBITDA 1:01:08 Add backs/withdrawals from EBITDA to get to true "owner earners" 1:04:02 Reinvestment risk, if Mudbrick Capital is in part solution to this risk 1:07:01 Carhire 1:09:38 Can only really reinvest in marketing when it comes to digital companies 1:10:26 Most fortunate event to have happened that was completely by chance 1:16:34 Best business you've ever seen, Envato

For the first conversation of the podcast, I'm meeting with Trish Higgins who, along with her husband James Higgins and brother-in-law Palmer Higgins, run Chenmark Capital in Portland, Maine. Chenmark Capital acquires and operates small companies for the long term using their own capital, with no intention of selling - a perfect example of permanent equity. What makes Chenmark unique is they look for slow growing, steady, and boring businesses and seek to operate them as efficiently as possible. Trish is the perfect first guest for Think Like An Owner because she has experience being both the investor in the business and serving an operator role in their portfolio companies. Our conversation ranges from discussions around capital allocation within portfolio companies, to the "Chenmark carwash", and why the small business acquisition market at the moment feels a lot like Zillow. We held our conversation in a quieter area of a shopping mall in Boston so there is occasional background noise. I assure you however, that this past audio performance is not indicative of future audio performance. In fact, I hope it makes the conversation sound more authentic and relatable. Please enjoy my conversation with Trish Higgins. Chenmark Capital: https://www.chenmarkcapital.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chenholdco I'm also the founder of The Operator's Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.