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This episode is the first in a three-part series we are running on Chenmark, one of the most well-known and studied holding companies in the entrepreneurship through acquisition world. And for good reason! Since its founding in 2015 they have acquired 11 operating companies, completed 30+ acquisitions when including add-ons, and has over 600 employees today.
This series is not meant to be a one-stop-shop for everything Chenmark. The Higgins’ have appeared on Invest Like the Best, there is a fantastic case study by A.J. Wasserstein about them, and they share their thoughts every week through their Weekly Thoughts newsletter, which is one of my favorites. Instead, this series is meant to dive into topic gaps, where I am most personally curious, and areas of change for Chenmark.
For this first episode, we cover the risk/reward of their path early on, founding ideals, and various pivots and challenges in starting Chenmark. The second episode focuses on their operating ethos, culture, and incentive structures. The third and final episode takes a deep dive on their CEO recruiting function and what has to happen to keep Chenmark on their growth trajectory. I hope you enjoy the series, please enjoy this first episode with Trish Higgins and Palmer Higgins.
Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.
Links:
Trish on LinkedIn
Palmer on LinkedIn
Chenmark
Trish and James Higgins on Invest Like the Best
The Weekly Thoughts Newsletter
Topics:
(5:11) - How did you come up with the core values for Chenmark?
(12:58) - Has establishing these values made it easier to communicate change?
(14:06) - How did you each consider pursuing the path of SMB?
(20:57) - How has your thinking evolved since running Chenmark?
(22:09) - Have you found that having competition encourages you that you can build something really successful in this industry?
(24:45) - What skills translated over best from Finance to SMB?
(28:07) - How did your prioritization of tasks change when you made this jump?
(33:00) - What are some ways you make health a priority?
(42:01) - What were some process improvements you made in your first 3 acquisitions?
(46:39) - What have been some helpful tools for evaluating CEOs?
(49:22) - How does performance factor into evaluations?
(51:05) - In the Search world, what changes have you observed the most strongly over the past few years?
(54:42) - Are you enjoying yourself?
(57:26) - What do you like and dislike about your roles?
