First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo

How to Build Your HoldCo with Michael Girdley

Mar 13, 2024

Learn from HoldCo legend Michael Girdley about building a successful HoldCo using the 'Right People, Right Structure, Right Mission' framework. Discover how to set up your business, find the best people, and get everyone excited about the same goal. Explore the joy of building a career around passion and joy and how to connect with like-minded operators for your personal HoldCo.

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ADVICE

Screen Hundreds, Hire One Or Two

Screen large applicant pools with topgrading, assessments, structured interviews, and multiple reference calls.
Narrow hundreds of applicants down to one or two strong fits.

ADVICE

Invest Early FaceTime And Coaching

Spend concentrated FaceTime early: host associates for a week, then do frequent one-on-ones.
Coach them through idea exploration and expect immediate customer discovery work.

INSIGHT

Start With What You Can Affect

Effectuation: start with what you can do and evolve the business via discovery and small bets.
Build outward from available capabilities instead of starting with a fixed vision.

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E75: Michael Girdley (@girdley) needs no introduction. He's a HoldCo legend.

Today, host Yong-Soo (@YongSooChung) sits down with Michael to discuss how he has built a successful HoldCo. We talk about Michael's "Right People, Right Structure, Right Mission" framework, which he uses to build all of his businesses. Michael shares how to find the best people, set up your business the right way, and get everyone excited about the same goal.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn:

- PHC Organization Structure
- How to Propel the Business into Gear
- How to Build Your Own Holdco of Multiple Businesses
- 'Right People, Right Structure, Right Mission' Framework

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EXCERPTS:

The Journey: "And what I really discovered was that there's this interesting inflection points in people's lives to when they should sign up to be CEOs of different types of businesses." — Michael Girdley (06:24)

Joyful Career: "I think what people should be doing is thinking about the life they wanna live and the things they wanna be doing, and then build companies around that... joy comes from getting to do things that you really love. So build your business around things that give you joy that you get to do." — Michael Girdley (36:40)

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LINKS:

How to Hire the Best Operators for Your Personal HoldCo

HoldCo Masterclass

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

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