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The Fort

#314 - Sieva Kozinsky - Founder @ Enduring Ventures - Permanent Capital HoldCo That Owns 21 Businesses & Counting

Oct 12, 2023

Sieva Kozinsky, Founder of Enduring Ventures, talks about their long-term holding company that owns 21 businesses. They discuss their structure, sourcing opportunities, setting incentives for leaders, assessing industry-agnostic deals, and the story of acquiring Scribe via Twitter.

01:17:28

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Quick takeaways

Enduring Ventures prioritizes businesses that have a team capable of running it if the owner were to retire suddenly.

Enduring Ventures focuses on buying outstanding businesses with potential for growth and compounding returns.

The holding company model allows Enduring Ventures to maintain legacy brands, take care of employees and customers, and focus on long-term well-being instead of pursuing the highest price in auctions.

Deep dives

Importance of Having a Team in a Business

At Enduring Ventures, the main check they go through when considering buying a business is whether it has a team that could run it if the owner retired the next day. They prioritize businesses that can pass this "get hit by a bus" test.

1.

Introduction

1min

2.

Developing a Friendship and Business Partnership

11min

3.

Setting Internal Valuation

16min

4.

Evaluating and Acquiring Businesses

21min

5.

Understanding the Financing Structure of Seller Note on Full Standby

3min

6.

Enduring Ventures' Ownership and Business Management

7min

7.

Building Reputation and Acquiring a Distressed Business

15min

8.

Simplifying Global Workforce Hiring with Relay Human Cloud

3min

Sieva is a founder and Managing Partner at Enduring Ventures. Enduring Ventures is a long-term holding company that buys beautiful businesses and holds them forever. Enduring owns a portfolio of 20+ companies across HVAC, B2B Maintenance, Plumbing, Swimming Pool Construction, and Software.

Chris and Sieva discuss:

Enduring’s structure and how they source opportunities
Setting incentives for leaders in companies they acquire
How an industry-agnostic HoldCo quickly assesses deals
The story of acquiring Scribe via Twitter

Links:

Enduring Ventures - https://www.enduring.ventures/

Sieva on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SievaKozinsky

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Topics:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:29) Founding Enduring Ventures

(00:12:06) What is the structure of Enduring today?

(00:20:58) How do you approach fundraising?

(00:22:47) How are you incentivized in your business model?

(00:28:26) Is there anything you won’t look at?

(00:29:51) How are you able to quickly assess the quality of a deal if you’re industry agnostic?

(00:33:09) What are the characteristics of a business that looked great years ago but today would be mediocre?

(00:37:14) What do you bring to the table when buying a deal?

(00:42:13) How do you source opportunities?

(00:44:24) Do you care if the founder or current operator stays on post-close?

(00:47:11) How do you incentivize someone to stay on in a long-term hold scenario?

(00:48:58) seller-note on full standby

(00:51:58)How many businesses do you own today?

(00:53:04) How do the businesses you acquire get cash to you?

(00:56:59) Finding the line between the what’s the responsibility of an owned business and Enduring

(00:59:39) Acquiring Scribe

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