Private Equity Value Creation Podcast Ep. 83: Kade Thomas, Emory Oak Partners | Scaling Service Businesses with a Long-Term Approach
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Jul 31, 2025 Kade Thomas, Founder & CEO of Emory Oak Partners, reveals his strategies for growing service businesses with a long-term vision. He discusses overcoming inefficiencies in home services and emphasizes the importance of data in marketing and cross-selling. Kade contrasts his firm’s approach with traditional private equity, focusing on building strong operations rather than quick buy-sell tactics. He also highlights the significance of strategic partnerships and a unified customer experience for fostering organic growth and maximizing customer lifetime value.
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Creating Operational Alpha
- Emory Oak creates "operational alpha" by combining excellent people, processes, and modern technology.
- This leads to margin and revenue expansion by running better businesses, not relying on only financial engineering.
Integrated Executive and Shared Services
- Emory Oak acts as the executive team and shared services for portfolio companies, not relying on external managers.
- This integrated approach supports a long-term organic growth model instead of quick flips.
Build a Powerful Data Layer
- Build a cloud data layer to ingest and organize first- and third-party customer data.
- Continuously append unique customer data to create a competitive advantage and personalized service.
