Think Like an Owner

Ep.183: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Mark Valdez (@_markvaldez). My guest Mark Valdez is the founder and CEO of Eads Bridge Holdings, a holding company with a tech-enabled thesis, and now the owner of a behavioral health business, Stokes Counseling. Mark and I talk about what a tech-focused thesis looks like in practice and what it means to be a software-defined holding company, dynamics in the new acquisition, where tech makes the greatest impact, and building a holding company team. This is also Mark's second appearance on the podcast, so head to episode 55 for more background on Mark and Eads Bridge. Please enjoy my second episode with Mark Valdez. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Mark on Twitter Eads Bridge Holdings The Eads Bridge Substack Stokes Counseling Timestamps (00:04:18) Thoughts on Hedge Funds (00:05:35) Pursuing a Holdco model (00:07:57) The story of Eads Bridge (00:14:44) Questions to find problems in processes (00:16:17) Mark's first acquisition (00:19:20) Tools and products that are obvious add-ons to a new business that's acquired (00:22:32) Company growth perspectives for mental health companies (00:25:09) Factors to monitor in a marketplace business (00:27:49) Marketplace businesses Mark takes inspiration from (00:29:54) Evaluating Founder fit (00:34:08) Characteristics of well-run talent networks (00:37:36) Key roles EBH fulfills for portfolio companies (00:39:24) Being a software-defined Holdco (00:41:55) Approaches to take with a long-term hold mentality (00:44:20) Thoughts on investing in software subscription businesses (00:45:44) Top of mind focuses for the rest of 2023

Jim Vesterman, an expert in managing seller relationships, shares insights and experiences in this episode. Topics include ideal sellers for search fund acquisitions, managing relationships in a business, negotiating numbers, and the importance of maintaining relationships with advisors in mergers and acquisitions.

Ep.181: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Ben Tagoe (@btagoe). My guest today is Ben Tagoe, CEO of Objective Management Group who through a partner network provides sales assessments to sales teams and individual salespeople. Founded over 30 years ago, they have assessed millions of salespeople and 10s of thousands of companies across hundreds of industries. They are a fascinating business that I'm excited to talk about today. Ben and I talk about the various ways they evaluate and coach sales teams, the power of active listening and tools to improve, trends he's noticed at the best-performing sales teams, operating a company with a small headcount relative to its impact, and his past role as Chief of Staff at OnDeck and the various flavors of the Chief of Staff role he's observed. Enjoy! Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Objective Management Group Ben on LinkedIn Timestamps: (00:04:03) The history of OMG and their business model (00:06:10) The different product categories offered at OMG (00:08:46) What are the methods for evaluating a salesperson or sales team? (00:16:20) Improving active listening (00:19:58) To-do lists (00:21:19) The practice of changing belief systems (00:24:40) Common themes across OMG's case studies (00:27:56) Skills that correlate with effective Sales Management (00:32:31) The pros and cons of OMG's small team size (00:36:36) The importance and function of the Chief of Staff role (00:48:11) What's a strongly held belief you've changed your mind on? (00:50:04) What's the best business you've ever seen?

Ep.180: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by David Dodson (@Dave-Dodson). My guest today is David Dodson. David is an investor, former CEO, professor at Stanford, and as of July 13th, 2023, an influential author having published his first book, The Manager's Handbook. I read an advance copy ahead of the recording and was incredibly impressed with how strategic and tactical it was in showing you how to become a more productive leader. The book examines the five essential managerial skills David has observed across some of the most ambitious CEOs he knows, and it's written in a format designed for busy leaders who don't have time for fluff. Given this show's focus on ambitious CEOs and David's wide reach across the CEO world, I can't think of a better guest or topic for this show. Enjoy our conversation, and I highly recommend picking up a copy of The Manager's Handbook. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Pick up a copy of The Manager's Handbook by David Dodson David on LinkedIn Timestamps: (00:05:21) David's experience as a first-time author (00:10:39) The decision to design the book for busy people (00:12:29) The challenge for CEOs to read given their time constraints (00:15:14) The 5 skills that are common among great leaders (00:23:56) How readers can apply the book's lessons to their company (00:28:20) How to improve meetings (00:33:24) Radical Candor (00:39:41) The impact effective communication has on the 5 skills (00:48:48) Thoughts on good hiring (00:51:52) Successfully onboarding a new hire (00:55:34) Knowing when to fire an employee (00:57:27) The fanatical custodian of time (01:02:16) Best email & Slack habits (01:10:52) What section David would add to the next revision

Ep.179: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Julian Scadden (@JulianScadden). My guest today is Julian Scadden, CEO of Nexstar, an industry education, coaching, content, and data business all-in-one for plumbing, HVAC, and electrical companies. I am super excited for this episode. This is a fascinating company and has been mentioned by no less than three other podcast guests to me, so I'm thrilled to sit down with Julian today. Julian and I talk about Nexstar's business model and ownership structure, which is really unique, how they help member companies, what the best-performing companies in their membership do, developing and maintaining a sharing-based culture, and so much more. Enjoy! Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Nexstar Network Julian on LinkedIn Timestamps: (00:03:40) The correlations between Clear, TSA Pre check & Nexstar (00:06:08) An overview of the Nexstar business model (00:15:21) What a typical year looks like for a member of Nexstar (00:24:43) Potential threats to the culture of sharing built at Nexstar (00:28:22) Scarcity vs. abundance mindset (00:32:39) Common themes across Founders thriving within Nexstar (00:37:53) Ways to test and use predictive analytics (00:40:37) How the market for businesses on Nexstar has evolved (00:43:59) Raising a competitor vs. fighting them (00:46:57) Customizing a service for larger-scale businesses (00:51:40) What's a strongly held belief you've changed your mind on? (00:53:28) What's the best business you've come across?

I want to tell you about our audience survey we are currently running. These surveys help us create the best content for listeners and better understand your needs and interests. Thank you in advance for sharing your feedback, we greatly appreciate it. After 30 days we are giving $250 cash to 4 survey responders, just add your email at the end of the survey. Take the survey here: https://bit.ly/3QLBB1N Ep.178: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Ryan Turk (@Ryan-Turk) and Keith Gross (@Keithmgross). This is the third episode in our Launch Series, a partnered episode series with Trilogy Search Partners and Pacific Lake Partners. This conversation focused on managing the due diligence process after a signed LOI with past guest Ryan Turk, CEO of Radiation Detection Company, and Keith Gross, Partner at Pacific Lake. This discussion touches on managing third parties, the importance of open and regular communication, the goals of different types of due diligence, and focusing on the issues that matter. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Ryan on LinkedIn Keith on LinkedIn Pacific Lake Partners Radiation Detection Company Think Like an Owner Ep.110 w/ Ryan Turk Timestamps: (00:02:45) The objective of doing diligence (00:06:15) Deciding where to focus diligence (00:14:05) Having flexibility in your areas of focus (00:15:42) Pipeline management while in diligence or doing a deal (00:22:27) Managing investor communications & Board construction (00:41:42) Managing external parties (00:44:00) Confirmatory diligence (00:46:51) Keeping legal advisors focused (00:50:24) Managing seller relationships

Ep.177: Alex Bridgeman (@aebridgeman) is joined by Sieva Kozinsky (@sievakozinsky). My guest on this episode is Sieva Kozinsky, co-founder of Enduring Ventures, a holding company founded in 2019 with 17 acquisitions to date. Sieva and I met at a dinner following the Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha, his first time attending the meeting. A theme from our first conversations in Omaha that continues through this episode is long-term thinking being a huge advantage, and that compounding happens everywhere. Reputation, lessons, and learning - well beyond capital alone. We talk about Sieva's background as a founder and how it impacts his role at Enduring Ventures, how he discovered he is a better buyer than a builder, great companies and founders he's studied and taken lessons from, and much more. Enjoy! Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Sieva on LinkedIn Sieva on Twitter Enduring Ventures Founders Podcast Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow The Gambler: How Penniless Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William Rempel Timestamps: (00:03:53) Belief Documents (00:08:39) Long-termism trends (00:11:22) Takeaways from the Berkshire Event (00:20:02) Helping employees & executives think and behave like an owner (00:25:44) Being a Buyer vs. Builder (00:32:36) Culture Index (00:35:24) The importance of having experience as a founder/operator to succeed at Enduring (00:44:18) Pareto Prinicples (00:53:45) Habits, tactics, and learnings from biographies on great founders and companies (01:08:14) What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (01:09:34) What's the best business you've ever seen?

Ep.177: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Mark Stiving (@Stiving). My guest on this episode is Mark Stiving. Mark is a pricing expert and consults with companies on developing stronger pricing and product positioning strategies. Our discussion today on pricing is wide-ranging from the purposes of pricing, value-based pricing, segmentation, and who's responsibility pricing is in an organization. What I loved about this episode is getting a distilled view on pricing based on hundreds of case studies over decades of work, giving tons of great lessons for the CEO listener. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links Mark Stiving on LinkedIn Impact Pricing LLC Books by Mark Stiving Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Invest Like the Best: Henry Schuck - Building Zoominfo Van Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter Timestamps (00:03:07) Mark's early career in pricing (00:11:09) The fundamental purposes of pricing (00:16:06) How to evaluate your product pricing, the CEOs role, and incentivizing Sales (00:26:12) Tools for Salespeople (00:28:14) Teaching Behavior in Sales (00:30:25) Practices for communicating with customers (00:36:44) The scientific process for determining the price of something (00:40:57) When to segment customers (00:48:30) Positioning plans for pricing within websites and calls (00:51:59) Companies that have stellar segmentation and pricing pages (00:53:56) Luxury Pricing (00:56:12) How to raise prices (00:59:33) SaaS Contracts (01:03:49) AI in Pricing (01:06:18) What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (01:07:39) What's the best business you've ever seen?

Ep.175: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Philip Hussey (@philipdhussey). My guest on this episode is Philip Hussey, CEO of Outerland, a landscape maintenance, new build, and snow removal business in Cape Cod, owned by Chenmark. Philip took the CEO role through Chenmark's GVP program in January 2022. A concept he spends a lot of time thinking about that we discuss in detail is their focus on their internal customer, i.e., the Outerland team. They believe by serving and delighting their internal customers, they will do the same towards their external customers. I love the concept and think CEOs of any business can benefit from hearing their philosophy. We also talk about being the high-end service provider and what that looks like, recruiting for high-end and customer service-oriented companies that Phillip admires. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Outerland Chenmark Philip on LinkedIn Timestamps (00:03:44) Outerland and executing a rebrand (00:08:11) Describing the ideal Outerland customer (00:09:58) How Outerland differentiates themselves (00:12:26) Building trust with customers (00:16:37) Recruiting talent (00:22:16) Internal customers (00:26:10) Off-season opportunities (00:28:58) Upsell strategies (00:32:05) Studying other companies that create "Wow" moments (00:43:28) Making sure Management gives a damn (00:46:20) What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (00:48:05) What's the best business you've ever seen?

I want to tell you about our audience survey we are currently running. These surveys help us create the best content for listeners and better understand your needs and interests. Thank you in advance for sharing your feedback, we greatly appreciate it. After 30 days we are giving $250 cash to 4 survey responders, just add your email at the end of the survey. Take the survey here: https://bit.ly/3QLBB1N Ep.174: Alex (@Aebridgeman) is joined by Alex Thinath (@Alex-Thinath) and Nikita Sunilkumar (@Nikita-Sunilkumar). This episode is the second in our Launch Series, a partnered series with Pacific Lake Partners and Trilogy Search Partners, focused on starting a search. We walk through the various phases before and after the search begins, with key questions and best practices on how to approach each phase. I'm joined by Alex Thinath, a current searcher backed by both Pacific Lake and Trilogy, and Nikita Sunilkumar, an entrepreneur in residence at Trilogy. In our discussion, we also discuss differentiation as a searcher, choosing investors, key KPIs and metrics to watch, and measuring success. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Learn more about Alex and Think Like an Owner at https://tlaopodcast.com/ Links: Trilogy Search Partners Pacific Lake Partners Timestamps (00:02:22) Introducing Nikita and Alex (00:04:54) Activities and questions in the 3-12 months leading up to the Search (00:10:35) Industry research (00:14:35) Cap table and investor selections (00:22:53) Drafting a PPM (00:32:34) Daily activities and tools to use one month into a Search (00:41:55) How Searchers should pitch themselves (00:47:42) Getting into your groove: 6 months into a Search (00:54:12) KPIs and benchmarks to hit during Search (00:59:50) Utilizing interns and VAs (01:05:59) Final thoughts