Think Like an Owner

Episode 166: Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Ed Redden (@Edward-Redden). Ed and his partner Justin Vogt are former podcast guests from episode 59 where we talked about starting Evermore Industries, an industrial services holding company. Last year they acquired AVUITY, based in Cincinnati, which sells physical commercial office sensors that detect motion, temperature, humidity, and more, along with a data and analytics subscription. Ed and I talk about making the first acquisition in a holding company strategy, working at the intersection of hardware and software, talent planning and sales development, and life running a company while being a new parent. 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 www.AlexBridgeman.com Links: Ed on LinkedIn AVUITY Evermore Industries Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:23) - Acquiring AVUITY (00:07:20) - Characteristics that make a great business to acquire (00:11:38) - Competing with Venture-backed businesses (00:13:34) - Advice from investors (00:17:25) - Accelerating Revenue Growth (00:22:44) - Measuring customer ROI (00:25:09) - Data application between customers (00:29:30) - Hiring plans (00:36:33) - Growth pain points (00:38:55) - Learning to sell (00:40:26) - Life as a new parent & operator

This is the third and final episode in our three-part series on Chenmark, a highly successful small business holding company founded in 2015. Today they have acquired 11 operating companies, completed 30+ acquisitions when including add-ons, and have over 600 employees today. This third episode takes a deep dive into their CEO recruiting function and what has to happen to keep Chenmark on its growth trajectory. We discuss their GVP program where they recruit young hungry leaders to eventually be placed in CEO roles, their GA program for associate-level recruiting, and earning the right to take risks and what that means for them today. I hope you enjoy this third part of the series with Trish Higgins and James Higgins. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: Chenmark Trish on LinkedIn James on LinkedIn Will Thorndike on Invest Like the Best Legacy by James Kerr Chenmark Series 1 Chenmark Series 2 Topics: (00:04:51) Earning the right to take risks (00:11:10) Accelerating acquisitions and faster processes (00:13:04) Expanding capacity beyond headcount growth (00:17:25) Reinvestment in current companies vs. new platforms (00:22:08) Not having a full-time person searching for deals (00:26:13) Chenmark's GVP Associate's Program (00:36:31) Hiring CEOs and Operators (01:04:16) How to make Chenmark be successful for another 20 years (01:07:17) How to carry on a Newsletter long-term

Please take 2 minutes to complete this audience poll and give feedback on the podcast This episode is the second in a three-part series we are running on Chenmark, a highly successful small business holding company founded in 2015. Today they have acquired 11 operating companies, completed 30+ acquisitions when including add-ons, and have over 600 employees today. This second episode focuses on their operating ethos, culture, and incentive structures. We discuss meeting cadence and formats across the company, the use of debt, CEO incentive models, broad incentives beyond CEOs, and lessons learned from building and maintaining good cultures. I hope you enjoy this second part of the series with James Higgins and Palmer Higgins. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: James on LinkedIn Palmer on LinkedIn Chenmark The Weekly Thoughts Newsletter Listen to Part 1 of this series here Topics: (4:26) - How do your core values extend to your portfolio companies? (6:13) - What are some ways you learn about the culture and core values of a company you acquire? (8:32) - Is there a wide range in terms of how quickly teams can adapt to these new core values?  (10:52) - How do you assess the willingness to change the culture in new ownership? (13:57) - Are there a set of recurring meetings you have in the early days of ownership? (20:02) - Is there an ideal set of principles and tools you’re looking to reach internally for portfolio companies? (21:26) - Is there a way you’re storing past decisions in a database? (27:43) - What’s the next piece of the communication cadence journey for you? (29:00) - How many acquisitions are you making per year? (32:34) - Are there any other flywheels you didn’t anticipate coming to fruition? (35:14) - What’s been the evolution of CEO incentives? (38:53) - Chenmark’s stock purchase program (42:54) - What companies do you look to for inspiration on compensation plans? (44:30) - Does the incentive plan change across roles? (47:06) - Are there any negative consequences of a Free Cash Flow Compensation plan? (51:51) - What’s the philosophy behind the FCF compensation plan? (55:18) - Are there any other common principles around compensation or budgets that don’t fit with what you want to do?

Please take 2 minutes to complete this audience poll and give feedback on the podcast 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?

Please take 2 minutes to complete this audience poll and give feedback on the podcast My guests on this episode are Jalen Ross and Orlando Remak, cofounders of CAM Collective, a holding company for association management companies like HOAs founded in April 2022. Today they have four member companies. I was lucky enough to meet Orlando during a trip to Ohio two years ago before he had started CAM Collective and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him and Jalen. We talk about being intentionally decentralized while remaining focused on one industry and business model, focusing on growing revenue vs achieving cost savings, looking for ways to automate processes, hiring at a holding company level, and creating a partnership vs. being solo entrepreneurs. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell very quickly, but Jalen and Orlando beyond being partners are also clearly great friends and are very fun to chat with. I hope you enjoy this episode with Jalen and Orlando. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: The CAM Collective Orlando on LinkedIn Jalen on LinkedIn Topics: (4:22) - What is the CAM Collective? (5:09) - What kind of content would you make around CAM? (6:41) - What are some crazy HOA Management stories? (11:47) - Why were HOAs interesting to you? (15:48) - What level of churn do you see in your business? (17:27) - What are some keys to maintaining HOA relationships? (20:58) - How does pricing power work in HOA Management? (22:16) - How have you approached the decentralized nature of the company? (25:36) - What value propositions did you see were missing in this market? (31:19) - How do you maintain such a high level of care? (33:04) - What are some revenue lines and growth opportunities you seen with HOA Management companies? (37:13) - What are some no-code or automation tools you’ve found to be effective? (40:55) - What’s the philosophy around having smaller teams? (50:31) - What are the pros and cons of doing this as a partnership? (53:55) - Were there any exercises you did on trying to find a career you would enjoy and feel fulfilled in? (1:02:51) - What are some strongly held beliefs that you’ve changed your mind on? (1:06:36) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen? (1:10:52) - More on CAM Collective

Please take 2 minutes to complete this audience poll and give feedback on the podcast Daniel Reese is my final guest on the CEO series with early career CEOs. Daniel acquired IntellaTriage in November 2019 after a military career and searching with a distinct thesis. IntellaTriage handles after-hours calls for providers, senior living businesses, and others with a remote nursing team. Daniel and I talk about growing a business that felt very much like a startup early on, advice for new CEOs, scaling teams, and finding a balance in his life as CEO. We also talk about working on submarines, which could be an entire podcast in its own right. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: Daniel on LinkedIn IntellaTriage Traction by Gino Wickman Scaling Up by Verne Harnish Carl Streck on Think Like an Owner Topics: (4:09) - Daniel’s Military career (6:57) - What was the thesis behind your Search? (8:49) - What was the state of the business when you took over and what did your first 6 months look like? (10:47) - How was management structured upon acquisition and how did you adjust it? (12:01) - How did you prioritize hiring for management positions? (13:19) - What do you feel went well in the first 2 years of ownership and what went poorly? (15:08) - What did you need to do to enable revenue growth? (16:34) - What decisions were made in the first 2 years to set up this growth you’re having now? (18:07) - Has client communication improved your customer churn? (21:18) - Do you have any feedback mechanisms with customer communication? (23:28) - How has your ability to focus on long-term projects changed? (25:22) - How do you go about setting goals? (26:45) - Has the business changed dramatically since your acquisition? (28:04) - What needs to happen to scale the company? (29:22) - How has your life changed since becoming CEO? (31:31) - How do you approach the way you phrase things to your team as the CEO? (36:35) - What advice do you offer early-career CEOs? (38:36) - What do you consider when putting together a board? (40:11) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (41:38) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?

Please take 2 minutes to complete this audience poll and give feedback on the podcast This episode is the second in our CEO series with early career search CEOs in their companies. Today I’m joined by Adam Ilowite and Michael Upex, CEO and President of Axero Solutions, respectively. Axero is a digital workspace platform for internal communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing that was acquired by Adam and Michael in July 2021. We discuss the timing of making changes in the business, creating a budget from scratch, talent planning, and managing an incredibly steep learning curve, among various other operations topics. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: Axero Solutions Michael on LinkedIn Adam on LinkedIn Frank Slootman on Invest Like the Best Topics: (4:47) - What was your experience Searching and how were the first few months after the acquisition? (7:14) - Were there any skills from your careers in Consulting or Investment Banking that played a role in your Search? (8:55) - What advice did you get from investors or peers on how to handle your first year within the business? (11:04) - Was there any challenge or learning curve that stands out from that first year? (16:52) - How did you go about learning ideal process implementation? (22:52) - What lessons on change management have you learned? (23:51) - How has your mindset changed as you navigate your second year of ownership? (26:51) - What are your top 3 priorities? (28:07) - What’s your philosophy for putting together budgets and hiring plans? (29:44) - How do you decide on edge-case expenses when you’re structuring a budget? (31:49) - How did you think about what positions were needed when creating your hiring plan? (34:38) - What are some common errors or omissions you’ve seen in budgets that you try to avoid? (36:05) - What are your thoughts on filtering advice and who you should be listening to? (38:18) - How does industry factor into the types of people you reach out to for advice? (40:10) - Have you found value in going to industry conferences or trade publications? (42:28) - What excites you the most about running this business in 2023? (45:05) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (48:33) - Are there any entrepreneurs or CEOs that you study and admire? (49:49) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?

My guest, Ryan Galea, is the first guest in a CEO series I’m doing with search CEOs who acquired their companies within the last 3 years and have early lessons and emotions in their very recent, or current, memory. The series aims to learn strategies and hear stories from early career CEOs about how to manage the first couple of years running a new company.  Ryan acquired VoiceFriend in August of '21, a communications platform for nursing homes and senior living facilities. Then less than a year later acquired a second business Caremerge which offers engagement software for senior living. Ryan and I discuss managing people and tasks, internal communication, change management with an acquisition vs a merger, and what’s gone differently than expected. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: Ryan on LinkedIn VoiceFriend (Now Icon) Caremerge Topics: (4:25) - Ryan’s career (10:48) - How do you Prioritize tasks and which ones to delegate? (11:59) - What’s your process for training someone to do a task you’ve previously done yourself? (13:56) - How do you think about the way you phrase things given your role as CEO? (16:01) - What made you decide to get a law degree?  (17:20) - Has your time horizon shifted as you’ve been able to delegate more of the business? (18:37) - How has this shift affected your priorities? (20:09) - Was there a critical point that allowed you to become more strategic as a CEO? (22:09) - What are some of your biggest learnings in the process of integrating acquisitions? (24:08) - What were some of the differences between the initial acquisition vs. the merger? (28:46) - What strategies do you use to clear uncertainty? (29:43) - What has been your best win and toughest loss during your first 2 years? (31:33) - What kind of advice would you offer a first-year CEO? (33:28) - In what ways has your life as CEO turned out differently than you thought it would? (34:12) - What’s a strongly held belief that you’ve changed your mind on? (35:23) - What are some ways you try to identify really motivated people? (36:23) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen? 

This is the last of a six-episode series with Trilogy Search Partners focused on Search, Search-backed acquisitions, and small business operations. Today we have a great conversation with Stijn Hendrikse, an operating partner at Trilogy. As an author of T2D3.pro, serial entrepreneur, and marketing leader, Stijn has contributed to the success of 10+ startups as a C-level executive, including the Chief Revenue Officer of Acumatica and CEO of MightyCall, a SaaS contact center solution. Stijn founded Kalungi - the global leading Growth-as-a-Service provider focused solely on B2B SaaS companies, and Amy.us, an AI-powered conversation platform that allows small business owners to service their customers better. Before focusing on startups, Stijn led global SMB Marketing and B2B Product Marketing for Microsoft’s Office platform. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: Stijn on LinkedIn Trilogy Search Partners Browzwear Topics: (1:53) - Breaking down the SAAS business model (4:22) - What are some of the SAAS companies and marketing teams you’ve been a part of over your career? (7:20) - What led you to ultimately work with Search Funds? (11:22) - What kinds of companies do you encourage Searchers to look for? (13:50) - How do you value the effectiveness of a marketing function in a company? (20:03) - Where can early CEOs improve on pricing? (25:58) - Do you recommend any proactive communication cadence with customers? (30:45) - How do you start developing a high-performing marketing function?  (33:38) - When does bringing on a fractional CMO make sense? (35:24) - What’s the best mix long-term for in-house marketing vs. outsourcing? (37:36) - How do you find the right person to grow within your marketing function (42:17) - What strategies do successful CEOs use to help get teams behind their vision? (43:49) - What’s really important to know about the Ideal Customer Profile? (48:25) - How do you develop an effective outbound campaign? (57:36) - How incoming CEOs can add value

Today’s episode is a rerun with past guest Ross Brendel, a co-founder and the managing partner of Westerly Group alongside cofounder Rich Littlehale. Westerly Group invests in acquisition entrepreneurs with committed, permanent capital to pursue a specific industry thesis over an indefinite time horizon. They are investors in several of our podcast guests such as Justin Vogt and Ed Redden, Eric Factor, and Austin King, among others. I wanted to bring this episode back to your attention as permanent capital and longer time horizons are becoming more talked about today and I think it’s important to discuss the nuances of this approach, as Ross does in this episode. In this conversation, Ross shares Westerly’s permanent capital thesis and model, whether buying a business has become harder or easier, how to think about a purchase price with a longer-term view, and the nuanced advantages of committed capital in pursuing acquisitions. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.  Links: Ross on LinkedIn Westerly Group Sylmar Group Era Services Group Evermore Industries Northrim Horizon Business Model Generation Topics: (3:32) - Ross’ background & career (6:39) - Why do you think interest in longer-term hold vehicles has increased in the past few years? (9:33) - Should entrepreneurs be less price-sensitive when looking to buy a business? (11:36) - How do you find entrepreneurs with the right mindset when buying a business? (13:42) - Do you think buying a business has gotten harder over the past 5-10 years? (18:46) - What are some of the unique ways you’ve seen Searchers find companies to buy? (20:25) - Can you tell us about some of the teams you’ve backed? (23:19) - Can you talk through some of the advantages of committed capital structures? (28:06) - Was it intentional to take a generalist approach to your work? (31:53)- What happens if an entrepreneur you back loses desire for the industry they initially start Searching in? (33:51) - Does your Zero Horizon Investor idea give you more flexibility in terms of the business models you go after? (37:18) - Are there any other models in Search that are interesting to you? (39:36) - How do you think you’ll continue to find entrepreneurs and teams? Do you have a formulaic approach? (42:10) - What college class would you teach if it could be about anything? (44:12) - What’s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on? (45:33) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?