Think Like an Owner

My guest on this episode is Joe Heieck. In 2015, Joe acquired gWorks, a software company that takes geographical information system data from government cities and counties and helps them visualize that data on their website among other services. Since then, they have grown impressively well both organically and through acquisition and have recently recapped their investor base through an investment by BV Investment Partners to continue their strong growth trajectory. Joe was an officer in the Navy prior to his MBA program at Harvard and subsequent search. We talk about how different building culture and leading teams is in the military compared to private companies. We also talk about building family versus team-based cultures, building a strong M&A strategy, what risks to accept versus walk away from, and knowing when it's time to exit a business. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Joe on LinkedIn gWorks Topics: (3:46) - Why was the location of a business in your search so important to you and your wife? (7:17) - What other ways did you optimize constructing your life around the business you would buy? (9:05) - What enabled you to focus and get an acquisition done in just 6 months of searching? (15:42) - Did you aim for a software company initially? (18:52) - What would a government use your GIS software for? (20:45) - Do searchers grow more risk-tolerant as their search lingers and what risks did you feel were acceptable when acquiring your company? (25:04) - What did you have to change about your leadership style transitioning from the military into a civilian business? (29:22) - Building family-based vs. team-based companies (33:22) - How do you negotiate the balance of empathy in a team-oriented environment? (36:29) - Can you give an example of proper time management within your company? (39:08) - What's your philosophy on strategic acquisitions to roll into your business? (44:08) - How do you think about exiting a business? (48:12) - How do you know if you're the right person to keep running the business? (52:12) - Is there anything you would go back and do differently? (54:01) - What college class would you teach if it could be about anything? (55:41) - What's a strongly held belief that you've changed your mind on? (57:24) - What's the best business you've ever seen?

The intersection of media and data has been the top idea on my mind for quite some time now. And my guest today, Craig Fuller, runs one of the best modern examples of this concept in action. FreightWaves, founded in 2016, is a media and data company focused on trucking, freight, supply chains, and all things logistics. To date, they have raised $91 million, will hit $42 million in revenue this year, split 55/45 between data and media, and have a valuation of between $300 and 400 million today. Craig's work building FreightWaves has been an invaluable model for my work at HW Media as Chief of Staff with CEO Clayton Collins and the rest of our team. Conversations like this one have been instrumental in our discussions on the future of HW Media as an all-things housing media business. But we, and especially myself, also believe this model, this intersection of media and data can be a replicable strategy across industries. The goal of my episode with Craig today was to better understand how media and data can work together to create transformative companies, and I'm grateful for Craig's willingness to share his experience and expertise. Throughout the episode, we talk about what data sets to focus on first in an industry and how to build around them, developing the product roadmap, the media data flywheel, hiring effective editorial and sales teams, and the investor perception of FreightWaves. Enjoy. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Craig on LinkedIn FreightWaves The Economics of Data Businesses by Abraham Thomas Topics: (4:31) - Why do media companies typically misunderstand 'data' and data companies? (7:13) - How did the Media & Data arms of FreightWaves impact each other as you built this business? (13:07) - When you think back about creating high-frequency data, how did you approach building it for FreightWaves? (17:54) - Where has the bulk of your capital gone in building the company? (27:24) - How do you think about expanding your data sets going forward? (32:12) - Who is involved in your product development process? (38:06) - How did you two sides of your business interact in the early days, and has that changed over time? (49:35) - How do you attract high-quality talent? (54:18) - How do you structure your sales teams? How do you think about pricing? (1:01:23) - What's the investor perception on businesses running on Media & Data?

My guest on this episode is Poppy MacDonald. Poppy is the CEO of USAFacts, a not-for-profit data company founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to gather, organize and share data about the US government at the federal, state, and local levels entirely for free. Many of you will know about my fascination with media and data companies, and this episode with Poppy is a continuation of that strong interest. But not only is Poppy's story about running a super interesting data company, but also about growing an organization from 5 to 47 employees in less than 4 years. The company is very much a startup with everyone wearing multiple hats and driving to the same goal. Through our conversation, Poppy and I talk about why government data can be so hard to find, building a data-centric, non-partisan organization, growing pains, the long-term vision for USAFacts, and why the company was compelling to her when Steve offered her the job. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Poppy on LinkedIn USAFacts Topics: (4:03) - Poppy's background and career (7:29) - How did your experience in media at Politico transfer over to the world of Data? (10:54) - What channels are you using to share and gather data? (12:54) - What are your visions for further disseminating information to the broader US population? (17:51) - As you work down from federal to county size to gather data, does it get harder as you go smaller? (20:45) - How do you help governments & agencies gather their own data? (25:12) - How does your team need to grow and evolve? (28:28) - Where have you had growing pains when going from 5 or 6 to now nearly 50 people? (33:25) - What team has been the most challenging to build within the company? (35:33) - The importance of having patience while building USA Facts (37:21) - What 5-10 year growth and marketing goals do you have for the organization? (42:03) - Do you think your company could ever have a media side? (44:53) - Are there any comparable companies to yours in other countries that you can learn from? (48:06) - What's been the most interesting or odd piece of data that's been hard to get a hold of? (50:09) - What college class would you teach if it could be on anything? (51:28) - What's a strongly held belief you've changed your mind on? (52:35) - What's the best business you've ever seen?

My guest on this episode is Ujwal Velagapudi. Ujwal has acquired nine small companies, pieces of real estate, and other investments over the past few years and has stumbled upon quite a number of unique companies. He's invested in a vending business, virtual assistant business, commercial real estate, a sports bar, and several others. This episode is about getting started and is a departure from our usual episodes about larger businesses in order to focus on small incremental deals running efficiently. Ujwal is really thoughtful and claims to not be a great manager or operator, but I advise you not to believe him. We talk about all things amusement vending, re-investing profits, close calls, what he is interested in today, and his changed views on debt. Enjoy. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Ujwal on LinkedIn HiByron Topics: (4:20) - Ujwal's acquisition off of Microacquire and other businesses he's bought (10:06) - What did the business do when you acquired it and what have you grown it to? (12:05) - What did you do before you decided to start buying companies? (13:31) - How are you getting the capital for these deals? (16:49) - Do you still live off of $1500 per month? (17:26) - What stands out to you now in a potential acquisition vs. when you first started? (18:45) - What businesses do you stay away from? (19:35) - Can you share more information on your vending business? (21:28) - What types of machines are the most profitable? (23:41) - How does the operations structure for the Vending business work? (25:10) - How many employees are in your portfolio? (25:44) - What have you learned about management during this journey? (28:15) - How do you onboard new employees at your companies? (30:58) - Where do you see things needing to improve? (32:56) - What's the growth plan? (37:15) - How much would the average machine earn in net profit for the restaurant on a monthly basis? (41:46) - What are some mistakes you've made that could have been "nails in the coffin" for your business? (45:53) - What college class would you teach if it could be on anything? (47:37) - What's a strongly held belief that you've changed your mind on? (49:38) - What's the best business you've ever seen?

My guests on this episode are Tom Klein and Roland Lessard, Tom and Roland launched a partnered search after running a background screening business together and acquired a language service business focused on intellectual property in 2016, which they sold last year in 2021. In both companies, growth through acquisition was a core to their playbook and we spend a ton of time diving into best practices and things to avoid in doing so. This is one of the best episodes of the podcast for understanding M&A, synergies, and change management, and if any of these topics apply to your business, you'll want to tune in. This conversation covers all things M&A, shifting teams, understanding culture and structure, effective leadership, and integrations with new companies and teams. We got on such a roll near the end that I entirely skipped my closing questions to make room for more discussion, and I think it paid off. By the end of this longer-than-usual episode, I hope you're in agreement. Enjoy. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Tom Klein on LinkedIn Roland Lessard on LinkedIn Morningside Translations Topics: (3:58) - Tom and Roland's Backgrounds (13:03) - How many companies within the industry did you speak with during your search? (16:35) - What was the company you bought and how did you plan out growth? (20:02) - Where were the biggest pains during your massive growth from $5mm to $30mm? (26:25) - What strategies did you use to get up to speed with everyone's role when making changes? (32:08) - What's your philosophy and experience with M&A? (42:51) - What are some Do's and Don'ts of tuck-in acquisitions? (58:07) - How do you implement synergies and change management when you've acquired one of these companies? (1:12:45) - Additional commentary on synergies

My guest on this episode is Michael Arrieta. Michael is the founder of Garden City and has raised $51 million in permanent capital to acquire family-owned businesses across the country. The raise was completed in March 2020, and already they have three wholly-owned companies and minority stakes in two. Michael came highly recommended by Brent Beshore, and I can see why from our conversations. It's clear that Michael is a student of business and has mental models of hundreds of companies floating around in his head. He also has a remarkable sense of empathy and mission at Garden City, a mission which we discussed throughout the episode extensively. During our conversation, we talk about raising without a private equity background, how to involve investors in your portfolio companies as mentors, how they recruit, the technology and systems they implement at their companies, and all things Chick-fil-A, a business Michael has studied extensively. Please enjoy my episode with Michael. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Michael on LinkedIn Garden City Companies Why it only costs $10k to own a Chick-Fil-A Franchise Topics: (4:42) - Michael's background and career (7:27) - What was it about VC that caused you to hesitate to pursue your career in that world? (8:59) What memories stick out from your time as a chief of staff that have helped you in your current role? (12:00) - What's the thesis behind Garden City? (13:39) - How did you go about fundraising? (17:12) - What started to become possible once you saw an increase in capital interest and were there any tradeoffs you had to make in order to secure more funding? (22:14) - Where are you seeing your deal flow come from? (24:55) - What are some of the companies that you own? (28:52) - How do you approach implementing technology in your acquisitions? (31:42) - How do you find great people to bring on to your companies? (34:11) - How much advice do you get from your investor base? (36:25) - What do you view as your role within Garden City? (39:21) - How do you build relationships with leaders in the companies you acquire? (41:26) - What companies inspire you? (47:46) - What college class would you teach if it could be about anything? (48:25) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (49:41) - What's the best business you've ever seen?

My guests on this episode are Caroline Matthews and Connor McCarthy, a husband and wife team running an investment firm called Canyonlands Funds that acquires youth summer camps from Maine to Florida. Both are extremely passionate about the outdoors and met on a trip to Bhutan while getting their MBAs at Stanford. After working in private equity for a few years after graduating, they decided to become entrepreneurs in the outdoors and have acquired two summer camps to date. Their strategy is one of the most unique and interesting I've maybe ever come across as I haven't heard of anyone else investing in used summer camps. Their business model is pretty interesting, and naturally we spend a lot of time diving into how it works. We also talk about challenges in running summer camps, how they decided to raise capital and find great investors, strategies for finding and building great teams, and why Levain's Bakery in New York City makes the best cookies in the world. Enjoy the episode. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Caroline on LinkedIn Connor on LinkedIn Canyonlands Fund Levain Bakery Topics: (3:56) - Caroline & Connor's background and starting Canyonlands (7:43) - What made you decide to pursue private equity & tech before building Canyonlands? (9:33) - What were some skills you developed before starting Canyonlands? (11:35) - What business models did you consider when developing the company? (13:19) - What is the financial model backing the company? (16:35) - What are some ways you've leaned on your board for feedback? (20:17) - What is the business model for a Summer Camp? (27:23) - How do you find a great Camp Director? (30:37) - How are you measuring results through qualitative data from campers? (33:55) - What is the hardest data to track? (36:47) - How difficult is it to buy a camp and install a great reputation and values if it doesn't already have them? (39:08) - What are some levers and options for growing a camp? (41:29) - What have you learned about pricing in your business? (42:47) - Do you have any plans for a punch-card or subscription type model? (45:31) - How do you go about sourcing camps to acquire? (51:03) - What's the dynamic like being business partners and married? (54:35) - What college class would you teach if it could be on anything? (55:55) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on? (56:46) - What's the best business you've ever seen? (58:18) - How would you describe Levain Cookies to non-East Coast people?

My guests on this episode are Ayo Phillips and Peter Lohmann. Both operate businesses and property services and management and also run Traction EOS in their companies. EOS rightfully gets a lot of attention in the small business world for providing a structure to grow and being what Peter calls it as a culture in a box system. But every operator uses EOS in slightly different ways, and I wanted to hear from two operators using it to hear how they've customized the model for their businesses. This episode is a breakdown of why they decided to implement EOS, choosing between self-implementing versus hiring an implementer, benefits they've realized from using EOS, how EOS impacts company culture, and their advice for other operators considering us for their businesses. Also, Ayo's previous episode, episode 56 on Think Like An Owner, was a very popular episode for good reason. Ayo has quite the story to share, and I highly recommend book-ending that episode with this one for a great story and more background. And now enjoy our all-things EOS conversation. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Peter Lohmann on LinkedIn Ayo Phillips on LinkedIn Traction by Gino Wickman TLAO #56 w/ Ayo Phillips Perfect Surface Inc RL Property Management Vision Traction Organizer Who by Geoff Smart Topics: (5:08) - Ayo Phillips' & Peter Lohmann's backgrounds (7:17) - What prompted you to implement traction? (11:20) - What were some of the lightbulb moments from Traction? (18:17) - The decision to self-implement EOS (25:32) - When did you notice that the implementation was working and a culture was being developed? (30:11) - How much movement had to happen within your teams to successfully implement EOS? (35:49) - Building the base layer of EOS (38:59) - How do you think through picking "Rocks" and setting goals? Did you ever have to refine any of them? (44:31) - How have each of you personalized EOS to best fit your respective companies? (52:28) - What advice would you give to operators considering or struggling with EOS?

My guest for this episode is Kaustubh Deo. Kaustubh recently acquired a tree service business in Seattle through a self-funded search after working in private equity in New York. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Kaustubh over the last two years and have found him to be one of the most insightful thinkers in the search space. A good portion of our conversation focuses on concepts like risk-reward and making transitions, topics he has given a lot of thought. Throughout our discussion, we talk about the differences operating in large private equity compared to in small companies, loosening his deal-breaker list, effectively investing his time learning the new business, and YouTube strategy for the tree service industry. Listen weekly and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links: Kaustubh Deo on LinkedIn Blooma Tree Experts Guilty of Treeson on YouTube SingleOps & the Green Industry Perspectives Podcast Topics: (4:24) - Would you ever get on YouTube? (5:43) - Why don't tree-climbers gravitate toward W2's? (8:21) - What's your main recruiting base? (10:49) - Are you seeing any tree service content creation outside of YouTube and Instagram? (11:48) - How did you end up in the world of tree services? (14:02) - How did you decide to focus on the Seattle market? (17:31) - What was your deal process like? (19:13) - Thoughts on Deal-breakers in search (22:40) - The deal experience in private equity vs. small business acquisitions (26:15) - What are some ways you tried to learn about the company's culture without interacting with the employees? (31:12) - What are some ways you are looking to improve communication with customers? (37:34) - What's your transition been like actually running the business? (41:15) - How helpful has it been seeing customer interactions first-hand? (43:10) - The differences in operations for private equity acquisitions vs. small businesses (46:40) - Do you have any advice for people in Search? (48:42) - What were your personal preferences when you started your search and how did those change over time? (52:30) - What growth goals do you have for the next 10 years? (54:58) - What college class would you teach if it could be about anything? (57:08) - How do you determine the risk vs. reward balance in a decision? (58:59) - What's a strongly held belief you've changed your mind on? (1:01:51) - What's the best business you've ever seen?

The podcast discusses causes of failure in search, strategies for maintaining a healthy pipeline, risks in search transactions, Alex Mears' career background, and lessons learned from the military. It also covers investing in veteran search funders, fostering open feedback culture, and synergy between vertical market software and information services.