My guest on this episode is Craig Fuller. Craig is the founder of FreightWaves, a data and media business focused on freight and supply chains. FreightWaves is a VC backed company with $19 million in revenue with editorial content, a data product, job board, video content, and multiple podcasts. Prior to FreightWaves, Craig had no background in media but has built quite a playbook for media businesses with a data component. Craig, as of a month ago, is also the new owner of Flying Magazine, an iconic, blue-chip publishing brand in the general aviation community which we discuss extensively in this episode. For a deeper background on FreightWaves, I highly recommend his episode on A Media Operator, which we’ll link to in the show notes. During our conversation, we discuss his fascinating background in his family’s trucking business, starting a tech business before FreightWaves, launching FreightWaves, and his acquisition of Flying Magazine and his plans for growth and improvement. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is John Rood. John started an education business with his wife that began as a SAT and other tests prep business and eventually found its niche in MCAT testing. Together they grew the business adding tutors and a management team before selling to private equity. John has also invested in a few search funds and is contemplating a search himself in the education space. During this episode, we talk about starting their education business, how they pivoted from tutoring to content, building a business in the context of operating systems and learning from others, and the value of organizations like Traction and Entrepreneurs Organization to small business operators. We also talk broadly about education businesses and where future business models in the space might lead. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Peter Bell. Peter and Justin Turner were guests on my fourth ever podcast episode and were very early supporters of the show. Their firm, along with two other partners, is Traction Capital Partners in Tacoma, WA. Traction is an independent sponsor which now owns 3 companies with a potential 4th on the way in the next few weeks. Peter joined in late 2018 and set to work at their first portfolio company, SeaWestern, in Kirkland, WA. SeaWestern is a distributor of firefighting equipment across the Pacific Northwest and Peter was tasked with learning the business and looking for avenues of growth and improvement. Needless to say, in the two and a half years since, he’s learned a lot. During this episode we talk about stepping into a new leadership role, learning a new business model, growth opportunities at SeaWestern, and why your resume doesn’t matter in a small business. And for a thorough background on Traction, I highly recommend listening to episode 4 where Peter and Justin share Traction’s mission and investment model. And now, enjoy the episode. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

Brent Beshore, founder and CEO of Permanent Equity, discusses their marketing strategy, creating a margin of safety in operations, lessons learned from acquiring family-owned businesses, and the art of deal making. They also share their personal journey of changing beliefs and finding faith, as well as humbling experiences and misconceptions about religion.

Peter Kang, co-founder of Barrel, shares his journey in the digital branding and design industry. He discusses key milestones in Barrel's evolution, including the strategic shift towards direct-to-consumer brands. Peter reflects on the importance of systems thinking in management and how embracing change can fuel growth. He also highlights the need for a dedicated sales team to enhance client satisfaction and improve scaling. Insightfully, he considers innovative investment strategies that align with Barrel's expanding services in a tech-driven landscape.

My guest on this episode is Dave Waters. Dave is the founder and CEO of Alluvial Capital, a value based hedge fund focused on the smallest public companies with market caps of $5-100 million, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dave is fascinating to me because he has dedicated his career to investing in similar sized companies as other podcast guests of this show, but through the public markets. I wanted to learn how he views these companies through a public lens, his investment process, and his thoughts for private company owners thinking of investing in comparably sized public companies.  We also talk about how his business-owner LPs view their investment in his firm, the most unique companies he’s come across, and how he evaluates managers of these small public companies. This was a super interesting discussion that I’m positive you’ll enjoy. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Nick Fedele who recently acquired a 30 employee sheet metal construction business called Metal Alliance Inc near Philadelphia. Nick has a background in public accounting before taking on a management consulting role and eventually becoming a CFO. After 2 years as a CFO, he felt ready to seek out and acquire a business for himself. Nick and I talk about the ownership transition with the previous owner who wanted to remain involved, his principles for handling situations that go wrong - hence our episode title “death, taxes, and stuff goes sideways”, his strong dislike of paper, and what he’s excited for next in the company. I learned a ton from Nick in this conversation and I’m sure you will too. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Tony Cappaert. Tony started his career at Microsoft before co-founding a CRM software business for real estate agents called Contactually. The company was acquired by Compass in 2019 where Tony serves as Head of Lead Generation. As you’ll see though, Tony is a busy man. He also founded a cabin rental and management company called Blue Maple and is raising a fund to invest in self-funded searchers. Tony and I talk in-depth about niching down Contactually to target real estate brokers, his thoughts on pricing including why every company underprices, why they sold the company to Compass, and his view on the search fund world including what he looks for in prospective searchers as a former operator. If you ever want to reach out to Tony to talk software, property management, or search funds, don’t hesitate to send him an email at tony@bluemaple.co. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My guest on this episode is Manny Saxena. Manny grew up in India and decided he wanted to become a CEO. To prepare for the role, he attended Kellogg’s MBA program and built leadership experience at Sears and Persado. Finally, he partnered with Broadtree Partners to acquire two commercial sweeping companies called Contract Sweeping Services and Statewide Construction Sweeping in Northern California.  Manny and I talk extensively about the sweeping business, how he’s learned the ropes in the sweeping industry from the previous owners, unique businesses he came across in his search, new systems and technology he’s implemented in both companies, lessons from his time at Sears, and much more. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.

My third and final guest in this real estate miniseries is Chris Powers. Chris is the founder and GP of Fort Capital, a real estate private equity firm in Fort Worth, TX focused on industrial real estate. He’s also a fellow podcast host with his show called The Fort Podcast, which is excellent and I highly recommend listening and subscribing to. While it was a shorter episode, Chris and I covered a lot of ground. We discussed how business owners should view their ownership in company-specific industrial real estate, options available if an owner wanted to acquire other industrial property, trends he’s seeing, and why he loves boring businesses. For the full episode transcript and more, visit alexbridgeman.com/podcast.I’m also the founder of The Operator’s Handbook, a print publication where small company operators share their insights and ideas for building more effective and profitable companies. Articles focus on process improvement, sales, hiring and training, managing culture, and all responsibilities within operating a small company. If you run a small business and are looking for new ways to grow and improve, subscribe today and join your peers in the endless pursuit of better at theoperatorshandbook.com.