Think Like an Owner

This is my second episode hearing from investors on how they are adapting their companies, this time with Justin Turner from Traction Capital Partners. For more background on Justin and Traction, I recommend listening to our earlier episode, episode 4, with Justin and their associate Peter Bell. In this episode, Justin talks about how his two portfolio companies have performed and what he’s thinking about next. I hope you enjoy the episode. Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.   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.

I recorded this episode with Mikel Berger from Little Engine Ventures and another with Justin Turner from Traction Capital Partners to hear from investors on what’s going on in their companies today. I asked Mikel what he’s seeing in his portfolio companies, community, and what he’s been advising his companies to do. I hope this helps you when looking at your own businesses and sheds some light on what others are experiencing. Both Mikel and Justin have been on the podcast before and if you want learn more about them I recommend listening to those as well, which are episodes 4 and 10 of the podcast respectively. Also, I’m trying something new with this episode. If you have a follow-up question for Mikel you can ask via this Google Form I've created and they'll be answered in a later post. Enjoy the update from Mikel.   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 Michael Girdley who is chairman and head of strategy of Dura Software, a holding company that acquires small software companies based in San Antonio. Michael is also a co-founder of Geekdom Fund, a small venture firm, and a co-founder of Codeup, a coding bootcamp in San Antonio.  I’ve had guests from software on the show before but this episode was particularly good and I learned a ton. I’ve wanted to learn more about investing in software and Michael provided a fantastic overview of the space and Dura and their strategy. If you want to invest in software companies, this is an episode you’ll enjoy and get a lot of value from. Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn.   Links Dura Software Codeup Geekdom Fund Buc-ee’s   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 Will Schoeberlein. Will started his career in investment banking and private equity before taking a leap to Southeast Asia to work on startups and software. He finished his time in Asia in Japan where he met his wife and he has since developed a small company acquisition thesis on the Japanese market.  In the episode we discuss his thoughts about investing in private companies, acquiring companies in the U.S. and Japan, aging Japanese business owners and what that means for their economy, IPOing in Japan, and our shared use of Twitter.   Episodes of Think Like an Owner are available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, Breaker, and TuneIn. Links Golden Southeast Nihon M&A Center Teledyne   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 guests on this episode are Lui Pangiarella and Akram Sabbagh from Second Squared, an emerging search fund accelerator looking to bring the search fund model to Australia for the first time. The three of us discussed educating the marketplace, the mindsets of investors and owners in Australia compared to other countries, how they view themselves compared to counterparts in the U.S., and more. As they'll describe, Australia does not have a M&A market that is nearly as developed as the U.S. and a large part of their role is education. I had a great time learning about the challenges with introducing search concepts and acquiring companies in Australia and I hope you enjoy it as well.   Links Mentioned Second Squared   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 Sam Rosati who, along with his brother Joey, ran a search fund called Pursuant Capital in the Tampa area and acquired a waste management broker called Alpha Dumpsters. There are a couple pieces about Sam and Joey’s story that are unique. For one, it’s one of very few search funds I’ve seen run by two searchers instead of one. And two, they are continuing to look for further acquisitions. In the episode we chat about Sam’s experience searching for companies before and after acquiring Alpha Dumpsters, how he and his brother split roles, lessons learned, and what they want to do next with Pursuant. If you’re looking to run a search fund, you’re going to like this episode.   Links Mentioned Pursuant Capital Alpha Dumpster The Partnership Charter   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, Mikel Berger, is the co-founder and partner of Little Engine Ventures, along with co-founder Daryl Starr. Little Engine Ventures is a very unique investment firm in the already unique world of small company investing. They have a strong regional focus of companies within a 2 hour drive of Lafayette, IN and are building a firm, brand, and community that resonates with small, midwest business owners. Little Engine also has a very unique partnership structure that includes a maximum investment for an LP, along with a minimum, and allows them to close deals faster than most private equity firms that raise capital by deal can do. In this episode with Mikel, we cover his software background, how he describes Little Engine Ventures and their target business owner, how he protects investors and business owners, among other subjects. This was a fascinating conversation, and I hope you agree with me by the end of it.    Links Mentioned Little Engine Ventures DelMar Software Building a Story Brand RelaNet   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 Tim Ludwig, managing partner of Ohana Capital in San Diego. Tim is a search fund investor through Ohana and has extensive experience, having invested in 75 deals over his career. More recently, Tim has been investing in companies directly rather than investing in searchers through a fund. During our conversation, we cover topics like being a search fund investor vs investing directly, the history of search funds and investing in them, the search fund climate today, and Tim’s exciting and sometimes dangerous study abroad experiences in Colombia and Spain. Tim was in Portland on business and was kind enough to share part of his morning with me for this podcast.   Links Mentioned: Ohana Capital Stanford Search Fund Study Predictable Revenue Nonviolent Communication Radical Candor Never Split the Difference Random Lengths   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 Andy Ellis, a managing partner of Localize Capital in Pittsburgh which, as the name suggests, focuses on investing in companies and entrepreneurs around the Pittsburgh area. Little known fact about me, I used to live in Pittsburgh as a young kid and was extra excited for this conversation because of that. Andy grew up in Pittsburgh, worked in Southern California, and eventually moved back to Pittsburgh to help form Localize. Andy and I talk extensively about the structure of Localize and how they choose to invest in companies over a very long term, with a core idea being to look for owners who think not just in years, but generations. You may have heard of the concept of finite and infinite games, a concept written about by author James Carse. A finite game has known players, a beginning and end, and set rules, whereas infinite games have known and unknown players, no end, evolving rules, and the goal is to perpetuate the game. If this concept sounds interesting, this conversation is for you as we discuss this concept in the context of private equity and entrepreneurship. Please enjoy the episode.   Links Mentioned Localize Capital Bryan Materials Group Finite and Infinite Games   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 today is Kevin Graham, an Australian native living in Thailand running a web hosting company called Site Arrow, which he uses as his acquisition vehicle to buy other web hosting companies. The topic of software in micro private equity has come up more and more often and has been a recent focus of mine to learn more about, and Kevin was very helpful to that goal. While a great deal of the technical side of our discussion went over my head, his thinking around using permanent capital to perform a roll-up of sorts of small web hosting companies was fascinating.   Beyond web host acquisitions, we also briefly discussed digital nomads and the life of living abroad. I hope you find our discussion as interesting as I did and if you or someone you know is in the business of acquiring small software companies, I'd love to chat as I want to continue learning about this space.  Please enjoy the episode.   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.