Think Like an Owner

Shikhar Saxena, CEO of Milan Laser Therapy, shares his growth story, obsession with customer experience, and the market for med spa businesses. They discuss the origin story of Milan, pursuing verticals in the med spa space, improving customer experience, and studying companies like Chick-fil-A for consumer experience ideas. They also talk about private equity ownership in the medspa industry and reflect on lessons for becoming a strong leader.

Mahesh Rajasekharan, CEO of Cleo, talks about building a transformative software platform for supply chain system integrations. Topics include evolving the business, identifying customer needs, growing and coordinating a product team, building and scaling a sales organization, defining profitable growth, and advice for software CEOs on growing and scaling their businesses.

In this final Launch episode, Coley Andrews and Mitch Cohen discuss the spirit of search and the collaboration and mentorship within the search community. They also delve into what makes a good board member, the evolution of search as a model, and the challenges in the search fund industry. The conversation highlights the impact of mentors, creating a culture of mentorship, and the involvement of boards in hiring decisions.

Jehiel Oliver, founder and CEO of Hello Tractor, discusses how he influences behaviors in creating new markets, maintaining trust, and experimenting with incentives. He also explores the challenges of entering new markets, fostering speed amongst the team, and vulnerability in the CEO role.

Chris Powers, founder and chairman of Fort Capital, shares leadership tactics, scaling organizations, studying successful companies, the power of delegation, mentorship, and setting goals.

Sam Krieg, Co-CEO of Central Storage & Warehouse, and Chris Hendriksen, partner at Pacific Lake Partners, discuss the first 100 days as a CEO, including goal setting, making team changes, building trust, reversible and irreversible decisions, prioritizing problems, transitioning founders, and lessons for new CEOs.

Felix Brooks-Church, CEO of Sanku, discusses adapting his role, sustaining growth, and building discipline. They delve into fortifying flour as the core of the business, the Sanku business model, and takeaways from working in Nepal. Felix also shares insights on being a CEO, building an executive team, risk tolerance, and leaning on peers for support.

Dave Thrasher, a business owner of a foundation repair brand and Supportworks, discusses their family-owned businesses and their never-sell mentality. They talk about their acquisition strategy, mindset changes to fast track growth, and ongoing evolutions in Dave's role. They also explore self-evaluation strategies, effective CEO lessons, long-term thinking, and overcoming deal fatigue.

Ep.188 - Alex (@aebridgeman) is joined by Edward Coady (@EdwCoady). My guest on this episode is Edward Coady, CEO of Mainely Grass, a Chenmark-owned company he is taking over leadership for from former CEO and past podcast guest Palmer Higgins. Edward joined Chenmark through their GVP (Generalist Vice President) program, the same way past guests Sean Joy and Philip Hussey joined their Chenmark companies as CEO. The GVP program is Chenmark’s CEO accelerator program to get folks first experience in a portfolio company and then as CEO of a new acquisition or current company. Edward and I discussed designing high conversion website design, his new CEO role and early lessons, Chenmark’s GVP program, repetition, and much more. 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: Edward on Twitter Mainely Grass HotJar Sunday Lawn Care Topics: (00:03:26) Edward’s experience transitioning from CFO to CEO (00:12:23) -The Sales Funnel and implementing content marketing (00:18:13) The reason for not adding mowing as a service (00:21:53) Optimizing for customers to take action (00:23:25) HotJar (00:26:32) Where Edward looks to improve the organization’s website (00:28:32) Systematic approaches to getting feedback (00:31:36) A/B testing as the CEO (00:33:19) Edward’s main areas of focus (00:44:49) Process improvements that need to wait for implementation (00:46:57)How Edward plans out his tasks (00:49:43) What are you most excited for? (00:51:09) What’s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on? (00:54:19) What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?

Scott Alderman, partner at Trilogy Search Partners, and Alex Temel, partner at law firm Sidney Austin, discuss deal structuring and legal diligence in a search acquisition. They cover key steps in the legal process, risk mitigation, working with sellers, staging, reps and warranties, and advice for entrepreneurs working with legal counsel.