Think Like an Owner

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.

Brian Yormak, co-founder of Story Ventures, discusses the classification of data companies, attractive API business models, and the importance of proprietary data in investment decisions. They also explore data legislation, finding the right founders to back, and the value of people data in data-driven businesses.

Michael Horowitz, who sold a roll-up of 20 Wingstop franchise locations, discusses the pros/cons of franchising, choosing a brand, debt usage, and challenges of managing multiple locations. He also shares insights on transitioning from finance to managing fast-food employees and the appeal of food franchises.

Nick Huber, founder of multiple companies, discusses his role as a leader in his expanding business empire. He emphasizes the importance of delegation and recruiting talented individuals. The podcast covers momentum in business, studying great entrepreneurs, and the challenges of finding skilled individuals in different roles and creating a motivating environment.