Think Like An Owner
The Think Like an Owner podcast seeks out conversations with small company owners and investors to learn how to acquire and run small companies, with a focus on search funds, micro private equity, and permanent capital.
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Michael Coscetta – Sales Teams that Perform – Ep.155
My guest on this episode is Michael Coscetta. Michael has held several high-level sales roles at companies like Square, Compass, his own company, and his current role as CRO of Paxos, and through it all has become an expert in designing and managing sales teams. This was a fantastic conversation about all things sales and building sales teams and is one I will be re-listening to several times over the
Nick Buchanan – Company Data Dashboards at BUCSanalytics – Ep.154
My guest on this episode is Nick Buchanan. Nick and his father founded a data software business called BUCSanalytics in 2007. BUCS builds deep analytical dashboards for CEOs that pull from internal data sources like ERPs, inventory systems, and more. Long-time customer Trevor Flannigan, COO of the Flint Group, introduced us after hearing about my deep curiosity of data companies. Nick and I talk about building the company with his
Carl Streck – Building a Commercial Real Estate Data and Software Company – Ep.153
My guest on this episode is Carl Streck, founder and CEO of MountainSeed, a data and software business serving commercial real estate professionals. I was introduced to Carl by Michael Arrieta after asking Michael for the most interesting entrepreneurs in data he knew of, and Carl’s name was the first out of his mouth. Carl started MountainSeed in 2006 to build software serving banks making commercial real estate loans and
Sean Joy – CEO Journey within Chenmark – Ep.152
My guest on this episode is Sean Joy, CEO at Buccaneer Pirate and Southern Star Dolphin Cruise, a company owned by Chenmark in Destin, FL that provides seasonal boat tours. Sean was a part of Chenmark’s GVP, the Generalist Vice President program that provides a career track to becoming a CEO at a Chenmark company. Individuals start by working on a couple of projects within the portfolio, then take a
Ayo Phillips – Turnaround to Exit – Ep.151
My guest on this episode is Ayo Phillips. You’ll remember Ayo’s episode last March, episode 56 titled “Small Company Firefighting”, where Ayo walked us through all the different challenges he was facing in his apartment turnover services business, Perfect Surface. Since then he sold the business a couple of months ago and I wanted to hear all about the progress he made in the business to professionalize and prepare it
Alex de Pfyffer & Ross Porter – Investing Strategies in Data – Ep.150
My guests on this episode are Heritage Holding co-founders Alex de Pfyffer and Ross Porter. Heritage acquires companies across industries, but has a special focus on IT services and data centers. I’m a data geek and love talking with entrepreneurs in data, and haven’t talked with much of anyone on the hardware side so this conversation was a lot of fun for me. We talk about identifying companies offering essential
Johnny Lieberman & Zack Miller – “Only the Paranoid Survive” – Ep.149
My guests on this episode are Johnny Lieberman and Zack Miller, who together founded Worklyn Partners to acquire and grow cybersecurity and IT services companies. A concept we talk a lot about in the episode is how the two businesses create a flywheel between each other. I find these flywheels fascinating and I’ve talked about others such as the flywheel between media and data with FreightWaves founder Craig Fuller in
Richard Reese – Designing Incentives at Iron Mountain – Ep.148
My guest on this episode is Richard Reese. Richard took over as CEO of Iron Mountain, a physical records management business, in 1981. He ran the business as CEO through going public in 1996 before retiring from the role in 2013. Revenue over that period grew from around $3 million in 1981 to $3 billion in 2013. Our discussion focuses on incentivizing teams with cash and stock, something Richard has
Judd Lorson – Designing a Healthy Mindset as CEO – Ep.147
My guest on this episode is Judd Lorson. Judd acquired Alliance CAS, a specialty collection agency, in 2018 as CEO and in 2021 resigned from the role after a much more difficult road and path than he’d anticipated. Judd’s story was recently profiled in a Yale paper by A.J. Wasserstein titled “The Judd Lorson Story” which we will link to in the show notes and I highly recommend reading for
Luis Reyes – Fire Protection Thesis in Spain – Ep.146
My guest on this episode is Luis Reyes, managing partner at Iberian Ventures in Spain. Luis worked in strategy consulting before acquiring small companies in Spain in a similar vein as the search fund model through Iberian. We kick off by talking about the buyout market in Spain and what makes it particularly attractive. For example, all private companies in Spain have to file their financials with the government. As
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Letters
Each year I write an annual letter to readers and listeners to reflect on the evolution of the podcast and my personal growth.
2020 Annual Letter: It’s Business Time
While 2020 was turbulent to say the least, it was the best year of my life. I married my lovely wife in late August, adopted a corgi, and began working on the Think Like an Owner podcast full-time.
2019 Annual Letter: Gaining Traction
Before getting to the podcast, 2019 was a tremendous year personally. I flew to DC for a FinTwit gathering hosted by Jamie Catherwood, graduated college with a new job, and got engaged.
2018 Annual Letter to Readers and Listeners
As a fun goal for myself, I’ve decided to start writing annual (and possibly quarterly) letters for the Think Like an Owner project to reflect on the growth of the podcast, discussion around the micro private equity market, and my personal learning.
