In this episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa sit down with Malcolm Peace, founder of Tsetserra Growth Partners, to delve into the intricacies of acquiring and growing businesses. Malcolm shares his insights garnered from his journey of acquiring his first business and navigating the challenges of transition and growth.
Drawing from his experiences, Malcolm sheds light on the pivotal role of understanding the seller’s mindset during the acquisition process, particularly when dealing with unsophisticated sellers. Reflecting on his initial forays into business acquisition, Malcolm recounts the highs and lows, from signing LOIs to encountering unexpected hurdles during due diligence. He shares anecdotes of deals that didn’t materialize and the lessons learned along the way. Transitioning from acquisition to operation, Malcolm discusses the challenges of managing businesses and the importance of hands-on involvement in certain cases.
As the conversation progresses, Malcolm elucidates his current focus on recruiting operating partners to drive day-to-day operations within acquired businesses. He talks about the critical role of building a cohesive team in sustaining and amplifying business growth.
In summary, the episode provides a tale of Malcolm’s journey – from the inception of his first acquisition to laying the groundwork for future expansion under Tsetserra Growth Partners. Tune in to gain valuable insights into the world of business acquisition and growth strategies.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- Malcolm’s Thesis to Acquire
- Challenges of Closing the Deal
- Operating and Scaling a Business
- Becoming an Operating Partner
You can connect with Malcolm on LinkedIn: Malcolm Peace – Tsetserra Growth Partners | LinkedIn
Additional Resources:
- Access our archive of video interviews on YouTube
- Checkout our upcoming Conference – https://malaunchpad.com/
- Get in touch with show hosts Casey Minshew and Feras Moussa at – info@equitylaunchpad.com
- Looking to invest in M&A opportunities or partner with an advisor to acquire, scale or sell your business? Visit Equity Launchpad
Transcript
00:00 all right on today’s episode we
00:01 interviewed Malcolm pce Malcolm and his
00:04 company Tara growth Partners work with
00:06 well established small and medium-sized
00:08 businesses with owners who are just
00:09 about to retire and man it was
00:10 definitely an interesting conversation
00:11 to talk about really you know what does
00:13 it look like to find that business right
00:15 what are situations that sellers are
00:16 motivated and ultimately how do you go
00:18 from buying that business and realizing
00:20 hey there’s something here to do in
00:21 terms of operationalizing and really
00:24 scaling that and applying it to other
00:25 business so Casey what were some of your
00:27 thoughts yeah man I would tell you that
00:29 you know one of the things I liked
01:30 Malcolm is um that he was able to to
01:34 find a project a deal right he didn’t
01:37 overvalue it he bid on it came back to
01:40 him a year later patience patience on
01:42 that came back a year later then he had
01:44 to work through a deal that had a lot of
01:46 different challenges inside of it right
01:49 and so to go through all of that and to
01:51 still get the deal done man it takes a
01:53 lot of Tenacious it’s Focus I mean all
01:56 those great things that come with
01:57 entrepreneurship no and Malcolm
01:58 definitely I mean has has good Focus
01:01 right and I I kind of appreciate I guess
01:02 just the transparency right not in the
01:04 podcast but just even within his team
01:06 right and really sharing with people hey
01:07 here’s what we’re doing here’s what’s
01:08 work and here’s what’s not and I the
01:10 first time I hear someone that basically
01:11 records all calls and shares them out
01:13 publicly to their team so that’s
01:14 definitely you know I don’t see myself
01:16 getting to that level of detail but
01:18 again right it’s about building a
01:19 culture building operating partners and
01:21 having confidence and so I mean the team
01:24 you know is as much of a cliche as it is
01:25 the the team workor yeah and you and I
01:28 have had this conversation it’s like how
01:30 do you
02:31 do you hire the operating partner right
02:33 do you find him like an independent
02:35 sponsor and back him to go find his
02:37 search you know we’ve had all of these
02:39 conversations because there’s so many
02:40 different ways to skin the cat right and
02:43 uh I really like his model I like how
02:45 you know hey let’s find somebody to come
02:47 into our company we’re gonna give them a
02:49 six to nine month training on how to do
02:51 it and then we’re gonna let them run a
02:53 business right and they’re going to
02:54 share in some upside the question is do
02:56 they also share down in the downside
02:58 like like those are all the questions
02:00 about these all the times and so you
02:02 know it’s it’s the classic chicken and
02:04 egg problem right what comes first the
02:05 chicken or the egg and then how do you
02:06 nurture each side of it and how do you
02:08 give that participation so but I
02:10 encourage the listeners here if you’re
02:12 if you’re thinking about you know buying
02:13 a business but it scares you becoming an
02:15 operating partner for a group like you
02:17 know terera or for even us I mean it it
02:20 is a great way to go about it yeah so go
02:23 ahead and listen in there’s definitely a
02:24 lots of information to share here
03:30 all right on today’s episode we have
03:33 Malcolm peace with Cera growth Partners
03:35 Malcolm welcome to the show you want to
03:37 go ahead and introduce yourself hey guys
03:38 thanks for having me I appreciate it
03:39 yeah great to have you I know we were
03:41 talking before this and we get to be
03:43 some Texas boys kind of in the same room
03:45 together so this is fun usually the most
03:47 fun people so we like our Canadians too
03:50 they always bring a lot of great energy
03:52 and one of these days I’m gonna buy my
03:53 uh cowboy boots which I don’t know until
03:55 this day so oh there you go there you go
03:57 good so Malcolm jump in tell us tell us
03:59 about you tell us about your company and
03:01 yeah appreciate that got that name too
03:04 so cool too yeah so uh born and raised
03:07 in Austin first generation from South
03:09 Africa or Southern African Roots really
03:12 um family’s been there for many
03:13 generations but they owned my
03:15 great-grandfather owned 50,000 Acres on
03:17 the border of mosm Beek which ironically
03:19 got an email from a guy that’s going to
03:20 start some coffee uh work there but long
03:23 story short um own this huge Plantation
03:25 area and um they they did lots of dairy
03:28 and farming and all sorts of things in
03:30 that in that area and employed hundreds
04:32 of people and served lots of people in
04:33 the community and so really the name is
04:35 an aage to that in the way that we try
04:37 to do things whether it be internally
04:38 the way we treat people and then
04:39 externally how we take care of our
04:40 customers very proactive followup all
04:43 those things that are good but it really
04:44 comes with the name and allows us to
04:45 really speak to that and how we try to
04:47 hold that Legacy through all the things
04:49 that we get to do and does that name
04:50 mean something yeah so it’s Mount sitera
04:53 so you can look it up so the same way um
04:55 so my family owned a piece of property
04:57 down there and then actually owned um
04:59 just across there was another peek um
04:00 down the way that they own another piece
04:02 of property and kind of combine that all
04:03 together eventually awesome well taking
04:05 care of your team and partners employees
04:07 is obviously where it’s all starts it’s
04:09 a Teamwork Makes a dream work so jump
04:12 into uh let’s hear about your background
04:14 you know let’s go into that about and
04:16 and what your intention here is and tell
04:19 us more sure yeah absolutely so I got
04:22 you know coming out of grad school had
04:23 the traditional path that I’m sure a lot
04:25 of other people do you’re going to go
04:26 and buy a business whether it be a
04:28 traditional search fund all that kind of
04:29 stuff and that can just get K get kicked
05:31 out whe you know whether it would be an
05:33 opportunity a door opened where somebody
05:34 else was like hey why don’t you come
05:36 work for me do this why don’t you do
05:37 that and the can just kept getting
05:39 kicked over and over again where I got
05:41 unique opportunities whether it was um
05:42 cyber security and defense contracted PE
05:45 or coming in as a minority partner with
05:47 food and beverage and Hospitality deals
05:49 and so I did that last part for a little
05:51 bit and in that process we were buying
05:53 up a bunch of hospitality businesses in
05:55 the Texas Hill Country and adding more
05:58 facilities onto them so I kind of ran
05:60 quasi real estate component to it as
05:02 well as acquisition aspect to it we were
05:03 buying other things in food and beverage
05:05 but that was one piece of it and in that
05:08 process coordinating all these Blue
05:10 Collar guys I just started interacting
05:12 whether it was the rolloff dumpster guy
05:13 the septic installer person whatever it
05:15 may be and they were all just good old
05:17 boys had run their businesses for
05:19 decades um and they really had these
05:21 unique businesses had this great
05:22 reputation I’ll never forget there was a
05:24 guy who started his business in probably
05:26 2011 or 2013 and I was just chatting
05:29 with him we had planned out with the
06:30 city and kind of ordinances that we had
06:32 to follow on how we were going to have
06:33 his rolloff dumpster to work there and
06:35 access to it and I just the courage came
06:38 up and it never really occurred to me
06:39 because we were kind of focused on this
06:41 boot blue uh blue collar but food and
06:43 beverage more deals that um you know hey
06:46 why don’t why don’t I buy your business
06:48 like he is getting older in age and you
06:50 know he’s like you know it’s funny my uh
06:52 business partner’s son is actually going
06:54 to take over the deal and he’s just so
06:56 much like you every time I hang out and
06:57 you remind me a ton about him so that
06:60 kind of opened up my eyes of like hey
06:01 maybe there’s a world in which um we buy
06:03 something different and so I started
06:05 exploring outside of the group when Co
06:07 really took over and um you know
06:10 candidly looked at how can we Implement
06:12 our thesis um where we Implement
06:14 software that helps businesses scale
06:16 just like they do in many other
06:17 circumstances but I found that a lot of
06:19 these businesses didn’t have this um you
06:22 know software minded scale up mindset um
06:25 within their Founders or their
06:27 organization and so we looked at we how
06:28 we can apply that um kind of the rest is
07:30 history as far as the thesis is
07:31 concerned I literally just got back from
07:33 lunch and we were talking about that
07:35 exact point which is most you know most
07:37 operative they get to the business and
07:38 then it’s just status quo right and
07:39 they’re just doing what they’re doing
07:41 because that’s what they’ve done and
07:42 it’s you know they’re supporting the
07:43 lifestyle they need and there’s no
07:45 thought on what to do next or how to
07:46 scale it and grow it and you know at
07:48 Equity launch pad our whole thesis is
07:49 very much how do we have the right
07:51 backbone which for us we call it sales
07:53 marketing hrit accounting and legal
07:55 right as the things that basically we
07:56 can add in as value that are not cord to
07:59 a business but they are so important and
07:01 that’s how you start to accelerate and
07:02 take a business to another level and so
07:04 I think that’s a super super important
07:06 thesis yeah completely agree um the most
07:09 of the businesses and this is just the
07:10 space that we play in we buy businesses
07:12 kind of 3 to 12 million in Revenue
07:14 exclusively in Texas a lot of those guys
07:16 and gals running those businesses they
07:18 maybe have one maybe two softwares that
07:20 kind of support them whether it be a
07:21 QuickBooks account of some sort or a
07:23 quoting software but they really don’t
07:25 have a system that integrates
07:26 communication integrates sales
07:28 integrates data management all that kind
07:29 of stuff so we’re often integrating kind
08:31 of brand new things and it’s a it’s a
08:33 bit of an adoption phase but we’ve kind
08:34 of figured out the The Playbook at this
08:36 point yeah and I think Casey you want to
08:38 explain I mean one of my favorite
08:39 examples in case you can kind of tell
08:41 the story is just kind of you know we
08:43 bought a company and what they were
08:45 doing in terms of invoices right and how
08:47 are they tracking who owes the money and
08:49 what we rolled out which Casey kind of
08:50 spearhead you want to kind of give him a
08:51 little bit of background on that and
08:52 just what it’s done to change that
08:54 business yeah so I mean one of the
08:55 things that in in in our group it you
08:57 know I’m talking about like five six
08:58 hundred invoices a month right so
08:00 they’re invoicing a lot and there’s a
08:03 lot of invoices for almost every little
08:04 charge that we have and so you know we
08:07 went out and found a software tool
08:08 called gavti I don’t know if you’ve seen
08:10 it but uh it basically bolts right into
08:13 QuickBooks and it will send
08:16 autoresponders and invoices to all the
08:18 customers and so when we when we had one
08:21 of the the ladies who was one of the the
08:23 sis the the sister of the seller she was
08:26 also a 50-50 partner in the business she
08:28 said hey I am reti iring and she was
09:31 like and so these are the things that I
09:32 do every day and I had 90 to 100 days to
09:36 figure it all out and that was one of
09:38 them I was like you do all the
09:40 collections and she’s like yeah and
09:42 we’re talking about Millions right we’re
09:43 not talking about $100,000 a collection
09:44 we’re talking you know these are these
09:46 are high these are bigger companies
09:48 right some of them are as big as your
09:49 Baker Hughes right that we’re collecting
09:51 from and millions of dollars but it’s
09:53 amazing it just goes back to what you’re
09:54 saying it’s like finding software
09:56 putting it in where it replaces really
09:59 what a human does and uh it’s pretty
09:01 amazing and it’s about I think the most
09:03 intriguing thing to me though is about
09:05 it’s not about replacing the human it’s
09:06 about doing it to a higher level of
09:08 quality right because now that software
09:10 can automatically tell you which
09:11 customers pay late and which ones don’t
09:13 so the ones that are typically late we
09:15 send Casey out there to make sure that
09:16 gets paid out you know it shows up at
09:17 their door may or may not cowboy boots
09:21 old scho style so you know but I mean
09:23 it’s just it’s these little things right
09:25 like whenever I left Microsoft with the
09:27 idea of building software in Old
09:29 Industries like real estate but I
09:30 realized it’s really about not building
10:32 new software it’s about being
10:33 comfortable consolidating and pulling in
10:36 software to just make you that much more
10:37 operationally efficient yeah and being
10:40 able to give you the insights to
10:42 actually be a strategist that’s the big
10:44 thing for me is like a lot of operators
10:46 are doing so much during the day and
10:48 they may or may not be able to
10:49 articulate all the things that they do
10:51 in the day but they’re doing so much to
10:52 kind of just keep status quo as you said
10:54 before and and to their credit like what
10:56 I said before when we’re buying
10:57 businesses in that space kind of 3 to 12
10:58 million Revenue million dollars in eida
10:01 a lot of them are super comfortable I
10:03 mean it’s probably more money than they
10:04 ever expected to make business has been
10:06 pretty stable over the last few years um
10:09 you know a lot of the time at the end of
10:10 it when they’re looking to exit the
10:12 conversation’s not really about you know
10:14 X Y and Z price on every single thing
10:16 they’re really just like man I’ve done
10:18 really well how’s this business going to
10:20 transition really well when I get handed
10:22 to you can you give me your kind of take
10:23 on that and so I often are pitching them
10:25 on hey we’re going to take you out of
10:27 the middle of the business this is how
10:29 it’s going to look where we’re not going
10:30 to make this business focused on me as
11:32 the new operator or the new CEO
11:34 president or whatever the case may be
11:36 but really a situation where we can have
11:37 a strategy type approach with tools that
11:40 give us insights and and understandings
11:42 of how the business is performing love
11:44 it pretty awesome so let’s do this I
11:46 want to hear the story of your your
11:48 acquisition let’s talk about what you
11:50 guys have done but let’s go back to like
11:52 some of the basics because a lot of our
11:53 listeners here they’re they’re saying
11:55 well man it sounds great this guy knows
11:57 what he’s doing he’s he’s been in the
11:59 indust you know all of these things but
11:01 like how did you find your first
11:02 business how’ you negotiate it like
11:05 let’s get into multiples let’s talk
11:06 about that stuff and then uh and talk
11:09 about your journey yeah know that’s fair
11:11 um you know I don’t know if this was
11:13 your intended answer to the question but
11:15 my first business that I did by myself
11:18 um independent oh well I didn’t get to
11:20 close it unfortunately so long story
11:22 short um Co 20 summer of 2020 I put an
11:26 offer on a wood manufacturing company
11:28 they made um basically they had a
11:30 proprietary way that they made pieces of
12:32 big wood that they use in uh rail
12:34 industry oil and gas industry other
12:36 things like that and um summary was we
12:39 got way down the Run Loi signed under
12:42 due diligence gets a contract with
12:45 another company wants another million
12:47 dollars purchase orders haven’t come
12:48 through we start having this fighting
12:50 he’s in the middle of nowhere Texas and
12:53 just became a big fish in a small pond
12:55 he was one of the largest employers in
12:56 the area and the deal fell apart and
12:58 that was real hard spent a lot lot of
12:59 money spent a lot of time um you have to
12:02 get yourself back up and then we go to
12:03 the next deal where I was looking at an
12:05 hvat company this is probably before all
12:07 this stuff happened with HVAC kind of
12:09 blowing up in the rollup space um and I
12:11 I found out that he wasn’t reporting all
12:13 his money let’s put it that way and so
12:15 um learned a lot in that those two
12:17 experiences that really could have taken
12:19 my you know wind out of my sale but um
12:21 grateful when we found this Niche
12:23 opportunity um in manufacturing I think
12:26 that we’ve kind of uniquely figured out
12:28 how we can add value and manufacturing
12:30 setting whether it be data management
13:31 and all that kind of stuff but also just
13:33 improving the quality control um on the
13:36 back end which allows us to have great
13:37 experience with the customers so that
13:39 was that was our first take is that we
13:41 found this deal um where we manufacture
13:43 food um processing equipment is
13:45 essentially what we do um sending it all
13:47 over the world it’s based in the grand
13:50 real Grand Valley area of Texas um I
13:52 used to travel down there every week I
13:54 get to do that less now because we’ve
13:55 got some really good things in place
13:57 people turned over um and what have you
13:59 that needed to to kind of up level with
13:01 the business and now we’re in a position
13:03 where we really feel like we’re honoring
13:04 the the previous owners and families
13:06 Legacy in that process so you know
13:08 summary was you know wind got kind of
13:10 taken out a few different times when
13:12 every single deal that we were going
13:13 under Loi we found out things in during
13:15 due diligence but I’m grateful that
13:16 we’ve gotten to we are now where I felt
13:18 like we bought at a real good price so
13:19 we bought kind of a sub one multiple
13:22 which sounds crazy it was kind of a
13:23 weird situation where they wanted to
13:24 sell the business revenue or iida of
13:27 iida and so the the way that worked out
13:29 is the owner wanted to sell the business
14:31 as well as the real estate um and during
14:34 negotiations basically we were able to
14:36 prove out some different value points
14:38 and we also found out that there was a
14:40 um an issue with the real estate and
14:42 didn’t disclose that so renegotiated a
14:44 lease where she feels really good about
14:46 the fact that she’s got kind of this
14:47 ongoing Revenue coming in we’re kind of
14:49 in this facility foreseeably um but I
14:52 don’t have to deal with any of like the
14:53 environmental study issues that came out
14:55 and so um it kind of worked out from
14:56 that perspective where she kind of keeps
14:58 the real estate feels good from
14:59 perspective um and of what she wanted to
14:02 walk away from a value perspective and
14:03 then got some cash at the beginning all
14:06 right so let’s break that down a bit
14:08 right because that was a lot of
14:10 information and I want I want to
14:11 understand so you you you found how did
14:13 you first find the
14:15 business ah I think I got cold message
14:18 from a broker that I had talked to maybe
14:22 a year before and said hey there’s this
14:23 deal um they wanted to sell it at like 4
14:27 and a half or something and I looked at
14:28 it and said no I don’t think that’s the
15:30 right price and then I got a call a
15:32 month later and was like she needs to
15:34 sell so what are you willing to do and
15:37 we kind of went back and forth for a
15:38 second and um and then I jumped on a
15:40 plane and and made her an offer maybe
15:43 two days after that first that second
15:45 introduction or second reintroduction I
15:47 guess um and so candidly um you know it
15:50 was a moment where she needed to get out
15:52 she had some family things come up I’m
15:53 I’m trying to be conscientious and
15:54 sensitive to their C totally understand
15:56 yeah yeah they had some they had some
15:57 family things occur and so she needed to
15:59 transition out and I wouldn’t say she
15:01 made it exactly easy for me after we
15:03 went under Loi um to make that
15:05 transition but I I think she walked away
15:07 happy with kind of given the
15:08 circumstances she with let’s talk about
15:10 that though so you know whenever a
15:12 seller comes back and they’re just you
15:13 know kind of desperate to offload right
15:15 I start to kind of question the deal a
15:16 lot more right like what you know is the
15:19 story I’m being told accurate is there
15:21 something else wrong I mean were you
15:22 navigating that or you just felt
15:24 whatever reason they you know whatever
15:25 reason they had as their motivation that
15:28 was pretty clear-cut and you know it was
15:30 clear that it wasn’t really hey the
16:32 business basically just going to lose a
16:33 big contract that she knows about in six
16:35 months that you don’t know about or
16:36 whatever it is and that was really the
16:37 prefaces yeah I mean we had some things
16:39 come up post you know closing that I was
16:41 surprised by some warranty issues but
16:43 all of those were recover you know we
16:45 recovered situationally with those based
16:47 on just kind of holdbacks that we had
16:48 and stuff like that but the the real
16:51 reality was is um she had ejected from
16:54 the business mentally and kind of LED on
16:57 that she was still fairly involved had
16:59 taken over from her dad who had passed
16:01 away during covid and um basically had
16:03 entertained possibly selling you know
16:05 when he was still alive they were
16:07 looking at selling and then he passed
16:09 and so she kind of paused for a second
16:10 and then her world really turned upside
16:13 down with some family stuff that
16:14 happened that really we were in due
16:16 diligence and and she left the state um
16:18 which sounds crazy to experience in
16:20 hindsight now um but basically I was
16:23 down there with for due diligence one
16:24 day and she had a thing come up with one
16:27 of her children and I never saw her
16:28 again after to that point she literally
17:30 moved out of the state without letting
17:31 me know um had told everybody I’m the
17:34 new owner and all of those types of
17:35 things how many employees was it uh we
17:38 had 22 24 at the time yeah so talk to me
17:41 about the holdback because that’s
17:43 interesting so you guys in your term
17:44 sheet you basically said hey you know
17:47 we’re clo this is our offer here’s our M
17:49 you know you issued your term sheet you
17:51 basically then you had a feeling or you
17:53 knew that you needed to have some hold
17:55 backs in there right okay yeah so yeah
17:58 we held back 25 % um it was our it was
17:01 our goal um and that kind of worked out
17:03 for her as far as what she needed and
17:04 closing and all that kind of stuff um
17:06 like I said and I I mean this all
17:08 sincerely like the intent was to buy the
17:11 real estate um we wanted it it made
17:13 sense at the time it was at the right
17:15 price to some extent um but as those
17:18 studies came out we found out that we we
17:20 it just wasn’t viable and so it wouldn’t
17:21 make sense um we’ve had some other
17:24 things happen since then on the real
17:25 estate that maybe we’ll go back and buy
17:27 it from her but right now it works for
17:29 us and so she was happy cuz she got to
18:31 get out of the business quick um and
18:33 kind of move out operationally and
18:35 somebody could step in where she felt
18:37 comfortable um and she could literally
18:39 move the state during due diligence um
18:41 and so for us that was a bit of a
18:43 challenge of okay we need to slow this
18:46 down we need to accelerate here we need
18:47 to slow that down and so I felt like I
18:49 was not in control of the due diligence
18:51 phase so much so that like we were in it
18:54 had exclusivity and she had another
18:56 buyer show up while I was down there one
18:58 day when she was not there so um so that
18:01 was an experience to say the least so so
18:03 you imagine so she’s unsophisticated
18:05 seller like very UNS a very
18:08 unsophisticated um one if I can yeah
18:10 motivated that’s a good word motivated
18:12 and unsophisticated um and to all do her
18:15 I mean she really had a life life
18:17 circumstance that I have to you know
18:18 acknowledge yeah but for us from an
18:20 experience perspective what I learned in
18:21 that circumstance was one you know those
18:24 two combinations can be tough but two
18:27 who’s around her that’s advising her
18:29 through this process and that was a real
19:31 eye opener for us and I would tell
19:32 anybody looking to buy their first
19:34 business or buy any business what’s
19:36 better like be aware of what the council
19:38 looks like on the other end because that
19:39 can really juggle with the timeline and
19:41 plan I had signed three or four
19:43 different versions of ndas um it was a
19:46 chaotic situation because her family
19:48 attorney was basically running her m&a
19:50 process and so my attorney was educating
19:53 him and it was this whole back and forth
19:55 and there was like you know partners
19:57 that were silent that no one told me
19:59 about during the like the original
19:01 conversations that we had to go get a
19:03 signature from and you know it was a
19:05 whole whole mess from that perspective
19:06 but we learned a lot we’ve you know
19:08 things have gone relatively well uh and
19:10 that kind of you know allowed us to kind
19:12 of figure out you know next steps on our
19:13 thesis and what we’re were doing and all
19:15 that kind of stuff and how long did that
19:16 take to close and you know kind of tell
19:18 me more about the equity right what how
19:20 much was it or how you know how did you
19:21 raise that Equity what did that look
19:23 like yeah so I’m I’m a big believer
19:26 anybody that’s buying businesses
19:27 particularly in our structure where
19:29 you’re kind of raising deal by deal is
20:31 constantly you know churning that kind
20:33 of communication with folks on a
20:35 consistent basis so I had already kind
20:36 of teed up Equity prior to that and we
20:39 ended up making five phone calls and clo
20:41 closed it with four people um call all
20:43 equal checks they come in they own 50%
20:45 of the deal I own 50% of the deal I have
20:47 no cash out um I took care of all the
20:50 due diligence expenses and was allowed
20:51 to reimburse myself for that um and so
20:54 that was kind of our structure is I took
20:55 all the risk up front we for sure closed
20:57 I paid myself back over kind of a
20:59 payment plan process um and I remain in
20:03 full control so I have kind of a class
20:04 shares they have B Class shares there’s
20:06 limitations around you know not to get
20:08 to the nitty-gritty but like I can’t
20:10 liquidate the business I can’t merge the
20:12 business um and I think that’s about it
20:15 um uh but the rest I can kind of operate
20:18 independently and that was the structure
20:19 I was looking for so I was willing to
20:21 give up a little bit of equity for that
20:23 um and again you know all cash offer
20:25 kind of deal it worked out nicely from
20:28 that perspective debt no debt yeah we
21:30 have no acquisition debt on it
21:31 whatsoever okay so you did all cash so
21:34 that long took to close we got under Loi
21:38 in May and we thought we’re going to
21:41 close in August we closed the first
21:43 couple days of October because we had a
21:46 little bit of a screw with some some
21:48 things at the end there but yeah we
21:49 closed so isn’t it interesting it’s like
21:51 that it’s it’s it’s we thought we’re
21:53 gonna close in December and it closed in
21:55 May so you know what you’re talking
21:56 about I mean so it always happens it’s
21:58 like so like for our listeners that
21:01 haven’t been through the process you
21:02 know the evaluation typically the bank
21:05 does all the evaluations and stuff like
21:07 that at the end right the the the like
21:10 it’s not like you do that upfront you’re
21:13 you’re doing your due diligence you
21:14 submit it the bank says they like it
21:16 they issue a term sheet you sign it you
21:18 you in all cash so I’m sure then there
21:20 was legal stuff that you buis were
21:22 probably doing partners that they they
21:24 had Partners you had to have signed off
21:27 uh I mean I I could imagine Anything Can
21:29 Happen yeah big for us was the real
22:32 estate U we had found out in a phase 2
22:34 study that there was a spill and um we
22:37 had found that out on our own expense
22:39 and that kind of churned the way we were
22:41 going to structure the situation and
22:43 there was some fall back out of that and
22:45 then she you know so I’m guessing you
22:46 were going to finance the real estate
22:47 for that piece that was the original
22:49 plan yeah start financing other things
22:52 involved there was a it was a I hate to
22:54 say this but it was a very different
22:55 structure prior to knowing that
22:57 information and we we to adjust right
22:60 like and I wasn’t trying to beat her up
22:02 I wanted her to get her full value but
22:04 the structure in which we did it had to
22:06 change um to mitigate our risk for
22:09 things that we basically just came to
22:10 know and we were like you’re not here
22:12 this business is going to struggle if
22:14 you don’t get involved or somebody’s
22:15 operating this thing you’re out of the
22:17 state I want to operate this thing I
22:19 think we can do something special with
22:21 it I think we’re buying it at a good
22:22 price so we needed an operator in place
22:25 they needed Direction the the employees
22:26 were looking at me when I was coming
22:28 into due diligence because she had
22:29 introduced me basically after we signed
23:31 the LOI as the new owner and I was like
23:33 no no no no hold on hold on and she just
23:36 kind of got charismatic about it and so
23:38 um it was an interesting experience um
23:40 where you know they were like caught in
23:42 between for about six months which I
23:44 would never recommend to anybody if you
23:46 can avoid it don’t don’t let that much
23:47 time linger between kind of introduction
23:49 and proper control time kills steals
23:51 that’s my big that’s right and so you
23:53 Clos out in October of 23 or 22 22 22 so
23:57 you’re a year and a half into it
23:59 how’s it gone you’ve been happy with it
23:01 there beens you expected more or less
23:03 how’s that all kind of panned out we’ve
23:05 had six quarters I guess is that right
23:07 six or seven quarters now um call it
23:09 five out of the seven have gone really
23:10 well um and we’ve had some challenges
23:13 things that I thought we could overcome
23:14 real quick um candidly we have some
23:17 regions in the world where we sell our
23:19 machines and we’ve been beat out on
23:21 price and kind of Market position in
23:23 those places and I thought I’ll just
23:25 hire a sales guy I’ll tool him up um
23:27 we’ll go jump right into it and come to
23:29 find out there’s some more challenges we
24:30 have to kind of overcome and um yeah
24:33 that’s a big part of it I I did not um I
24:36 came from a world where we were doing
24:37 kind of BTO C type sales things are very
24:39 small transactions and these are quarter
24:41 million dollar kind machine transactions
24:44 and so as a result like there’s a bit of
24:46 an education long sale cycle all that
24:48 kind of stuff that I I very much
24:50 unanticipated um based on you know what
24:52 I thought we were doing from as systems
24:54 and process and marketing and all that
24:56 kind of stuff there’s still a huge
24:57 education process to it it so um that
24:00 part I’m still very much involved in I’m
24:02 less involved day-to-day you know
24:04 management of the actual facility all
24:06 that kind of stuff I’ve got great
24:07 leadership there everybody’s doing an
24:08 awesome job we’re all in the same
24:09 systems and process um we’ve done an
24:11 amazing job kind of putting Tools in
24:13 place there but definitely on the sales
24:15 and marketing side breaking back into
24:16 certain regions of the world that I
24:18 thought we were selling fine into I’m
24:20 having to be a little more involved than
24:21 I anticipated awesome I know beta B2B is
24:25 a whole another animal I used to work at
24:27 a software company and you kind of learn
24:28 B2B it’s you’re dating and getting
25:31 married before you do anything kind of
25:32 thing it’s a whole longer process and
25:35 cycle and approvals and the whole
25:37 shebang so so Malcolm you live in Austin
25:39 you buy a business in South Texas right
25:43 y so how long did you spend what was
25:46 your what happened what was did you now
25:48 did you get a place down there and work
25:51 until you developed your team for what
25:53 six months a year how did that look yeah
25:56 the intent was about six months it
25:57 probably turned out to about nine when
25:59 it was all said and done kind of last
25:01 summerish I got to switch out of it um
25:04 so that took about nine months going
25:05 down almost every week um and figuring
25:07 all that out ironically my parents
25:09 bought a beach house in South Padre
25:11 Island so I got to kind of spend more
25:13 time with them than I ever anticipated
25:15 um but they had bought it maybe I don’t
25:17 know nine months before I had bought the
25:19 business and I remember calling them in
25:22 May or or April or so of 2022 I was like
25:25 Hey so I’ve put an offer on this deal
25:27 that’s like really close to y’all um and
25:29 so anyways long story short I’ve got to
26:31 see them more than I anticipated but um
26:34 yeah you know I didn’t buy a place I I
26:35 worked out a corporate deal of the hotel
26:37 and I lived out of the hotel and we
26:38 worked hard um and so I uh you know my
26:41 intention is is not for that to happen
26:43 my intention is as we scale up this
26:46 process to be able to do more and more
26:47 deals I’ve got to have greater operators
26:49 with me kind of earlier in the process
26:51 um because I would have not like to have
26:53 gotten to six months or a year um you
26:55 know I would have liked to have stayed
26:56 below that um as far as my kind of
26:59 intentional involvement in certain
26:60 day-to-day stuff but you got to get the
26:02 business right and you’re bu and also
26:04 you’re building your playbook right and
26:06 that’s the other part is and that’s
26:07 that’s the key thing but in order for
26:09 your business to scale you you need more
26:12 operators right and now You’ got a
26:14 Playbook to get in there and give them
26:16 and so forget about time I always tell I
26:19 tell my kids I’m like guys don’t focus
26:21 on just this time like focus on what
26:23 your your results that you get out of it
26:25 right what are you learning what are you
26:27 getting you know we all push against
26:29 these these windows of like oh man I’ve
27:31 got six months I’m going to make this
27:33 happen and and listen sometimes it
27:35 really is a motivator for some people in
27:37 a lot of ways it does put undue stress
27:39 on us where in fact you don’t have to in
27:42 certain cases you can sit there and go
27:43 hey man you know what I’m I’m building
27:46 the plan and when this plan is Rock
27:48 Solid that next opportunity is going to
27:50 pop up and now I’m GNA roll right into
27:52 that next one and that’s that I think
27:54 you have to look at that because these
27:56 cycles that we’re in in m&a they’re long
27:58 Cycles
27:59 right we talked to like your first like
27:01 this company you bought you talked to
27:03 them a year before yep and finally they
27:06 came back to you so one of the things
27:09 that that we talk about is like hey
27:11 everybody’s expectations on valuation of
27:13 their business is going to be higher
27:15 than you think yep put in an offer where
27:18 you think it’s worth it be kind and be
27:20 there and let them know you’re you’re
27:22 serious and no telling if they they come
27:25 back or not but put in that offer don’t
27:27 don’t hesitate because they sayi want a
27:29 5x and you’re like well I think it’s you
28:32 know not worth that put in your offer
28:34 let them know what we say in real estate
28:35 time in the deal is better than timing
28:37 the deal so right you figure out what
28:39 your what these rals are what it looks
28:41 like and let it kind of settle I often
28:44 tell people I’m 33 years old I’ve got a
28:46 longer patience than some of the folks
28:48 that we get to interact with so I’m I’m
28:50 willing to be patient um and I often you
28:52 know like I said I didn’t like the way
28:54 this one worked out as far as like the
28:56 deal structure kind of changing post
28:57 seeing that environmental study but you
28:60 know I try to do real genuine work up
28:01 front and say here is everything can you
28:04 reveal everything to me so that we can
28:05 not you know finagle this behind the
28:07 scenes after the LOI and and really kind
28:10 of be upfront about it and so um that’s
28:12 what we try to do and so we put in first
28:14 quarter this year we put in I think six
28:17 real offers we looked at a bunch others
28:19 obviously but six real offers and every
28:22 single one came back they felt like they
28:23 were underpriced whatever the case may
28:25 be and I felt like they were truly in
28:27 market and so um you know that’s always
28:29 the differentiation between us and maybe
29:31 somebody else can pay at a different
29:32 price and make it work but we try to do
29:34 it where we can you know hold on to this
29:36 business for 5 10 15 20 years from now
29:39 we got to do the structure right at the
29:40 beginning yeah I think right now in my
29:43 opinion everybody I mean everybody
29:45 across the board somehow thinks that
29:47 these businesses that should be trading
29:48 in the three multiples they should be
29:50 trading in the four and fives and I
29:52 don’t know if it’s the Brokers that are
29:53 telling them that this is where things
29:55 are trading or what but we’re seeing it
29:57 time and time again and we’re like you
29:59 know we’re just not going to pay that
29:00 it’s it’s not worth it uh you know we’ve
29:03 got to use we’re using leverage on a lot
29:05 of our deals and so it’s got to make
29:06 sense and uh you know I’m ju we’re just
29:09 not going to get into the racket of of
29:10 overpaying for something due because
29:12 they think that the market it’s just
29:14 what they’re they think it’s worth yeah
29:17 it’s a tough one I you know to all
29:18 defense of the broker business advisers
29:20 out there I’ve had a few conversations
29:22 the last month where people are feeling
29:23 it on that side too where they’re having
29:24 to bring realist realistic expectations
29:27 back to their clients and say hey this
29:29 is not working and and I’ve been
30:30 surprised but what we do not to give all
30:33 the secrets away what we do is we are
30:35 very particular about the ndas that we
30:36 sign now they cannot be longer than a
30:38 year because we know nine times out of
30:40 10 those deals are not going to actually
30:42 sell and they come back around in a
30:43 year’s time we can talk directly to the
30:45 owner and say hey let’s have an honest
30:46 conversation here um let’s find a way we
30:48 can structure this you know you want
30:50 this price let’s show you a structure
30:51 that can make that work so I like that a
30:54 lot I like all about structuring I mean
30:56 we even in real set I told people I can
30:58 overpay for a deal if it’s structured
30:60 correctly right that way seller gets
30:01 what they want I get what I want but
30:03 yeah you know I’ll pay you a billion
30:04 dollars for a house if you advertise it
30:06 for me over two billion years right like
30:08 you know can work out um well Malcolm
30:11 this is that’s pretty fantastic and I I
30:14 I I think that it’s a great story so
30:16 right now you’re searching you’re
30:17 looking you’re you’re gonna identify
30:19 you’re gonna buy a company right and
30:21 then you’re looking close really quick
30:24 we’re getting close getting
30:26 close one of them is per up so that’s
30:29 good yeah we’re trying so now you’re
31:30 hunting for an operating partner right I
31:32 mean you’re you’re the next side of you
31:34 is you’re saying hey I I have a system
31:36 in a process we’ve got the company so
31:38 why don’t you tell us about what does it
31:39 look like for an operating partner that
31:43 coming out what what are you looking for
31:45 yeah great question you know there’s
31:46 always that debate of like you know
31:48 shared service model versus not shared
31:50 service model and kind of we’re
31:51 transitioning in my opinion to like a
31:53 holding company type style we’ve kind of
31:55 built out the team now I’ve got people
31:57 full-time that are that implementing our
31:59 thesis and implementing our practice and
31:01 you know Bild to the portfolio companies
31:03 all that kind of stuff so that that
31:04 would be that Dynamic and relationship
31:05 with the operating company where you
31:07 have a team behind you supporting you
31:09 wanting to add value we also have a
31:11 Playbook now it’s you can find on our
31:13 website our 100 day plan like we
31:15 Implement that in now where it’s very
31:17 clearcut this is what we’re doing here’s
31:19 how we’re trying to do it so there has
31:20 to be that alignment uh same on the
31:23 investor side alignment of kind of
31:25 long-term perspective on these deals
31:26 when do we play dividends kind of all
31:28 that plan um and so all that to be said
32:30 with the operator it’s someone who can
32:33 Implement a vision kind of shared Vision
32:35 that we have but someone that has that
32:37 ability to um you know call the EQ of
32:40 business where yeah you can have the
32:42 hard skills I can hire for hard skills
32:44 but I can’t hire for somebody to be able
32:45 to sit with my employees and help them
32:47 understand where they’re going and
32:48 making that transition and that adoption
32:50 and working through all those Dynamics
32:52 so that’s what we really hire for
32:53 because I think that that’s harder to
32:55 train where versus we can train kind of
32:57 the tools and the skill set that we need
32:59 during our process leading up to the
32:01 closing so we’re definitely actively
32:03 hiring right now and looking for folks
32:04 that want to be a part of our process we
32:06 just rolled out our general spice fent
32:08 program it’s very much modal by other
32:10 people out there um but it’s intended to
32:12 be kind of a nemon six to n month
32:14 program where they come alongside
32:15 internally and allow them to be a part
32:17 of that next acquisition it’s like like
32:20 to say I can interview people on a
32:21 million different things but you you
32:22 can’t interview and train people how not
32:24 to be an and you can’t interview
32:25 and train people work ethic like those
32:27 two things need to be there
32:28 everything else can be trained up and
32:30 taught and kind of explored so yeah I’d
33:32 rather take that risk before they get
33:33 into the hell right after a transition
33:35 or an acquisition because that can
33:37 always be a tough tough place for a lot
33:38 of people that transition so if I’m a
33:41 Searcher or if I’m out there I haven’t
33:43 found a business I don’t feel like I
33:45 want to pull the trigger yet right or
33:47 you know it’s just a lot and I’m
33:49 listening to this podcast I’m like hey
33:50 Malcolm’s in Austin sounds like he’s
33:52 building something great I want to be an
33:54 operating I maybe I want to do that what
33:56 does an operating partner get are you
33:58 talking about are they do they get a
33:00 salary do they get Equity do they get
33:02 performance how does that typically look
33:04 in your model yeah so we we model where
33:07 they come in and they share along the
33:09 upside and downside we’re we’re
33:10 exploring this is kind of the evolution
33:12 of us exploring what that looks like to
33:14 share in kind of the equity side whether
33:16 it be in the portfolio company or in the
33:18 port the actual like holding company U
33:20 there’s a lot of different models out
33:21 there we’re still kind of figuring that
33:23 out to be candid and I hate to tell you
33:25 that we haven’t figured it all out but
33:27 um we’re ever ever changing situation
33:29 where you know our goal is really again
34:31 to have alignment so sharing on the
34:33 upside sharing on the downside is really
34:34 my end goal and how that structured is
34:36 still to be kind of played out um and so
34:39 right now we have you know people that
34:40 basically get high incentivized
34:42 motivated you know um bonuses through
34:44 that process and then and then we’re
34:46 kind of looking at that same way when
34:47 someone comes through our program how
34:49 does that structure work during that
34:51 program and then right when we launch
34:52 into that so that’s new to 2024 for us
34:55 to kind of create something more formal
34:57 um rather than kind of operating where
34:59 we have head hunters or other people
34:00 that are hiring um you know alongside of
34:03 us after we’ve closed um we want to
34:05 really bring somebody ahead of time so
34:06 there’s a little bit less time so we
34:08 were at the Harvard ETA Ferris and I we
34:10 we went up in uh October right October
34:13 we’ll be going again this year we like
34:14 it it’s gonna be our powwow you know uh
34:17 and but anyways we we had we were on a
34:19 pan well we were watching the panel and
34:22 this one lady you know I think they had
34:24 30 operating companies in their holding
34:26 company and they had some what you talk
34:28 to her it was man I know I’m putting you
35:30 on the spot but it was a really cool
35:33 like what she came up with was pretty
35:35 awesome it was Equity they can trade it
35:37 in they can I mean it was it was pretty
35:40 smart was it 10 marks model yes yeah so
35:43 we’re we’re definitely modeling similar
35:44 off of chenmark um I met with those guys
35:47 during the whole Co conference um last
35:49 year and kind of talked through some of
35:51 that and and they’re in the same boat I
35:52 mean all you know they’ve got a pretty
35:54 they’re like 10 years ahead of us at
35:55 this point they’ve really kind of
35:57 modeled out this process of coming as a
35:59 Searcher and then turning into you know
35:01 kind of this whole co- model um that’s
35:03 what we’re trying to do and and without
35:05 having to raise a fund I really don’t
35:06 want to go that model we want to kind of
35:08 keep things as close as possible and so
35:10 as a result um you know with that
35:13 they’ve kind of evolved as they’ve gone
35:14 on now they’re in a situation where
35:15 they’re hiring very aggressively we’re
35:17 in a position where we’re hiring one or
35:19 two a year and our hope is that you know
35:21 in that season that we’re in right now
35:23 we can kind of flush some of these
35:24 things out that work for us culturally I
35:26 don’t I don’t you know it’s interesting
35:28 I get advised on multiple different
36:30 thoughts around you know how to scale
36:32 where to scale from a holding company
36:34 side perspective and I don’t know where
36:36 we’re going to land right now our goal
36:37 is to own 10 businesses over the next 10
36:39 years and that’s kind of where we’re
36:41 starting and maybe that evolves over
36:42 time um but with that you know we can be
36:45 a little bit slower on some of our
36:47 selection and um my intention is to take
36:50 every single person that comes through
36:51 our process or inquires about the
36:53 process truly serious because I think
36:56 it’s a it’s a self- selecting you know
36:58 moment where you want to be a part of
36:59 the kind of the head hono or whatever
36:01 the leader of a business it’s not easy
36:04 um you know you’re often are working
36:05 over the night time and you’re working
36:07 during the weekends and you’re doing all
36:08 sorts of things and that would be my
36:10 same expectation what I would be willing
36:11 to put in would be the same um knowing
36:13 that there’s many times that I’m not
36:15 able to take any fees or we’re we’re
36:16 putting cash to work and um one of the
36:19 things that chenmark does really well
36:20 that we’re um working through that
36:22 alignment process is there’s a reward
36:24 based on efficiency and use of cash um
36:28 that’s the way they think about it is
36:29 really cash flow out of the business to
37:30 the holdco um and so we’re working
37:32 through that as well and how we measure
37:34 that appropriately yeah know line
37:35 incenters are critical I mean we give
37:37 all of our operating Partners equity in
37:38 the business and you know there’s always
37:40 that complication of okay well if you
37:42 want operators that you can basically
37:44 pull out and put elsewhere right you
37:46 kind of want them really supporting the
37:47 parent company and what does that look
37:48 like and it’s yeah it’s kind of the
37:50 never ending Back in Forth and yeah I
37:53 think very few companies have it well
37:55 defined enough that they’re not
37:56 constantly revisiting it year year yep I
37:59 think that’s the way to think about it
37:00 so we you know are we have a little bit
37:02 of a different kind of structure and in
37:04 how we’re kind of saying but we’re doing
37:06 hold Co for the vertical that we’re
37:08 we’re going after okay right so we’re in
37:11 this plating metal Chrome industry space
37:14 one of our we made our first acquisition
37:16 which would be more of your platform
37:18 business and then we’re using those to
37:21 to go we’re we’re we’re really working
37:24 through that owner’s relationships and
37:26 history to talk to other people that he
37:28 would have acquired if he would have
37:30 stayed buying companies and so we’re
38:32 using his Playbook to put into a holding
38:34 company right and then that becomes the
38:36 vertical and then the next vertical that
38:39 we do the business we identify and and
38:41 by the way like you said about hbac I
38:43 saw my first HVAC deal here in Houston
38:47 at a three and a half for the first time
38:49 wow in a long time everything’s always
38:52 been like five and you’re like what are
38:54 you talking about you know what I mean
38:55 so you’re right the I guess people are
38:57 starting to the Brokers are saying hey
38:58 we need to make money yeah it’s right
38:00 these guys only close two three four
38:02 deals a year you know if they do that
38:05 and they’re like hey man if I keep
38:06 telling these people five I’m never
38:08 gonna make any money sure so it is
38:10 coming back a little bit for us it’s
38:12 nice some awesome well hey Malcolm
38:15 appreciate it so I guess let’s go ahead
38:16 and move on to our rocker around yeah
38:19 very much enjoyed it so let’s go in yeah
38:21 yeah thanks all right so our rocket
38:23 round for the listeners we’re going to
38:24 go in and ask Malcolm three questions
38:26 here and uh Malcolm what do you like to
38:29 do in your free time you know highlights
39:32 of the week outside of getting to coach
39:33 my kids from soccer I train for Iron Man
39:36 is my big thing so um you know I I my my
39:39 goal is to kind of stay young dad in a
39:41 lot of ways um and so training and
39:43 getting out there and Running Iron Man’s
39:45 kind of endurance racing style stuff I
39:47 tend to like that started kind of 2019
39:50 just coincidentally covid and all that
39:51 kind of stuff could run so um you know
39:54 all that all right so so you’re here in
39:55 Texas you’re going to have to come down
39:56 and drag us I was little talking to
39:58 Casey me and him want to sign up for the
39:60 half Iron Man and Galveston yeah yeah
39:02 yeah right so we’re literally saying
39:03 like you know he he’s he’s doing reneer
39:05 next next next month coming up so Mount
39:08 rer and I did Mount rer several years
39:09 ago and I need like some hard goal that
39:12 is far enough away to force me because I
39:14 could do the biking I could do the
39:15 swimming I hate freaking running and
39:17 Iron Man was like hey let’s just double
39:19 down and go figure out how to be a
39:20 better run do that most people are
39:22 scared of the Open Water Swim so if you
39:24 can get over the Open Water Swim I can
39:25 get over that I can get over the the
39:27 biking it’s just I hate running man so
39:29 yeah I’ve done a Sprint I trained real I
40:31 did the Olympic I trained hard for the
40:33 half and then when Co happened the first
40:36 company I did an acquisition on uh was
40:38 falling to and I was like should I
40:41 be out here training every day while my
40:43 business is going under and I I just
40:45 couldn’t imagine looking at my wife and
40:47 being like hey babe I’m going for a 70
40:49 mile bike ride and uh yeah we’re going
40:51 out of business yeah yeah y y y y I kind
40:55 of refocused my energy but man I aw Iron
40:58 Man great kids Fant going to start
40:00 coming down weekly we go up there
40:02 week got the hills in Austin and come
40:04 ride bik right yeah go do the full one
40:07 we’re just we’re just signing up for the
40:08 half year all right next question most
40:11 memorable moment in your business
40:12 journey man I mean honestly like I I
40:16 love making money it’s fun it’s an
40:18 enjoyable process it’s a good challenge
40:20 um I love being able to build a team I
40:22 never thought I would love it as much as
40:24 I did I kind of was like a lone soldier
40:26 at times put it all over my should
40:27 shoulders let’s go take it all on but
40:29 the people that I’ve been able to bring
41:31 a part of the team like full Testament
41:32 to them I’ve got a we use a bunch of
41:34 people overseas locally we’re kind of a
41:36 mixed team of sorts and like just my one
41:39 of my assistants today messaged me and
41:41 said that she was getting the whole team
41:42 together in the Philippines to have
41:43 lunch tomorrow to talk strategy on a
41:44 bunch of things like those moments are
41:46 really what get me excited right where
41:47 people just like take it upon themselves
41:49 to to be a part of what we’re doing and
41:51 they’re not any way extra incentivize it
41:53 and ask for money for the lunch she just
41:54 said I feel like we need to do this and
41:56 so I’m going to do this and so um I love
41:58 that part of it um and being able to sit
41:60 in you know the office with you know
41:01 different teammates and be able to just
41:03 kind of take care of them whether it you
41:04 know be financially of circumstan that
41:06 happened in their life or just they’re
41:07 having a rough day like that stuff is
41:09 what probably keeps me operating longer
41:11 than I should um but it’s a it’s
41:14 definitely the most rewarding part it’s
41:15 just people awesome to see people grow I
41:17 mean like for us seeing like the intern
41:19 that turn into you know one of our best
41:21 performers I turned into part of the
41:22 leadership and oh yeah we had a similar
41:24 story the Philippines we had one of the
41:26 the people that’s on the team was out
41:27 Philippines and took the whole
41:29 Philippine team out they all flew in
42:31 from the different islands and they had
42:32 a good time so it it’s was cool to do
42:33 that pretty exciting I had a I had a
42:35 supervisor or soon to be supervisor I
42:37 should say guy that I got to take him on
42:39 his first plane flight back in October
42:41 this last year we needed to go see a
42:42 vendor that we were about to start a
42:43 relationship with and got to take him on
42:45 a plane and he had never been on a plane
42:46 before so that was a neat experience um
42:48 to take him out of the state and kind of
42:50 show him a different world and it was
42:51 fun that’s awesome all right last
42:53 question what is your favorite tool or
42:56 resource business or person
42:58 um train we are we are nutty on the
42:01 communication and I so sound silly but
42:03 like we record every single call and
42:05 every single thing with a tool called
42:07 rewatch and it gets triggered out on
42:08 slack to everybody um and so we use a
42:11 lot of those tools to just over
42:13 transparency letting everybody see
42:15 what’s going on um I try to like I don’t
42:18 know I’ve never been one to like maybe
42:20 it’s just the face business WRA to like
42:22 segment out certain communication I try
42:24 to be like here it all is and y’all pull
42:26 what you need to so all our channels are
42:28 open and and people can see what they
42:30 need to see and all that kind of stuff
43:31 is what we do um and so you know big big
43:34 transparency kind of guy where you know
43:36 if if if it’s the money size of the
43:38 business or whatever distracts you from
43:40 kind of your role and what you’re
43:41 contributing like we’re probably in you
43:43 know not a good situation that’s just my
43:45 structure I try to be really forward we
43:47 do quarterly updates with the team I sit
43:49 them down I explain to them this quarter
43:50 didn’t go well so any tool that’s
43:53 communication driven like slack or
43:55 rewatch or anything like that we tend to
43:57 be pretty exci about awesome that’s
43:59 awesome yeah Malcolm I appreciate it
43:01 maybe last question if someone wants to
43:02 get a hold of you how can they get a
43:03 hold of you yeah you can find out more
43:05 about me um on you know LinkedIn Twitter
43:08 x u under Malcolm peace but also find
43:11 out more about us um as kind of a
43:12 collective group at sitera spelled TS TS
43:16 r.com sitser growth Partners love to
43:19 have a chat you know love to be able to
43:21 talk to anybody about J Vice President
43:22 program or anything else like
43:24 that Malcolm thanks for being on show
43:26 really appreciate great man good luck
43:28 and keep Texas strong soon thanks guys
44:32 all right thank you for listening to the
44:34 m&a Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
44:36 today’s podcast and would like to
44:37 support us please leave us a rating and
44:39 a review after you listen I’m Casey menu
44:41 and I look forward to talking with you
44:43 next week
