In this engaging episode of the M&A Launchpad Podcast, hosts Feras Moussa and Casey Minshew are joined by special guest Bakari Akil, the founder of Graves Hall Capital, who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his unconventional background and his motivation for pursuing entrepreneurship through acquisitions.
Bakari Akil shares his fascinating journey of acquiring two $30 million businesses and now teaching Cornell MBA candidates about entrepreneurship through acquisition. Despite initially knowing nothing about M&A, Bakari’s curiosity was piqued when he first heard the term “LBO.” His determination led him to attend classes, where he learned the intricacies of buying a business. This story underscores how discipline, flexibility, and resilience can pave the way to success.
Throughout the episode, Bakari delves into his proactive strategies for self-education and networking, emphasizing the development of crucial business skills, particularly in negotiations and financing. He recounts his experience transitioning from a prospective CEO to successfully closing acquisition deals, highlighting the importance of practical action, making offers, and overcoming analysis paralysis. The discussion also explores the critical yet often neglected aspect of personal finance in the context of wealth building and M&A.
This episode is a treasure trove of practical advice and inspiring stories for aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals alike.
In this podcast episode, we discuss:
- Resilience
- The Power of Self Education
- Taking Action to Overcome Analysis Paralysis
- Building Wealth Through M&A and ETA
You can connect with Bakari Akil by his Website: About — Graves Hall (squarespace.com)
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 had
00:02 barari akill barari founded Graves hell
00:04 Capital to acquire companies in 2023 he
00:07 purchased a $35 million burlap bag
00:09 Manufacturing Company in collaboration
00:10 with Granite Creek Partners in this
00:12 Venture he recruited the company CEO now
00:14 holds a position on the board of
00:15 directors additionally in 2021 he
00:17 executed the acquisition of a $25
00:18 million educational technology company
00:20 alongside n Creek Partners definitely a
00:22 very interesting podcast talked a lot
00:24 about grit Casey what were some of your
00:26 thoughts here yeah man you know I I I
00:29 have a very good story around personal
01:30 development and reading and and studying
01:33 I love all that good stuff but it’s
01:34 always powerful to meet somebody that
01:36 you know got their they they ran across
01:38 a concept and an idea that can change
01:41 their financial lifestyle we’re not
01:43 talking about going from just somebody
01:44 having some money and and working we’re
01:47 talking about somebody that was broke
01:48 one time homeless all of these things to
01:51 then saying wow leverage buyout m&a and
01:55 then doing the work that it takes to get
01:58 there and time and time again we’re not
01:00 talking about overnight success we’re
01:02 talking about almost six years your head
01:04 against the ball continuously failure
01:06 it’s and to be able to do that and to
01:08 have the gut to do that and to be able
01:10 to hand up man unbelievable and then now
01:13 he’s traveling the world no so tenacity
01:15 it’s all what it’s all about right this
01:16 is a good story of just m&a is hard
01:20 right business is hard most things that
01:22 you want in life are not easy right they
01:24 don’t come for free and it’s a good
01:25 example of just how much you have to SLO
01:28 through things you know you do things at
01:29 work you do things that don’t work you
02:31 almost have something that works and
02:32 then it completely implodes and being
02:34 able to get up like he said I think in
02:35 his in the story he talks about thing
02:37 that he did a week later he went and
02:39 pushed to go right so after a week after
02:40 complete deal imploding still a week
02:43 later deciding to hey send out that
02:44 email and luckily did end up getting a
02:46 fish so definitely an interesting story
02:48 and like I said we kind of talk about
02:49 going from homeless to hanging out in
02:51 Bali with a bunch of other friends and
02:52 so oh man yeah definitely got to listen
02:55 to this outstanding and if you’ve been
02:57 searching for a long time listen to this
02:59 it’s a must yeah
02:04 thanks so on today’s episode we have
02:06 barari aill all the way from Bali
02:09 Indonesia currently where he’s at so
02:11 barari welcome to the show yeah great to
02:13 have you Bari thank you awesome want to
02:16 go ahead and hop in man let’s tell us a
02:17 little bit more about what you’re doing
02:18 today and how you got into that lower
02:20 mid-level Market space sure so I’m the
02:23 founder of gravesa capital which is a
02:26 private Equity Firm I created to buy
02:28 companies um so far we’ve done a few
03:31 deals um acquired a company called nyp
03:34 Corp which is a burlap bag Manufacturing
03:37 Company um did that deal last year in
03:40 partnership with a a private Equity Firm
03:41 called Granite Creek Partners um before
03:45 that didn’t uh completed an acquisition
03:47 of an educational technology company um
03:50 in partnership with a family office
03:51 called iron Creek uh and uh separate
03:55 from that uh I’ve worked as either
03:59 director of corporate development or
03:00 head of mergers and Acquisitions for um
03:03 few technology companies and AI company
03:07 um and also I teach the subject
03:09 entrepreneurship through acquisition or
03:11 just teaching the MBA candidates how to
03:12 buy companies at Cornell’s business
03:15 school um and forly was a lecturer at
03:18 Columbia business school and so I’ve
03:20 been uh an acquirer as a on as a person
03:24 as a acquirer on you know representing
03:26 corporations and also teaching the
03:28 subject for uh for people who are
03:30 interested in doing it themselves and so
04:33 um that said my background and the way I
04:35 got into the space is pretty
04:37 unconventional um and when I was 25 I
04:41 was trying to figure out right now I’m
04:43 34 but at the time when I was 25 I was
04:45 trying to figure out what I want to do
04:46 with my life and how more most
04:49 importantly how I was going to get rich
04:50 like that was like most 25y
04:55 olding time uh I was very poor at that
04:58 time and but I just like very committed
04:01 to this idea that I needed to break out
04:03 of poverty um and I felt like for me it
04:06 was most important that I it seemed like
04:08 there was a middle class trap um and it
04:10 was very easy to get caught in a uh
04:13 middle class existence that wouldn’t get
04:16 you fully out of property you just be
04:18 sort of like a paycheck away from um
04:20 ultimate disaster and so um I was
04:23 looking into What it Took and reading
04:26 lots of books and you know learning as
04:28 much as I can and ultimately they came
05:30 across the world of Entrepreneurship
05:32 through Acquisitions and search funds
05:34 and just this concept that an individual
05:36 could go out and buy an entire business
05:38 on their own um by putting together you
05:41 know Capital you know Finding deals and
05:44 just being resourceful and uh if there
05:47 was anything I I had at that time was
05:49 resourcefulness um and I think that I
05:51 still hold on to those uh those same
05:53 principles from that time and so I put
05:55 my nose to the Grind to try to get this
05:57 accomplished and that’s how I’ve uh
05:59 gotten to where am today so really quick
05:01 did you grow up in an entrepreneur
05:03 household I wouldn’t say necessarily uh
05:06 people typically just default to hey how
05:07 do I go find a job that’ll give me
05:09 salary kind of L what you know what was
05:13 kind of think hey I’m gonna go find a
05:14 business father always my father always
05:16 felt that it was most important to be an
05:18 entrepreneur he always had little side
05:20 hustles going on that were um that were
05:23 bringing in more money than whatever his
05:24 job was um my mom would also have
05:27 different businesses herself um she
05:29 attempted but there was no true business
06:31 success in my family um my father was
06:35 actually a Vietnam War veteran he was a
06:38 uh he was he’s actually been written
06:40 about in books because of missions that
06:41 he was involved in um like these very
06:43 secretive missions that um the US was
06:46 unwilling to like even confirm existed
06:49 for like decades um and have just
06:52 recently become Declassified and now
06:54 they’re finally you know giving
06:56 acknowledgement to the group my my dad
06:59 was a Green Beret which was a part of
06:00 the I don’t know if you know the Green
06:02 Beret yeah he taught you how to be tough
06:05 yeah so uh my dad was like I want to get
06:07 punished in his
06:09 household yeah that’s that’s a thank you
06:13 PR my old man was Army Ranger so I grew
06:16 up I grew up in a similar mentality
06:19 right yeah yes you’re not an option
06:22 don’t talk back that’s right that was
06:25 military guy and uh my mom uh not very
06:30 different businesses but as I said you
07:31 know no true business success so um a
07:34 lot of this really just came from you
07:36 know internally saying to myself how do
07:38 I get rich
07:40 that’s you know you said something to me
07:44 you said something that I it kind of
07:45 jumped out to me you know is about that
07:47 personal development right so you’re 25
07:49 you’re sitting there going hey how do I
07:51 get rich right it sounds like I need to
07:54 buy a business uh you know that’s that
07:56 wealth ability and uh you know so in
07:00 that process what would you say what was
07:02 your favorite book what was that book
07:04 that was your turning point that that
07:06 you were just like this this is what I’m
07:09 this is how I’m doing it uh and and and
07:12 I would say Not only was this book very
07:14 influential and and had a big impact on
07:16 me um a big part of the beginning of my
07:19 business education came from the
07:21 subsequent courses or subsequent books
07:23 that this author published through the
07:26 the rest of his advisers who uh support
07:28 his uh his work
08:30 and I would recommend anybody who hasn’t
08:33 been trained specifically in business to
08:35 go buy Rich Dad Poor Dad and not only
08:38 pick up Rich Dad borad but go get cash
08:40 flow quadrant and all the rest of the
08:42 books that um um you know I was reading
08:44 the books on taxes on you know business
08:47 formation funny I’ve met I’ve met Robert
08:49 kosaki and I’ve met Tom will who wrote
08:51 the book on taxes which I don’t know if
08:52 you read that book but that book was
08:53 kind of an eye opener Tom a good friend
08:55 I not a good friend I I know each other
08:57 he’s interest we had him speak at one of
08:59 our conferences
08:00 you know I mean there just you start to
08:02 learn why the world works the way it
08:03 does right what are the incentives that
08:05 drive different things and you know why
08:07 do you invest in an oil well right why
08:09 do you invest in real estate like we do
08:10 so it’s super eye opener and it’s just
08:12 you know it’s funny and I was a
08:13 25-year-old probably I read both those
08:15 books too so that book too that that I
08:17 would have said in my top 10 books right
08:19 the other one for me would have been
08:20 Think and Grow Rich I think was just a
08:23 great book um but man Rich Dad Poor Dad
08:26 cash flow quadrant it hit me at home in
08:29 fact one of the presentations I do uh I
09:31 even have the cash flow quadrant showing
09:33 people that you
09:35 know this is how you move this this is
09:38 the the the I don’t want to say easy
09:40 none of this is easy right but it is a
09:43 path to move you into that b quadrant
09:47 quickly right right and I guess that’s
09:50 kind of what you saw too because you
09:51 went out and bought a $25 million
09:53 company and then you bought a $33
09:54 million company behind it so pretty
09:56 impressive well let’s dig into that so
09:58 you decided you want to go start buying
09:60 company right I mean what were you
09:02 targeting right did your buy box change
09:04 did you just get lucky with a quick hit
09:06 up front or were you kind of slugging it
09:07 through right some guys we talked to
09:08 search for years and finally find
09:10 something so what you know what was that
09:12 kind of road map that was me I was the
09:15 guy who search for years see after I
09:17 read the books um it gave me the
09:20 inspiration and the belief that this
09:22 could actually work um it didn’t give me
09:25 the network it didn’t give me the
09:27 contacts it didn’t give me the um the
10:30 education as it relates specifically to
10:33 business Acquisitions um and at the time
10:36 in 2015 when I was around 25 um most of
10:39 this stuff didn’t exist there wasn’t an
10:41 m&a Launchpad uh you know podcast that
10:44 existed there really weren’t any m&a
10:46 podcast that existed in 2015 other than
10:49 things that were very specialized to the
10:51 private Equity World um and private
10:53 Equity um as a industry is going after
10:57 such larger acquisitions
10:60 um that while the principles remain the
10:02 same the actual you know work in
10:04 practice is often uh difficult to um
10:09 apply at the local level and so um and
10:12 so for me the the next step was how do I
10:15 learn what I can um from not just from
10:19 books but from like credible people um
10:23 who I could trust and and ideally I do
10:26 that in person and um I had this idea
10:30 um that was that I had actually started
11:32 to put in practice years ago and I
11:34 learned this from actually from Steve
11:36 Jobs in a uh in an interview he not
11:38 interview in a commencement speech he
11:40 gave to Stanford um he talked about how
11:42 he used to sit in the back of classes
11:45 after he dropped out of Reed College and
11:48 um a lot of the things that he learned
11:50 from sitting in the classes ended up
11:52 becoming some of the foundational things
11:55 that we use and uh in our in our
11:58 MacBooks and uh
11:00 and from that idea I realized oh I I
11:04 guess I I could just go find courses
11:07 online that teach the subjects that I’m
11:09 trying to learn um find out when those
11:11 courses are being taught in person and
11:13 go sit in those classes um and I lived
11:16 in New York at the time or I live in New
11:18 York and uh and so I’m you know Columbia
11:22 is up the street for me five minutes
11:24 away nyu’s down the street and then
11:27 every other major or a lot of major uh
11:30 uh colleges are you know within either
12:33 walking or driving distance for me and
12:35 so um I learned that there was a there
12:38 was a professor who was going to be
12:39 teaching entrepreneurship to acquisition
12:41 or teaching those MBA candidates how to
12:43 buy companies at Columbia’s business
12:45 school and so and I learned when that
12:48 class was going to be taken and
12:50 coincidentally I had just started
12:52 learning about the subject and maybe a
12:53 week later was the was the uh the day of
12:56 the first class and so when I realized
12:59 that I put it on my schedule and then I
12:60 showed up at Columbia business school
12:01 and sat in the back of the class there
12:03 you go registered or anything you just
12:05 showed up and you approached the
12:07 professor or did you try to just leave
12:08 it kind of fizzle by itself I just try
12:11 to stay as quiet as I could for as long
12:13 as I could um ultimately the professor
12:15 did identify that I wasn’t a student in
12:17 the class um and we ended up figuring
12:20 out a way for me to you know learn what
12:22 I could um from him even though I wasn’t
12:25 a student um what ultimately I’ve
12:28 actually never said sold this story
13:30 publicly um ultimately the professor
13:33 said hey I can’t let you sit in the
13:35 class but if you want to I’ll let you
13:37 record the class and so I would show up
13:39 to class maybe five minutes ahead I’d
13:41 give him my cell phone and he would let
13:44 me press record I’d leave the cell phone
13:45 in the class for about two hours and
13:47 then I would go home and I would listen
13:49 to the recording and uh that’s
13:51 conviction that’s awesome it’s amazing
13:54 yeah and you know funny enough that
13:55 ended up being even better than sitting
13:57 in the class um because I had the
13:60 recording so I could go back and say
13:01 okay I didn’t understand what that was
13:02 and go re re you know listen to it da d
13:05 da and then I had him as a resource
13:07 because he’s right there in person so
13:08 it’s like having a YouTube class except
13:10 I could go and you know at the end of
13:11 the class it wasn’t like he was like no
13:13 I won’t have a conversation with you we
13:14 ended up having great um conversations
13:17 and then that became the way that I
13:19 ended up becoming a lecturer at at
13:21 Columbia business school because maybe
13:23 you know a year later he was calling and
13:25 looking for other people to be guest
13:26 lecturers um who could talk about the
13:28 experiences of uh people who uh who buy
14:32 companies or are trying to buy companies
14:34 and he would invite me back to be uh to
14:36 be a speaker in a class and so you know
14:38 coming coming from that to now I’m
14:40 speaking at an Ivy League school and so
14:43 um Ivy leak’s business school no um no
14:45 less and so um so yeah that’s that was
14:48 the beginning of me trying to just build
14:49 the actual Foundation of Education
14:52 particularly in a space where there was
14:53 not you know an existing Foundation that
14:56 I could um that I could that’s the name
14:58 that’s the difference between you know
14:00 entrepreneurs and the people that go get
14:02 W2s right it’s you slog it out and you
14:05 kind of get past all the conventional
14:06 wisdom and the conventional things and
14:09 don’t have to go and be registered for
14:11 school to go sit in class yeah you might
14:12 get in trouble or someone will catch you
14:14 you know was suspicious whenever bikari
14:16 was just never showing up on test day
14:17 you know he just every time test would
14:19 you know everyone would grown about the
14:21 test he just wouldn’t care but um you
14:23 know ultimately there you have to have
14:24 the self-conviction to go and drive
14:26 yourself to grow to another level right
14:29 I do remember uh being in class at times
15:32 when people would talk about oh man I
15:34 really didn’t like the assignment last
15:35 week or like the difficulty with this
15:38 and I’m like I don’t even have access to
15:40 that yeah so take us to take us to the
15:44 the first acquisition right so it looks
15:46 like did you make your first acquisition
15:48 in 2021 that’s right and this is a $25
15:52 million EDG educational 20 uh technology
15:55 company
15:56 correct so you didn’t go small you went
15:59 right there smack dabbing the lower
15:00 Middle Market so as I mentioned I I
15:03 started this thing you know back in 2020
15:07 back in
15:08 2015 and so from 20
15:13 2015 basically nonstop I was exclusively
15:17 focused on trying to buy a company um I
15:20 did everything I could think of to make
15:22 that um more likely to happen um I
15:26 created a group called the alternative
15:28 Investments club and would host events
15:30 in New York um at Jay-Z Sports Club more
16:33 uh Jay-Z Sports Club in uh in Midtown
16:36 and I hosted an event there every
16:37 Tuesday for four years straight um and
16:41 would invite entrepreneurs and investors
16:44 to uh the club something like 30 40 uh
16:48 investors in New York and we would talk
16:50 about deals uh real estate deals Venture
16:53 deals and I would let people know that
16:55 I’m interested in buying a company and
16:57 ideally you know somebody would bring
16:59 you know an opportunity to me um I was
16:01 reaching out to Brokers and investment
16:03 bankers on a you know basically a
16:05 monthly basis asking them for a deal
16:07 flow I was on axal um uh the platform uh
16:12 and you know sourcing deals from there
16:15 um I was having com I was having a
16:17 meeting with a uh with an owner of a
16:19 company probably once a week U making
16:21 offers probably you know once a month
16:24 and uh and from 2015 2016 17 2018 when I
17:30 started this thing back in 2015 I
17:32 thought this was going to be wrapped up
17:34 by the time I was 28 like I was like
17:36 yeah three years at Max you know like
17:40 and if it I get to 28 something went
17:43 really wrong um and it was a true grind
17:47 I uh I my first transaction that got
17:50 really close was a healthc care um
17:52 transaction um buying a medical practice
17:55 uh everything was set up to to work and
17:58 then that deal fell part right before we
17:01 were supposed to close because the
17:02 seller had stopped basically running the
17:05 practice because he was aware that the
17:07 transaction was going to go through over
17:09 the course of our due diligence period
17:11 um so three months of him not actually
17:13 you know seeing patients and doing what
17:15 he was supposed to do and basically the
17:18 EA down the TTM Bas is going backwards
17:21 from the you know the date we were
17:22 supposed to close had collapsed by like
17:24 40% and was basically precipitated in a
17:29 drop in the price and not only a drop in
18:31 the price but a drop in the confidence
18:33 that all of my investors had in the
18:34 business because if this guy could
18:36 literally just stop for three
18:37 months maybe this is not the right
18:40 business for us to buy um tried to buy a
18:43 a label paper manufacturer label label
18:47 paper manufacturer um basically you know
18:49 you know if you go to like a supermarket
18:51 to get like a a sandwich or soup from
18:54 the prepared food section you know take
18:56 it you put the lab right they put the
18:59 label on it this company created the
18:02 printers that um would sit inside the
18:05 supermarket and then supplied the
18:06 supermarkets with the label paper on an
18:08 ongoing basis made around $10 million a
18:11 year about $2 million in in annual
18:14 profits had put together all the capital
18:16 financing for that transaction and last
18:19 day maybe last last month before it was
18:21 supposed to close on the seller backed
18:24 out of the letter of intent just on his
18:26 own without really any warning um and
18:29 and ultimately sold the company to uh to
19:31 a competitor um and you know these these
19:35 things happened these like massive
19:37 disappointments happened multiple times
19:38 throughout this uh throughout this
19:40 process and so um ultimately by the time
19:44 we got to the educational technology
19:45 company that success I was uh I was
19:49 basically at this place that i’ I’ve
19:51 mentioned before in other shows where um
19:54 you know people have asked me what what
19:56 you know how have you gotten successful
19:58 how have you been able to do
19:00 and uh there’s a rapper name is nipy
19:02 hustle who I who I’m a big uh fan of um
19:06 personally and
19:07 musically and he said he once said the
19:11 only distinguishing quality between me
19:15 and someone else who wants to do what I
19:18 do is that I didn’t give up resilience I
19:21 was literally thinking about the title
19:22 for this podcast and that’s kind of the
19:24 story there like he’s like I went
19:27 through every emotion you know
19:30 heartbreak you know
20:32 Elation you going through every you know
20:35 the whole Gauntlet you know exuberance
20:38 to humiliation like the whole thing um
20:41 but though you know what what I did that
20:44 was this the lucky thing that I did was
20:47 that I never gave up and so at the when
20:50 that deal fell apart um the the label
20:53 paper manufacturing deal um I I had at
20:56 that point basically had already started
20:58 looking for a lead in the city that the
20:60 company was in because I was going to
20:01 run that company full-time as CEO uh I
20:05 had you know told most of the major
20:07 people in my life that this transaction
20:08 was going going through because at that
20:10 point it was and so when it fell apart
20:13 um having now done at that point it had
20:15 been four years of just nonstop focus on
20:18 this on this one go I was uh I was
20:22 heartbroken like I was literally walking
20:23 through the streets of New York like oh
20:25 my God I can’t believe like I was like
20:27 crying like it was it was really
20:29 devastating um and the one thing I I
21:33 constantly credit myself for doing and
21:35 if I could go backwards in time and see
21:38 myself I would just I would just clap
21:41 for for me doing this move which is
21:44 within a week of that deal falling apart
21:47 I pressed the green button on my uh on
21:49 my computer and sent the blast email out
21:52 to a bunch of different um uh business
21:55 owners uh in uh in my radius that had a
21:59 business of a size that I was interested
21:00 in acquiring um and it tapped the
21:04 shoulder of this uh or caught the
21:06 attention of this uh person who owned
21:08 this educational technology company and
21:10 he reached out back to me and said hey
21:12 let’s have a meeting and uh that was in
21:16 my first uh my first closing and so what
21:19 tool was it that you you were using to
21:21 find the businesses kind of the size
21:22 that you’re looking for yeah so uh so
21:26 there’s a website called the sbss I
22:30 think that’s the name of it um which uh
22:33 which is basically a place where you can
22:35 get all of the email addresses for
22:38 government contractors um federal
22:41 government contractors um where you and
22:44 on this list uh it has all of the
22:48 relevant information including email
22:50 addresses um
22:52 names um a summary of what the business
22:55 does an approximate uh sense for revenue
22:58 and uh no not Ambu just Revenue um a
22:03 side you know a column that tells you
22:06 how many employees they have where
22:07 they’re based um you know city name I
22:11 mean City State address um the whole
22:14 nine and so um and we’ll check that out
22:18 put it in the show notes you know I
22:22 don’t think what I’ve just shared that
22:24 that that thing and I’m pretty sure it
22:26 still exists I haven’t been on the
22:27 website in a while um I haven’t seen a
23:30 resource like that really anywhere so um
23:34 your listeners are getting if they and
23:36 and I remember the I remember the exact
23:38 day when my friend Reggie who uh who
23:43 actually used the same website and got
23:44 his transaction um completed tapped me
23:47 on the shoulder and IID asked him hey
23:48 how are you finding deals and he was
23:50 like Hey I actually and he showed me
23:52 this this platform and so uh it’s a
23:54 government site you can download you
23:56 know um contact information directly
23:59 from there and so that’s where I found
23:01 the to be clear I also found a lot of
23:03 Duds
23:05 like you know before you jump I I just
23:08 want to touch on this because those
23:09 listeners you can give them a website
23:11 right but what you can’t give them is
23:12 that four years to prepare you to be
23:15 able to close the deal right you know
23:17 there’s so many people that we talk to
23:19 that are like hey I’m searching I’ve
23:20 been at it for a year and man it’s tough
23:23 It’s hard but then even though you’re
23:24 searching when you get to the table with
23:27 the seller now you’ve got a new skill
23:29 set you’ve got to learn right which is
24:30 the negotiation and we went through this
24:33 with Bill snow talking about from an
24:34 investment banking standpoint that the
24:36 searching is the hardest part you know
24:38 negotiation the fun part and then the
24:40 financing is the easier part right it
24:42 was a great point that he made but to
24:44 put you in a position at probably what
24:47 29 you said you were 28 I was 29 at that
24:50 point 29 you’re now prepared to execute
24:55 the deal and the transaction that’s the
24:58 kind of stuff that all that tilling and
24:60 all that re all that studying personal
24:02 development putting on those events I
24:05 mean think about it I mean we’re putting
24:07 on the conference we’re putting on
24:08 events and you know we have a Meetup
24:10 that we’ve done for six years right and
24:12 you keep doing it and you just don’t
24:13 know who’s gonna come through the door
24:14 and half of them aren’t that successful
24:17 but it’s really those 10% of them that
24:18 you get some real value from them but
24:20 having the resilience to keep doing it I
24:22 ran I ran a funding post event I don’t
24:24 know if you Joe know Joe Rubin out of
24:26 New York but he ran a lot of the Venture
24:27 Capital firms through called funding
24:29 post and uh I reached out to him back at
25:32 after I had left one of my startups and
25:35 I went to start something else but I
25:36 didn’t have an idea so I went ahead and
25:38 started the funding Post in Houston and
25:40 man I met the most amazing people having
25:42 these events so it’s kind of amazing
25:44 that tenacity to do it every Tuesday for
25:46 four years and I bet you the people that
25:49 you met you had your investors lined up
25:51 from that I mean that’s a beautiful
25:53 thing and in the whole time you’re was I
25:55 just want to get my deal done but you
25:57 buil all of the tools you needed to get
25:59 there man I it’s a phenomenal story
25:01 thank you so maybe walk us through it so
25:03 you know seller reached out to you said
25:05 hey I’m looking to sell my business you
25:07 know what was the motivation on his side
25:09 how did you guys structure the deal and
25:10 how’d you get it done sure so on this
25:13 deal um so the first thing to to be
25:16 aware of as it comes to me is my whole
25:20 entire approach up until very recently
25:22 um was to buy a company and also to run
25:25 it full-time as CEO and so um at that
25:29 time when I first came across this
26:31 concept of trying to buy a company the
26:32 only model that I was aware of that I
26:35 felt that I was appropriately um
26:37 positioned to take on was the search
26:40 fund style um acquisition where you buy
26:43 a company you know pull together a group
26:45 of investors to get the deal done uh and
26:49 uh and they would ultimately help you um
26:51 run the company um you put together a
26:53 small board and and make it happen um I
26:56 hadn’t yet considered even I became
26:59 aware of but I had not yet considered
26:01 the idea that I could operate as an
26:02 independent sponsor because frankly I
26:04 felt that that the independent sponsors
26:08 who I knew were these like really
26:10 experienced private Equity people who
26:12 seemed like they had all this like
26:14 experience and all that whereas the
26:16 search fund folks were more like me who
26:18 had like you know a smaller amount of
26:20 experience but seemed like they might be
26:22 supported when they were in the actual
26:23 operations chair and so my conversation
26:26 with the with the owner was about buying
26:28 as company and not just buying it but
27:30 also to run it as a CEO and so I think
27:34 at the time he was looking at me as a
27:36 succession um opportunity that he didn’t
27:39 seem to have accessible to him um from
27:42 the people who he knew in his world um
27:45 his children were very young at the time
27:47 you know in their early teens interested
27:50 in a business but not ready to take on a
27:52 CEO role for uh for his company and so
27:56 um and so these were the types of things
27:58 that were uh were exciting for him as we
27:00 were as we were chatting um and
27:03 basically from this was uh uh this was
27:08 the the the summer of 2019 um basically
27:12 from Summer of 2019 until um basically
27:16 this the beginning of 2020 we were
27:20 negotiating and U figuring out the the
27:23 financing structure uh for him and uh
27:26 and for me to get the deal done um
27:28 ultimately uh partnered with iron Creek
28:31 Partners which is a family office that
28:32 comes out of the search fund World um
28:34 but also has an interest in indep
28:36 independent sponsor World um to complete
28:38 that transaction and um and then as we
28:42 were in the middle of working to get
28:44 this deal done uh the most
28:48 unexpected thing to ever hit
28:52 World
28:54 2020 educational tech company right
28:58 out of the wide blue and derails
28:01 everything and uh so now I’m now I’m in
28:05 my fifth year trying to buy a company
28:07 and uh it seems like the actual uh the
28:11 actual universe is against me buying a
28:16 business now now the international
28:19 pandemic has prevented me from getting
28:21 this deal done but ultimately we ended
28:23 up getting it back on track the type of
28:25 business it was was actually a type of
28:26 business that would benefit in some way
28:28 ways from uh from the downturn in uh so
29:33 the company had a focus on Workforce
29:34 Development um in
29:37 2019 uh one of the you know sort of the
29:40 fall of 2019 the number one thing that
29:42 um president Trump at the time was uh
29:45 was touting about his uh his record um
29:48 coming you know coming into 2020 um in
29:50 his sense of you know what the election
29:52 was going to look like with the fact
29:53 that unemployment was basically at zero
29:57 um the was almost no you know
29:60 unemployment in the in the country at
29:01 the time and this company was a
29:03 Workforce Development Company focused on
29:05 helping people who had recently lost
29:06 their jobs and so when I was out
29:08 fundraising for it a lot of investors
29:10 were like what do we need a Workforce
29:12 Development company are you not seeing
29:14 the the employment numbers out here
29:16 everything is great and uh within five
29:19 months the of that those conversations
29:22 unemployment in the United States was
29:24 like 50% and uh and so Workforce
29:27 Development seemed to be a very very um
30:31 uh critical necessary uh uh thing and so
30:36 um it became a bit easier to move that
30:39 transaction down the line and we
30:40 ultimately ended up closing it uh in
30:44 2021 so the equity sounds like the
30:46 family office did the full Equity stack
30:48 and then you guys figured out you know
30:49 essentially a car route for you and did
30:51 you guys structure it more like a
30:52 traditional search where you’re getting
30:54 some at closing some at refi to kind of
30:56 grow your Equity position so it on that
30:59 transaction there’s some uh disclosure
30:02 things that I have to be aware of as it
30:03 relates to that but I can say it looked
30:05 more like an independent sponsor deal
30:07 than it did like a traditional search
30:09 one got it cool sense and for those
30:11 listeners I’m we have a whole different
30:12 episode about just the search world and
30:14 how does a search model work and funny
30:16 we’ve been to an event and we were
30:17 specifically told don’t break the search
30:20 model they don’t want us to go outside
30:22 the confines of how the search you know
30:24 process works and how do they structure
30:26 it for kind of the search versus the the
30:29 money behind it and so you know for us I
31:31 mean we’re very flexible Dynamic people
31:33 so if you’re a Searcher out there would
31:34 love to talk to you um so I guess you
31:37 know maybe fast forward I mean you know
31:40 burlap what did you know about burlap
31:42 before the the company came your way I
31:45 mean I had seen potato bags and onion
31:48 bags um those bags that they put on you
31:51 know uh the road when there’s a when
31:54 there’s sand like so sand bags kind of
31:57 things um I’ve seen I had seen those but
31:59 at that beyond that I was
31:02 unaware of the business itself um and uh
31:06 and so when I when I first came across
31:08 nyp Corp um I was uh I was not
31:13 necessarily unenthusiastic about the
31:16 company but I wasn’t clear um it took me
31:21 a while to understand what was really
31:23 you know truly unique and magical about
31:26 that business and I honestly think um
31:28 the business opportunity that we’re
31:30 pursuing with nyp Corp is um is is a
32:33 very unique and one-of aind thing and
32:34 one of the things that’s fantastic about
32:36 it is that you know it’s an industry
32:37 that most people would never even you
32:39 know look at twice um and the fact that
32:43 the fact that it um was an industry that
32:45 people wouldn’t like I you know one
32:46 thing I can share about that um
32:48 transaction is that when I first came
32:50 across that company I was an employee at
32:53 a private Equity Firm um and uh and it
32:57 was one of the first times I had worked
32:58 for a private Equity Firm and uh um and
32:03 I had pursued that transaction on behalf
32:05 of the private Equity Firm and they had
32:08 said that they didn’t want to pursue it
32:10 they didn’t like the industry they felt
32:11 like it had you know it was too sleepy
32:13 and the Thunder dirt but they had a lot
32:14 of things that they were anti the the
32:17 the business and I said I want to pursue
32:20 this and I’ll leave the firm to focus on
32:24 this transaction thinking at the time
32:27 this was this was this was 2021 actually
33:30 thinking at time you already had the
33:31 education business at the time knowing
33:33 that the educational technology company
33:35 was getting ready to close I was
33:36 thinking at the time this one was going
33:38 to take about three or four months um
33:40 this was August of 2021 so I’m thinking
33:44 this is going to wrap up you know by at
33:47 least New Year worst come to worst we’re
33:49 talking you know spring of
33:51 2022 that one didn’t close until uh
33:55 January of 2023 so y
33:59 so these things always take much longer
33:01 than uh than anticipated um but uh uh it
33:06 closed and uh it’s been a fantastic
33:09 business so far um we we have a
33:12 fantastic CEO who hired to run that
33:14 company full-time um great partners with
33:17 granite Greek um and now you know
33:21 whereas I started this um this as a as a
33:24 Searcher as a potential Searcher um I’ve
33:27 uh Ed into the independent sponsor that
34:31 uh that I that I thought I wasn’t
34:34 qualified enough to be um but now have
34:37 uh you know multiple transactions under
34:39 built and are currently looking to close
34:42 a new one um one that I started working
34:46 on back in 2022 thinking this is g to
34:48 all wrap up by you know at worst summer
34:53 2023 and we’re on our way always drags
34:56 question who was running the education
34:58 company for you and what kind of gave
34:60 you you know the confidence to go look
34:02 for another business essentially around
34:03 the same time so we ended up keeping the
34:06 existing CEO who was CEO at the time
34:09 when uh we bought the company um on as
34:12 CEO so he continues running the business
34:14 today got it okay so both businesses you
34:16 still have
34:17 today so uh the educational technology
34:21 company is still uh still iron Creek and
34:25 nyp Corp is still owned by me and
34:28 Granite Creek and so everything is still
35:31 active still happy with both of them
35:33 like kind of you know now that you’re on
35:34 the back end of it right because you go
35:35 into a transaction you never really know
35:37 what you’re going to get or how it’s
35:38 going to work out so having kind of
35:39 essentially you know you’re at least a
35:41 year past even the second one so far so
35:44 good you’re feeling good good about kind
35:46 of the the prospects and is it worked
35:47 out like you expected or is it something
35:49 you know drastically different you have
35:50 to address pretty quickly early
35:52 on so two things on that the first is
35:56 you know I was I was starting from
35:59 absolute zero if not negative and so
35:04 anything that moved in my direction
35:06 positively as it related towards closing
35:08 a transaction which was the only goal I
35:11 had was a a good outcome and so um
35:15 there’s there’s there’s of course
35:17 challenges and uh things that I’m I’m
35:21 happier or less happier with with with
35:23 anything um
35:26 but it is night and day literally night
35:30 and day the difference between what my
36:32 life was before I closed my transaction
36:34 and after I closed it you mentioned at
36:36 the top of this call um that uh I’m in
36:39 Bali I’m not just sitting in Bali I’m in
36:42 a five-star Resort in Bali um where I’ve
36:46 been for a week heading into two weeks
36:49 most of my time here I’ve been
36:51 interacting with different celebrities
36:53 who uh who are also interested in this
36:55 world of Entrepreneurship through
36:57 acquisition and
36:58 uh want to see how I can help them uh
36:01 with buying companies that they’re
36:03 interested in buying um and so I’ve been
36:05 come like sort of an unofficial
36:07 consultant for uh for different folks
36:09 out here um who who who live in Bali and
36:13 when I leave I’m Gonna Leave Bali uh
36:17 next week to fly to Hong Kong um before
36:20 I was in Hong Kong I was in Manila
36:23 before I was in Manila I was in uh
36:25 Vietnam and before that I was in
36:28 uh Thailand um and each one of those was
37:31 about a month at a time my life is
37:33 literally night and day since you know I
37:36 was living in a little small studio
37:38 apartment in Harlem um you know sneaking
37:41 in the classes at Columbia uh now a same
37:44 class that I used to sneak into at
37:45 Columbia I teach at Cornell um and so
37:49 there might be some student one day in
37:52 the future who I’ll look out into the
37:54 crowd and be like hey I haven’t seen
37:56 that guy here before you never know Cari
37:60 just an outstanding story man I I I tell
37:02 you the uh you know that’s that’s the
37:04 beautiful thing about entrepreneurship
37:06 right getting focused you’ve got Battle
37:08 Scars wounds and then you’ve got some
37:11 beautiful story there to be there in
37:12 Bali and just enjoying your your world
37:14 travels while you’re you know while
37:16 you’ve got these companies working for
37:18 you that’s the beautiful piece um that’s
37:20 right before we wrap up you know you’ve
37:23 given nuggets throughout this whole
37:25 thing so anyone that’s listening
37:27 probably got a well of of of your story
37:30 but if you wanted to leave entrepreneurs
38:31 with maybe one thing besides your
38:33 resilience and all that good stuff what
38:35 what would you like to let them know
38:36 what would you like to tell them yeah so
38:39 at the risk of uh uh at the risk
38:43 of you guys losing uh
38:47 listeners I would say I think there are
38:52 a lot of people who are interested in
38:55 buying a company and I meet them and
38:58 talk to them and I’m sure you guys talk
38:60 to them just as much as I hear from them
38:01 as as well and it feels like they’ve
38:04 read every book they’ve listened to all
38:07 the
38:08 podcasts they’ve gotten so much
38:10 information and then you ask them what
38:12 have you done today to buy a company
38:16 what have you done in the last week to
38:18 buy a company what was the last time you
38:19 spoke to somebody who’s selling a
38:21 company was the last time you submitted
38:23 a letter of intent when was the last
38:24 time you did anything actionable that
38:27 let you know that your life is different
39:31 from last week or yesterday or last
39:33 month as it relates to your goal of
39:35 buying a company and so I’d recommend
39:37 anybody listening to this you know
39:40 continue listening to the podcast but at
39:42 the same time know that listening to the
39:44 podcast is a lot different than doing
39:46 the things that we’re talking about on
39:48 the podcast you should prioritize trying
39:51 to make sure that you’re making offers
39:53 and you know some people ask me what I
39:55 would do if I could go back to you know
39:58 being 25 what advice had I give myself
39:01 and I would I I I would only wish I
39:04 started faster that’s the only thing I
39:07 could say to myself is I wish when I was
39:10 25 that I was 24 starting um and uh so
39:15 it my whole idea here is I think this
39:17 thing this activity this work that we’re
39:20 uh looking to accomplish together um
39:22 this you know work of Acquisitions is
39:24 accessible it’s uh it’s possible to be
39:27 done um I haven’t even shared with you
39:29 guys like I I dropped out of college
40:31 like so I didn’t even have like an
40:32 undergraduate degree to get you know
40:34 this this stuff done the different
40:35 points of my life I was homeless like I
40:37 had a lot of like major you know
40:39 challenges and if somebody in my
40:41 position can come full circle to you
40:43 know being in this position um or not
40:46 full circle but 180 um to be in this
40:48 position um is completely accessible to
40:51 somebody like you and so that’s what I
40:53 would uh say to you know anyone
40:55 listening to no there’s a ton of
40:56 information out there which is a good
40:58 thing and there’s a ton of information
40:59 out there which is a bad thing right and
40:01 you see it whether it’s in the m&a space
40:03 or the real estate space that there’s a
40:04 lot of people that essentially have
40:06 analysis paralysis right and there’s
40:08 they always want the perfect deal and I
40:10 tell people it’s not about this you
40:11 never buy a perfect deal ever right it’s
40:13 about being comfortable enough but
40:15 knowing you’re going to be uncomfortable
40:17 and you know have the wherewithal to
40:18 work through the problems that identify
40:20 themselves so right get up off the couch
40:23 get off off the podcast and go do right
40:26 fail fast fail fast move go right really
40:29 good at that one I have I I am really
41:31 good at failing trust
41:34 me go hop into the rocket round all
41:37 right so this is our round for the
41:39 listeners where we asked Bari some
41:41 questions just to get to know him a
41:42 little bit better here so aari what do
41:45 you like to do in your free time my free
41:47 time um well right now I am uh working
41:51 on my uh my first book um which is just
41:55 be a memoir about you know sort of going
41:58 deeper into the experiences that I’ve
41:59 shared here um so in my free time I’ve
41:02 been writing um so far um and if I’m not
41:06 writing I’m probably listening to an
41:07 audio book by some writer who wrote a
41:10 good Memoir and trying to get a bit of
41:13 sense for how to write this will be my
41:15 first book I’m excited to try to get it
41:17 done and uh yeah that’s probably what I
41:19 awesome we’ll have you back on when that
41:21 book’s ready to go we’re gonna have you
41:22 back on to promote it let us know all
41:25 right next question so in your entire
41:27 business Journey what’s been just kind
41:29 of the most memorable moment that stuck
41:30 out for you the most memorable moment as
42:33 a business person was definitely when I
42:37 got the call that confirmed that the uh
42:42 the educational technology company was
42:44 gonna close that was the most
42:46 transformational moment as a business
42:47 person in my life um like finally turn
42:50 that page yeah the the only moment that
42:54 I would say has just as much resonance
42:57 for me
42:58 is the first time I actually Googled the
42:02 phrase leveraged bio um I remember that
42:06 day I remember not knowing what a
42:08 leverage buyout is um not knowing
42:11 anything about
42:12 m&a um and like the moment the in fact
42:17 at the time I didn’t even know the
42:18 phrase levers buyout what I Googled were
42:21 these three this this acronym that I had
42:23 seen a bunch of places lbo and then
42:27 Googled lbo which is what introduced me
42:29 to leverage buyouts and Leverage buyouts
43:31 is what introduced me to search funds
43:34 and ultimately what um you know set the
43:37 career that I’m in today so that’s
43:40 amazing all right last question what’s
43:42 your favorite tool or resource that you
43:44 use could be for business or personal
43:46 but what do you like to
43:49 use
43:50 uh I would say YouTube is probably the
43:54 most transformational tool that I’ve
43:58 experienced throughout my entire life I
43:01 there’s there’s very little in my life
43:04 that I can credit that I can’t credit
43:08 some piece of information I got from
43:11 from YouTube um in terms of a practical
43:14 tool that someone listening could use um
43:19 there are a few versions of these types
43:22 of tools but there is a there are
43:27 um websites or apps that you can load
44:31 into Chrome that let
44:34 you um go onto a LinkedIn page and
44:38 extract an email address so that you’re
44:40 not sending a uh when you want to reach
44:43 out to somebody you don’t have to send
44:44 them a a LinkedIn message which may or
44:47 may not reach them whereas you can get
44:49 their email address um and reach them
44:52 directly and um that tool um that I use
44:56 I believe is called Rocket reach um
44:60 there no way early on in my career I you
44:03 my background software and so I remember
44:05 programming my own one from scratch back
44:06 in
44:08 2012 right where I wrote my whole thing
44:10 and it was like I had set up the whole
44:12 system to not only extract but even do
44:13 the messaging queue and it was totally a
44:15 hack hacky thing and working around you
44:17 know all the blocking from LinkedIn but
44:19 it worked and it was powerful really
44:21 quick you mentioned YouTube old one
44:23 there was an old one called reportive
44:25 that was it was so great because
44:27 basically you would click on the the
44:28 LinkedIn page and it’ll immediately
44:30 populate it like you didn’t even have to
45:31 do an extra step um but now there’s the
45:34 steps of like clicking and all that so
45:36 it adds a little bit of a stress but I
45:38 just think having having an email
45:40 address is probably is way more valuable
45:43 than any
45:43 other I agree any other communication
45:47 but I’m G put you on the spot name your
45:48 two favorite YouTube channels that you
45:50 think are just man these are just you
45:51 know having access to information is
45:53 phenomenal yeah
45:56 um you know I’m not I’m not a particular
45:60 subscriber to YouTube channels as much
45:02 as I’m might click on click on the
45:05 search bar and search
45:07 for subject how to or any of that I’m
45:10 the same
45:11 way it’s funny I saw the difference my
45:13 generation was the googlers right I got
45:15 really really good at Googling and I you
45:17 know it was a skill and that was my
45:19 oneup over everybody else I could find
45:21 whatever I need it immediately and I
45:22 noticed my younger brother who’s 15
45:24 years younger was absolutely the YouTube
45:26 generation like everything he would
45:28 looking up and he would go to YouTube
45:30 and go watch a video on how to do it
46:31 instead of me which would i’ go search
46:33 for a page to read how to do it right
46:35 and so it’s definitely interesting to
46:36 see that that
46:37 shift yeah I would say sometimes some
46:42 some channels that that stand out to me
46:44 just because they I know they stand out
46:46 and I’m sure they’re not going to be any
46:48 uh surprise to your audience would be
46:51 like Tim Ferris uh Channel not to say
46:54 that I listen to every single thing that
46:56 um he post but there have been some
46:59 unique moments that have uh stood out to
46:01 me um and uh and remit Seth’s uh Channel
46:08 I will teach you um which comes from his
46:11 uh I will teach you to be rich book um
46:14 which is probably the most important
46:17 personal finance book that I’ve ever
46:19 read and uh and set my entire sort of
46:24 financial like there was a version of me
46:27 doing all the work and I and I have
46:28 friends like this and this this is
47:30 probably an very underrated piece of the
47:34 um wealth building and also m&a World
47:37 which is I have friends who were also
47:40 business successful but were person had
47:44 struggles with personal finance and so
47:47 the the best the combination of this
47:50 thing is to not only become wealthy um
47:52 and have a good business but also to
47:54 have a good personal wealth uh y so that
47:58 when you build all of this or create all
47:01 this income and all this it doesn’t all
47:03 disappear by you know poor management
47:05 and so you’re you’re preaching yeah
47:09 you’re preaching my langu we have we
47:11 have a charity called disrupt gives and
47:12 we do uh basically rent forgiveness for
47:15 people but we require them to do the
47:16 financial literacy because you can
47:18 forgive People’s rent much as you want
47:20 but again if they get themselves back in
47:22 and to that same situation because they
47:24 don’t have the financial literacy needed
47:26 right well you didn’t help so I
47:28 definitely know what you’re talking
47:30 about but you’d be surprised that you
48:32 know there’s definitely the challenge of
48:34 like the the um the poor and lower class
48:38 who who have who struggle with personal
48:40 finance but you’d be surprised at how
48:42 many extremely wealthy and successfully
48:47 successful business people have terrible
48:49 personal finance strategies and the
48:53 crazy thing is the only thing that’s
48:54 supporting the fact that they the only
48:57 thing that prevents them from from chaos
48:00 is the fact that they have a successful
48:02 business yeah but if happens to that
48:04 business they are truly they’re wiped
48:08 out and the first person that comes to
48:10 mind is Allen Iverson so for those
48:11 listeners go look him up and you kind of
48:13 see the story and it’s just shocking
48:14 right so there’s a lot of them there’s a
48:17 lot of lot hey if if you’re making that
48:19 kind of money and you’re you’re spending
48:21 it all and it stops man that has got to
48:25 be a tough that’s almost as bad as not
48:27 it at all awesome that so the Alan
49:31 Iverson example is a great example of
49:32 like somebody who was like working or
49:34 PID who’s highly paid I’m saying
49:37 separate from the highly paid people I’m
49:38 saying people who run
49:42 businesses they they they s they sell a
49:45 product they’ve done all of the stuff
49:46 that we’re doing they bought a company
49:49 right they did that but they haven’t
49:50 sold the personal finance thing they
49:52 don’t they they’re terrible with their
49:54 credit cards they don’t pay off things
49:56 on time they don’t save they don’t
49:59 invest you know in the stock market
49:01 separate from their own company a
49:03 percentage of their they’re not doing
49:04 all the personal finance things they
49:07 just did a really good job on their
49:08 business and that’s great assuming that
49:12 the business is going to be good forever
49:14 but it’s not all these things there’s
49:16 always challenges to all sides of this
49:18 thing so I’d recommend if anybody wants
49:20 to also build wealth but also say
49:23 sustain their wealth to focus on
49:24 personal finance and I credit per I
49:26 credit in a big way yeah that for
49:29 putting me in a position to not only be
50:31 successful um as a business person um
50:34 but also personally successful through
50:36 um sounds like a great title for book
50:38 number two so we’ll expect those
50:40 royalties we’ll figure that out with you
50:41 later once you get that one written so
50:43 barari thank you very much wealth of
50:44 information man great story than really
50:48 quick I know we talked about LinkedIn
50:49 but you know people want to get a hold
50:50 of you how can they get a hold of you
50:52 yeah so uh my website is Graves hallc
50:55 cap.com so we’ll put that in the show
50:57 notes to um get some information from
50:02 like my journey and my approach to
50:04 buying companies there um LinkedIn is
50:06 always an easy um place I try to make
50:09 sure to follow up email address is just
50:11 my first name barari at graves hallc
50:13 cap.com
50:14 um while I’ve been traveling and living
50:17 in a different country every month I’ve
50:18 been posting um my uh you know my
50:22 journey and you know unique uh YouTube
50:25 videos and blog form Vlog form um and
50:29 making short videos that live on
51:31 Instagram um and all of that is under
51:34 the brand name uh NAD Noir uh Noir no
51:38 oir and so um but those are some places
51:42 to you know keep up with me and um in
51:45 other places where if you reach out to
51:47 me and I’m an open I’m open to you know
51:50 helping and chatting with anybody so
51:51 feel free to reach out to me and we can
51:53 set up some time to chat sounds good
51:55 Bari pleas you’re having a show thank
51:57 you thank you very much man yeah thanks
51:58 bardi thank you very much all right
51:01 thank you for listening to the m&a
51:02 Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
51:04 today’s podcast and would like to
51:05 support us please leave us a rating and
51:07 a review after you listen I’m Casey mchu
51:09 and I look forward to talking with you
51:10 next week
