Join us for an insightful conversation with Josh Anhalt, the visionary mind behind GreenPath Energy, a company founded in 2007 dedicated to revolutionizing the detection of methane leaks in oil and gas pipelines.
Throughout the years, Josh faced the formidable challenge of attempting to sell his company on three separate occasions, with each endeavor encountering distinct obstacles that led to unforeseen setbacks. Despite the hurdles, GreenPath Energy persevered and flourished, ultimately generating over $8 million in revenue by 2023. This success laid the foundation for an acquisition agreement, valued at 7 times
EBITDA, with 90% of the payment made in cash and the remaining balance settled through stock of the acquiring company. In this compelling episode, Josh shares invaluable insights on the entrepreneurial landscape, shedding light on crucial aspects such as navigating the intricacies of initiating a business venture from the ground up and successfully transitioning it to acquisition. He shares his journey managing multiple offers, making informed decisions regarding the ideal acquirer for your company, and the importance of safeguarding your deal from unraveling during negotiations.
You can connect with Josh on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/janhalt
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 on today’s episode we interviewed Josh
00:02 anal and man was this interesting we
00:05 talked about what it looks like to start
00:06 a business from scratch and sell it to
00:07 an oil and gas company how to go through
00:09 multiple different offers and knowing to
00:11 say no to be able to choose the right
00:13 offer that’s the right fit talked about
00:15 basically what it looks like to do
00:16 business in Canada and kind of some of
00:18 the changes there and how to structure
00:20 those deals and last but not least
00:21 knowing that it’s okay to not know
00:23 everything and how to kind of stumble
00:24 Your Way Forward figure out what you
00:26 need to know just to kind of make that
00:27 next leap casy what were some of your
00:29 big takeaways man I’ll tell one of the
01:31 things that hit me the most about Josh
01:33 was he’s very principle centered now it
01:35 doesn’t really matter what faith you
01:37 have it’s about having the faith and
01:40 being principal centered I felt like he
01:42 very much has a path he had a plan even
01:44 though he was navigating without a
01:46 direction per se where he was going to
01:48 end up you’re talking about 16 years of
01:51 commitment to build that business and to
01:53 then exit and like you said the first
01:55 couple of years not much revenue most
01:57 people probably honestly would have
01:58 given up from there but then what was
01:00 just more interesting is just seeing
01:02 Josh and you know how strongly he
01:04 believed in what he was doing and just
01:06 being willing to kind of continue
01:08 forward and continue forward and even
01:09 once you have success where most guys
01:11 immediately start to cash out still
01:12 sticking to your principles and just
01:14 staying patient right but then once like
01:16 you said once things are ready to go
01:18 floor the gas and know how to kind of
01:19 start to capitalize on that and then
01:21 ride that wave and so I mean definitely
01:23 one of the more principal people we’ve
01:24 interviewed on the podcast has passion
01:26 passion yeah the passion you can feel it
01:28 so I wouldn’t miss this episode definely
01:30 motivational and passion he definitely
02:32 moves his hands and face probably more
02:33 than me and I tend to have a bad habit
02:34 of that one so definitely look forward
02:36 to seeing this episode be a good
02:42 one all right on today’s episode of m&a
02:45 Launchpad we have Josh anal in 2007 Josh
02:48 anal founded Green Path energy a company
02:50 specializing in detecting and
02:51 quantifying fugitive emissions for the
02:53 oil and gas industry as the president of
02:55 Green Path energy Josh’s mandate was to
02:57 expand the company’s Services throughout
02:59 western Canada and to continually
02:00 innovate new Solutions and Technologies
02:02 aimed at eliminating methane emission
02:04 sources definitely a podcast I’m looking
02:06 forward to a little bit of a different
02:07 industry than we’ve done historically so
02:08 looking forward to it so Josh thanks for
02:10 having the show yeah gentlemen thanks
02:12 for having me I appreciate it awesome so
02:15 no enjoy having you on and so I guess
02:17 with that said you want to go ahead and
02:19 just tell us a little bit for those
02:20 listeners right what is fugitive methane
02:23 emissions I mean I definitely like the
02:24 spin of that but you want to share what
02:26 that is and how you got into that yeah
02:28 you bet uh first and foremost a fugitive
03:31 emission is an unwanted source of gas
03:34 emitting from a piece of equipment is
03:37 not designed to emit to
03:41 Atmosphere uh and so oil and gas uh
03:43 industry I serve love and have been
03:45 working in the last 18 years um we make
03:49 oil we make gas and we move it along and
03:52 sometimes a flange Springs a leak a
03:54 compressor seal burps a little gas and
03:57 uh and given the size of the industry um
03:00 you know these little things can add up
03:01 to big amounts over time so um yeah the
03:05 company founded in 2007 began as myself
03:09 scratching an itch and the first itch
03:12 was I said to
03:14 myself the world favors the
03:17 corporation laws Society rules
03:21 regulations so become a corporation so
03:25 uh basically I Incorporated myself which
03:26 was Green Path energy and so we pulled
03:29 some money together together um based on
04:33 the fact that I discovered I found this
04:35 camera online manufactured by company
04:38 called Flur that could see methane
04:41 ethane propane butane and this was
04:44 before greenhouse gas regulations this
04:47 is before anything and this is when you
04:48 know in Alberta natural gas was trending
04:51 towards $12 in mmbtu so I’m like that’s
04:55 good money and so if we can help find
04:58 that gas put that back in the pipe
04:00 that’s a good dollar amount because
04:02 you’re paying that gas to lift it up and
04:04 so my background as a journeyman
04:06 instrumentation technologist I was
04:08 building these facilities shut down turn
04:11 around bending tube pulling wrenches
04:13 maintenance repairs so I knew where the
04:16 leaks were I could smell them I could
04:19 hear them I could feel them I was fixing
04:21 them I was driving out to well sites at
04:23 2 o’clock in the morning to get things
04:24 up and running again so when I saw this
04:26 camera I could visualize gas I’m like
04:29 that would just made my job so much
05:31 easier and that was scratching my next
05:33 itch can I do my job easier and uh and I
05:38 and then I and then the next thing is I
05:40 said yes I said I’m gonna do this and
05:45 I’ve just gotten
05:47 married called my boss got some money
05:50 together a month later I had a business
05:54 and the rest is history all right so
05:57 there’s lots unpacked there so I
05:58 definitely want to kind of you know
05:60 because people always want to understand
05:01 the start right the hardest part is a
05:03 start and so it sounded like you were
05:05 just an employee at a company helping
05:06 build these facilities right that was
05:08 the initial kind of where you were and
05:10 you came across a tool that could help
05:11 you do that job better right but instead
05:14 of just bringing that in and starting to
05:16 hey let’s build that out as a process
05:18 within the company you kind of had the
05:19 vision of no this is bigger than that
05:21 right and decided to go out there and
05:23 start your own is that high level kind
05:25 of the the breakdown yeah because I I
05:27 wanted to do something for myself and so
05:29 when I looked at the industry that I was
06:32 serving uh in eni construction so
06:34 electrical and instrumentation
06:36 construction turnaround um there’s a few
06:38 big players and uh the mergin in that
06:41 game is not in the hourly charge out
06:43 rate it’s in how much cable trade the
06:47 margins in the product you buy so you
06:49 need to float you know 10 2030 million
06:51 do for a project and then you get
06:54 grinded down on truck rates and labor
06:56 rates and I’m like I I can’t play that
06:58 game unless I became one of those bigger
06:01 players but within the niche of oil and
06:04 gas and having this very specialized
06:06 tool I knew I could set myself apart and
06:09 I could leverage my existing process oil
06:14 and gas process background to accelerate
06:17 the why why is this valuable to the
06:21 people that I’ve been working with at
06:22 that time for the last eight years no
06:25 and knowing and knowing the only gas
06:26 space myself being here in Houston and
06:29 been in that industry there’s just a
07:31 tremendous amount of money in that space
07:34 right so if you can solve a problem in
07:36 the energy space like that it’s what
07:39 people don’t really realize is that
07:40 you’re solving such a big problem in
07:42 that space it’s not like a it’s not like
07:45 a company’s going to nickel and dime you
07:47 you can get a contract you can make some
07:48 things happen because you’re solving a
07:50 big problem for them those leaks those
07:52 those gas problems those are things they
07:55 have to solve but I think the other
07:56 beautiful thing about what Josh did is
07:58 you know a lot of oil and gas projects
07:60 in our minds are always high capex
07:01 projects right there’s a lot of money
07:03 needed to go start if you talk about
07:05 someone starting an oil and gas company
07:06 you think okay there’s a lot of money
07:07 involved to get this going but it
07:09 sounded like it wasn’t about Josh
07:11 innovating something that didn’t exist
07:12 it’s actually finding a real problem to
07:14 solve finding tools that are already out
07:15 there and the value is in combining
07:17 those two and targeting the right
07:18 industry right Josh yeah yeah ex exactly
07:21 and uh and getting something that in my
07:24 in my belief had a low barrier of
07:27 entrance based on my skill set but that
07:29 had a high High barrier of entrance for
08:32 potentially other competitors as well
08:35 and then defining a really unique Niche
08:38 where you know steel start sharpen Steel
08:41 on a specific problem and then um you
08:44 know especially within the oil and gas
08:46 you know one of the tricks I’ll give out
08:47 to people out there is you know make
08:50 your footprint bigger than your actual
08:52 shoe size you know you have to believe
08:55 in yourself if you’re standing against a
08:59 large you know oil and gas company you
08:02 have to think big within yourself even
08:05 though if you’re small you know to in
08:08 establishing the master service
08:10 agreement getting the safety programs in
08:12 place building the
08:14 relationships uh and having the lack of
08:17 better words bravado to like expanding
08:21 with them because what I found with oil
08:23 and gas is they were my best source of
08:27 financing for my company non-diluted
09:30 I did not have to rely much on banks or
09:33 venture capital or private Equity or
09:36 friends and family while I did use
09:38 friends and family in the beginning to
09:39 Kickstart um you know get things going
09:42 but my clients provided the funding I
09:45 just had to be able to you know live a
09:47 stoic lifestyle live within my means so
09:50 that I could live within a net 30 to net
09:52 120 payment terms with my clients so we
09:55 got that next paycheck abolutely and
09:58 pulling it up building it up
09:00 120 is always a killer in that space I
09:02 know what you’re talking about yeah but
09:05 the beautiful thing though for people
09:06 right is that you know you have to be
09:08 uncomfortable right with any business if
09:10 you’re uncomfortable then you’re growing
09:11 if you’re comfortable you’re really not
09:13 growing and so you know with every kind
09:15 of phase of as we’ve grown our
09:17 businesses there’s always that level of
09:18 comfort where talking to someone maybe a
09:20 little bit bigger more refined they know
09:22 more they have a better team whatever it
09:23 is but just having the guts to just get
09:25 out there and kind of continue moving
09:26 forward and so really quick so you
09:29 mentioned you raised money to start
10:31 right how much did you need to kind of
10:33 get going right up front what was that
10:34 number because most people again it’s
10:36 they don’t know how to raise money
10:37 they’re scared to ask friends how did
10:38 those conversations go for you um I
10:41 needed about $100,000 to get things
10:44 going but what I did to drisk it so I’m
10:47 one of these guys that when I get
10:49 something in my head I then spend 90% of
10:53 my time researching and on the internet
10:57 and then 10% execution so when I looked
10:01 at this I I needed more than 100,000 but
10:03 what I found in Canada is that the
10:06 Canadian government offers small
10:09 businesses um you know loan um act
10:13 guarantees to the banks that in the
10:17 event that I was to default they would
10:19 provide the insurance of covering the
10:21 loaned money so I go to the bank I fill
10:24 up the paperwork I execute under this uh
10:27 the Canadian small business loan program
10:30 uh which basically says like hey yeah
11:32 we’ll take these people on we’ll take
11:33 this company on and if they default
11:35 we’ll pay the bank now in exchange you
11:37 pay a higher interest rate but it lowers
11:40 the barrier and it also de-risks the
11:43 bank’s investment in your company and
11:47 then for me words of advice I got from
11:50 mentors is like you know make the bank
11:52 your best friend keep them posted on
11:54 everything that you’re going to do from
11:55 the day on there let them know The Good
11:57 the Bad and the Ugly so that nothing’s a
11:00 surprise so that was a that that was a
11:02 big thing is getting that money and then
11:04 leveraging that uh the backed money and
11:07 then again living within means and
11:10 focusing on debt repayments with any any
11:12 loan the bank is your biggest partner
11:14 right period people forget they’re your
11:15 biggest investor they think about the
11:16 guys you raised 100,000 not the person
11:18 that gave you significantly more so
11:20 similar to the the prod product you have
11:22 that you got from the Canadian the banks
11:24 we have the small business
11:25 administration the SBA so it’s probably
11:28 a very similar like Pro program just
12:30 maybe has obviously different things it
12:32 offers but it’s probably a similar type
12:34 product did you have a personal
12:36 guarantee because SBA side you do have
12:37 that personal guarantee typically I had
12:39 a personal guarantee myself so you’re
12:41 still committed to kind of follow it
12:43 through all right so is on the line yeah
12:47 yes absolutely so then continuing down
12:49 so you got this Vision you know you got
12:52 you figured out how to make it work you
12:53 got the company started ultimately how
12:55 did you start growing it and you know
12:57 where’ you take it to uh so started by I
12:00 firmly believe and it’s it’s who you
12:02 know not necessarily what you know but
12:05 if you know and then you call the people
12:07 who you know you can Kickstart so what I
12:10 did is I went back out and our our first
12:12 big client in Canada was EOG Resources
12:14 when they had a big presence up here and
12:17 uh so I went knocked on the uh
12:19 superintendent Foreman’s door in um just
12:23 actually just outside of Medicine Hat
12:25 and I H said hey um I got this tool
13:30 I’ve been doing work for you just let me
13:32 go on a couple sites let me try a few
13:34 things and uh so we gave him a week
13:37 worth of for service for free and you
13:39 know what people are weary with free but
13:41 in the beginning they were all right
13:43 with that and so I came back and I I
13:46 found some real operational issues like
13:48 hey like that leak should be fixed that
13:50 should not be doing that and then I was
13:52 able to like describe why because I’d
13:55 already been doing the maintenance work
13:56 I’d already been describing and so took
13:59 the result in the Foreman’s office and
13:00 I’m like so what do you want to do next
13:03 and he’s like all of it go do you were
13:06 solo at the
13:07 time you yes I had a business partner at
13:10 this time uh so yeah two guys in a
13:12 pickup truck got it were running around
13:14 Southern Alberta I don’t know don’t so
13:16 that contract EOG is a big company right
13:19 um they’re you know they’re big so what
13:21 does a contract like look like that I
13:22 mean does that something that you’ve
13:24 that you were do that once you did that
13:26 contract you signed that MSA did you
13:28 have to go out and get all this general
13:30 liability and all these things or was it
14:32 like hey you knew somebody and you were
14:34 able to go to work and charge for your
14:36 services stumble your way
14:38 forward so in the beginning I didn’t
14:41 even know what a master service
14:42 agreement was to
14:44 be how Alberta business for me for 17
14:49 years in the oil and gas space Works has
14:50 been a handshake oil and gas can be a
14:53 handshake business we look each other in
14:55 the eye they
14:56 say don’t screw me don’t screw you you
14:59 pay me I’ll pay you we’ll get this going
14:02 we’ll get this up and I was so that was
14:05 the beginning just send it in we’ll get
14:08 it going we’ll figure out the commercial
14:09 terms afterwards we’ll get it up and
14:11 running and that proved very successful
14:13 for me in the oil and gas industry was
14:15 for me to trust people I have an
14:19 inherent Trust of human beings on planet
14:21 Earth I I believe you can go to any
14:23 country in the world as dangerous as
14:24 they are and you will find people that
14:27 will welcome into your houses they will
14:28 cook you a meal they’ll give you
14:30 directions they people want to help
15:32 people in general those people want to
15:34 help you quickly realize and you and you
15:37 move along and so people want to see
15:39 people succeed and so um it’s these
15:41 handshake deals that you get up and
15:43 running that allow you to commercially
15:46 produce an
15:48 outcome that then justifies their
15:50 reasoning for going to procurement going
15:52 to Legal getting up and running but that
15:54 requires trust and you know one of my um
15:00 uh you know later business partners you
15:02 know you had to say you know um with
15:05 trust you make small deposits and you
15:07 can only you know afford a few large
15:09 withdrawals out of that account and so
15:13 you start make yeah so you start making
15:15 those trust deposits you show up on time
15:18 you deliver you follow the rules you do
15:22 you proper
15:23 communication and that builds up trust
15:25 and the more trust you get the bigger it
15:27 gets and the bigger it gets the more
15:29 Trust you gets and then soon as you go
16:31 down the line you’re not doing rfps they
16:33 just call you and say I got this work go
16:35 do I got a problem go do and uh and
16:39 that’s uh
16:41 just running a good company so question
16:44 how did you reason about how how do you
16:46 end up pricing yourself that first one
16:48 right ultimately there’s a very
16:50 quantifiable value that you’re bringing
16:52 right you’re saving them x amount of gas
16:54 on leaks and this is what it cost to
16:56 produce so how did you go about charging
16:59 them right and and did that did that
16:01 business model evolve over time of
16:03 course yeah no I kind of priced things
16:06 out um based on the value of the
16:09 equipment that we bought so in the
16:11 beginning you know a camera was about
16:13 130,000 plus some other stuff and uh so
16:16 I said what else is 130,000 what else is
16:19 this price I went that big excavator
16:23 that big truck that other piece of
16:25 Capital Equipment is that big that size
16:28 what does that company need to charge
16:30 that piece of equipment out along with
17:32 an operator at an hourly rate that is
17:36 you know one competitive but it is also
17:38 financially responsible uh for the
17:40 company so I kind of looked at like that
17:42 side and I said and then I kind of knew
17:45 oil and gas rates and oil and gas rates
17:48 can be pretty good at times you know so
17:50 you kind of I worked within those
17:52 Realms and then um I thre it at a wall
17:56 and so in the beginning you know these
17:59 were
17:00 $5,000 days based on you know a 12h hour
17:03 day the rates were good and but because
17:06 we also jux supposed it against the
17:08 value of the gas that we were finding um
17:11 so how I priced it was just kind of
17:14 based on what are the comps
17:17 within the heavy industrial Industries
17:20 and then what is the value coming back
17:23 and then also is just going I’m not
17:26 going to dwell on this I call it the
17:28 wind fact
18:30 I want someone to go ah okay then I know
18:34 I’m in that right spot that now the
18:38 pressure is on me to deliver value that
18:41 then they’re willing to pay for but if
18:43 they’re like damn I’m gonna sign this
18:45 now I’m gonna get in while this is hot
18:47 and like then I’ve priced myself too low
18:50 so I want to feel a little like okay I
18:54 get it I get it but now deliver I like
18:57 it that’s you’re trademarking that one I
18:58 like it
18:59 Y no I I got another quote not to go
18:01 backwards too much but you mentioned and
18:03 it’s about who who you know and what you
18:05 know but there’s the phrase that I heard
18:07 that really resonated but it’s actually
18:09 about who knows you right so it’s not
18:10 about what you know or who you know but
18:11 who knows you as well and so all those
18:14 go together and so I guess you know so
18:17 you figured out your business model you
18:19 started really getting uncomfortable
18:21 positioning that pricing and figuring
18:22 out where that sweet spot is what point
18:25 did you start scaling out and what did
18:27 that Journey look like
18:30 it took a while you know 17 years in the
19:32 business the first five years really
19:34 slow you know like first year negative
19:38 hundred bucks next year maybe we made a
19:41 couple
19:42 thousands uh by kind of year five you
19:45 know we were doing all right kind of a
19:47 net
19:48 $100,000 you know Pro you know at the
19:50 end of the year kind of things going in
19:54 um now when it one of my mentors you
19:58 know you know gave a term you know
19:60 Market pull and Market
19:02 push and uh you can only the the best
19:06 opportunity you can get is when there’s
19:08 Market pull when the market actually
19:11 wants it and needs it and they pull on
19:13 it whereas like a market push is like
19:15 trying to push on a wet noodle or a wet
19:17 rope it doesn’t you it doesn’t have
19:20 tension you need that tension to create
19:23 that that Delta that allows for the
19:27 movement of you know problem solving and
20:32 so we I had to Pivot in terms of the
20:35 problems that I was solving with the
20:37 equipment that I had so in the early
20:39 days it was not about regulation
20:42 greenhouse gas social sustainability
20:44 decarbonization crossb tax adjustments
20:48 it was about your refrige system at this
20:51 oil and gas facility is losing $5,000 a
20:55 week in propane my camera can find
20:58 exactly where you’re loing that propane
20:01 fair value I’ll show you where that is
20:03 you have a value C I can smell a sour
20:07 leak two kilometers down the road that’s
20:10 a bad thing hey can you find this leak
20:12 for me very quick you bet so I took my
20:17 and I I pushed it in the areas where
20:20 there was value and I could I I I could
20:22 extract value out of the S now later on
20:26 into the Journey of Green Path you know
20:28 certain things with the Alberta energy
20:30 regulator and Environment Canada um
21:33 regulation started appearing that says
21:35 like directive 60 subsection 8.7 all
21:39 producers must have a program to track
21:40 and manage Fusion emissions as per the C
21:43 best management practices go to the cat
21:46 best practices they’re like hey there’s
21:47 this ogi camera I have that ogi camera
21:52 okay let’s go now I’m GNA be working
21:55 with a regulatory framework and so and
21:58 then it’s going
21:59 hey that they have this unique
21:01 opportunity in British Colombia
21:03 greenhouse gases are reporting emissions
21:06 are resolving or um PMX is looking for
21:09 training in Mexico and you know how to
21:12 find leaks better so she just start
21:15 micro pivoting to where the problem is
21:17 you know no different than a general
21:19 contractor he goes I’ll build you a
21:20 shower uh you want a deck you know I got
21:23 a hammer I got a saw what do you want
21:25 built and basically how was it is and
21:28 then list listening to what they wanted
22:31 and then delivering on that and uh and
22:34 then there’s two clients that I served
22:36 even though it was a single client it’s
22:37 the field and then there’s corporate so
22:40 downtown they have a whole different set
22:42 of problems they have different budgets
22:43 they have different mandates and then
22:45 there’s the guys in the field that have
22:46 production bonuses efficiency bonuses
22:49 they got to keep things moving along and
22:51 so then I targeted what we did for who I
22:55 was talking to to make it palatable
22:57 because the guy in out in the field does
22:59 not care about climate change or
22:01 greenhouse gas emissions he’s he wants
22:05 to move another thousand Boe like let’s
22:07 go like that’s my job so I’m G to focus
22:09 what we’re going to do on him and
22:11 narrate a different story and and but
22:14 authentically and be able to talk the
22:16 talk with them so company starts 2007
22:21 2013 is right you’re starting to really
22:24 get a little bit of traction you’re
22:26 making some profit talk about the push
22:28 pull
22:29 right Y and then around 134 the
23:32 emissions the market starts to pull you
23:36 right yeah and so the Market’s starting
23:38 to pull you you start to do some pivots
23:40 to get your business into a position
23:42 where you’re going hey we can grow we
23:44 can scale and we can get there so talk
23:47 to me about 13 to when you ultimately
23:50 made your exit what happened what
23:53 occurred so it sounds like that five
23:54 years of startup where you’re just
23:56 you’re grinding and out building a path
23:58 and then it’s that moan of starting to
23:60 scale so tell us a little bit about that
23:02 Journey yeah so the 13 to
23:06 2019 was the years of okay now we got
23:11 three employees now we got five
23:13 employees now we got six employees you
23:16 know still a micro company in terms of
23:19 size but revenues are really good um and
23:23 it it’s all those kind of little jobs
23:25 and and there’s one thing if you’re
23:26 working in the energy space is
23:29 politically driven it’s about who’s at
24:31 the Helm of the country who’s at the
24:33 helm what what is um OPEC want to do how
24:37 much gas do they want to release and so
24:40 I had to be very EB and flow with market
24:43 conditions as things progressed I found
24:46 some years it’s almost I found it very
24:49 biblical in the sense that was that
24:52 there was seven Rich years and seven
24:55 lean years um that and
24:59 so and then so having the faith in the
24:02 lean years knowing go hey eventually
24:05 this will turn into something else and
24:07 so in those early years again it was
24:09 putting myself out there and so it was
24:11 those early years that I just started
24:13 connecting with people and all of a
24:15 sudden I find myself in the Ukraine I
24:17 find myself in Kazakhstan I started
24:20 connecting with my tribe globally and
24:23 saying hey I can do this and I can
24:25 believe in myself and and taking risks I
24:27 had no idea how to move equipment and
25:30 people into the Ukraine or
25:33 Tunisia just do it you just call people
25:36 and you take that risk and yeah you got
25:39 to be scared and that’s scared but
25:41 that’s scared is actually a fire in your
25:43 belly saying I want to let my client
25:46 down I have a reputation to maintain and
25:49 I will always choose quality over
25:51 quantity because you know come back to
25:53 analogy the ice cream aisle I don’t care
25:55 where if it’s a Publix uh a safe way
25:59 uh Save On Foods doesn’t matter go to
25:02 Every ice cream aisle hog and dos and
25:05 the good stuff is far left value leader
25:08 yellow pale is far right I always choose
25:12 to be one shelf over from the hog andas
25:17 stuff where the ingredients say cream
25:20 sugar vanilla and I feel good feeding it
25:22 to my
25:23 family and and I can price it right and
25:26 I’m will people are willing to pay a mer
25:28 on that and so um pushing quality
26:32 projects but not a lot quality so that
26:35 allowed um generous gross margins and
26:38 decent profits that I could then use as
26:40 retained earnings back in the company to
26:43 invest in technology internal software
26:45 development
26:47 databases make sure that I got good
26:49 accountants on board
26:52 legal I talk about that often it’s what
26:54 I call the company backbone right the
26:56 things that most companies don’t focus
26:57 on but are critical it sells marketing
26:59 HR it accounting illegal those are the
26:02 the things that usually come last but
26:04 they’re also so important to get started
26:05 earlier just so you’re not spending the
26:07 next year or two or three trying to
26:09 unwind the bad habits and things that
26:10 you’ve kind of rolled out first thing I
26:13 realized three months into starting the
26:14 company I was not a lawyer I’m not a
26:19 lawyer contracts are tricky and it’s
26:22 just like overwhelming right it’s like
26:24 and if you got a little bit of AD add
26:26 you just like I cannot sit here long
26:28 enough to read do no I think once we got
27:30 a chief legal officer I I I I I didn’t
27:33 realize how much legal I was doing until
27:35 we have that person I’m like oh man it’s
27:37 so nice to just hand these off and move
27:39 on because same thing I’m not a lawyer
27:41 and I pretend to be one on TV I guess
27:43 right but it’s important and as an
27:45 entrepreneur you’re wearing all those
27:46 hats simultaneously and you’re trying
27:48 not to step in on any landmines you’re
27:49 going to make mistakes but it’s about
27:51 just really making sure that those
27:52 mistakes are recoverable and getting the
27:54 advice and tips on hey you should have
27:56 ELP insurance or you should have that
27:58 insurance you know all these factors
27:60 that go into building a sustainable
27:02 business and and it’s tough that’s what
27:03 makes being an entrepreneur hard so I I
27:06 realized I had kind of a look back thing
27:08 some Naval gazing of who I was as a
27:10 person and like when I told my account I
27:12 start up I said I said risk is a
27:14 circle and I want to be Center or just
27:17 off center I don’t want to be on the
27:20 Edge at any times because I want to be
27:21 able to put my head on my pillow at
27:23 night and sleep good that I will pass
27:25 any tax audit I will pass anything that
27:28 comes my way way because that’s that’s
27:30 sanity at the end of the day but when I
28:32 look back at the early contracts Master
28:34 service I was I took on a lot of risk
28:38 because For Those comp I wasn’t even
28:39 aware of it you know big as a person no
28:44 no go ahead sorry but yeah because who I
28:47 was as a
28:48 person where I I run a very ethical
28:52 company i d risk um you know if if
28:56 there’s a jar of Skittles and one
28:58 Skittle is poisonous well that whole jar
28:00 of Skittles is going on I’m getting a
28:02 fresh batch of Skittles so I know I can
28:03 eat it with confidence so as a human I I
28:08 I did things that didn’t put us in a
28:11 position where the risks that we took on
28:15 would come to bite Us in the ass so me
28:18 inherently as my human nature it kept us
28:21 out and so you know as a faith-based
28:24 background and you know my my
28:26 faith-based morals and my ethics and uh
28:29 and leaning on compassion and being
29:32 ethical and uh rendering to Caesar which
29:35 is Caesars um I I I made sure that we
29:39 were in the good at all times and and
29:42 that allows you to take on risk and then
29:46 it doesn’t feel heavy because I know my
29:49 conscience was cleared at all times yeah
29:51 and I told it with any business about
29:53 taking on manageable risk right it’s not
29:55 about going all in and basically this
29:58 one saying the company’s going to
29:59 implode or not it’s about taking on
29:01 uncomfortable things that you then bring
29:03 into the fold and if you’re structured
29:05 well enough you’re able to you know take
29:07 a little bit of a gamble but the core
29:09 thing is still moving forward yeah so
29:11 one of the things you know for exactly
29:13 for the people that are listening you
29:15 know the the process like where Josh has
29:17 spent the five years developing his
29:20 business the infrastructure the plan the
29:22 pricing the model the market right then
29:25 spending the next you know period of
29:26 time between 13 to 19
29:29 to then scale the business get the
30:30 business in Market get all of those
30:32 things to go to capitalize right then on
30:35 the other side there are people in the
30:37 buy side where when we talk about it
30:39 like at lunch back right is looking for
30:42 those type businesses that have got that
30:44 10 years of track record in history that
30:47 that generate the business and that
30:48 someone’s looking to make an exit right
30:50 because there are a lot of people out
30:52 there Josh that don’t have that ability
30:54 to bootstrap like you did and to put in
30:57 that hard work that that that that I’m
30:59 not saying it’s not hard work on the
30:01 other side but I’m saying that startup
30:03 part it’s a different kind of work right
30:06 you know that starting going from zero
30:08 to one is different than one to two two
30:09 different skill sets and some people
30:11 like going to zero to one and some
30:12 people like going one to two and
30:14 sometimes it’s nice to buy something
30:15 where someone’s already ground out the
30:17 basics and you step into those shoes and
30:19 then take it forward so it sounds like
30:20 in 2019 you had that opportunity where
30:22 somebody saw the fruits of your labor
30:24 and they said hey we like what you’re
30:27 doing so why don’t we talk a little bit
30:29 about what you had to go through and and
31:31 what was that moment when you did find
31:33 out that someone wanted to buy you so so
31:35 2019 was so I’ll preface I say this is
31:38 like this is when the stars aligned in
31:40 terms of global policies energy methane
31:44 climate change everything I had built a
31:48 high horsepower machine that I had yet
31:51 tromped on the accelerator but I was
31:54 ready to do the quarter mile in nine
31:56 seconds like I was ready to go wow and
31:59 so when I turned on God damn I’m pushing
31:04 on the accelerator I’m going down
31:06 because I know I got the backbone hey
31:09 hire do um I scaled in terms of three um
31:13 one person I scaled to three when I had
31:15 three people I was already scaling for
31:17 nine when I was at nine people I was
31:18 scaling the company for 27 so I’m always
31:21 thinking about scaling ahead and then
31:24 and then having an abundance mindset and
31:27 then so at that time I started pushing
31:29 down
32:30 pushing
32:32 revenues okay so now we’re breaking the
32:35 mil you know at that time we would have
32:37 been breaking two million and the next
32:39 year it’s four million the next year six
32:41 million and then it’s six and a half and
32:43 then it’s eight and a half and then it’s
32:45 like but then with you know good gross
32:47 margins between 35 to 45% gross margins
32:52 and you know and very generous profits
32:55 at the end of the year and then myself
32:58 who lived a very stoic lifestyle and I I
32:01 only had as a I know minority
32:03 shareholder uh within the company um but
32:06 so we agreed you know we’re going to put
32:09 this money back into the company because
32:11 we believe we have built a machine that
32:13 I can put a dollar in and a135 comes out
32:17 the other side like let’s keep that
32:19 going and so we got the M that machine
32:23 up and running and you know what
32:24 sometimes it’s like um in the beginning
32:26 it’s like you’re just keeping that
32:28 Embers in your pocket alive as you
33:32 navigate these mountains and valleys and
33:35 all of a sudden know this area of land
33:37 opens up and you go I got it blow it and
33:41 then you start putting the Timber and
33:42 the lumber on and all of a sudden it’s
33:45 the fire burns but you got to keep that
33:47 ember alive till that point and so then
33:50 once that’s up and burning yeah 209 to
33:53 2023 are like we’re the growth years
33:56 that’s the hockey stick I had the
33:58 accelerator down we were able to take
33:00 that on I made sure that we were a
33:03 relatively debt-free company you know
33:05 other than some like lines of credit on
33:06 some equipment we purchased but I didn’t
33:09 have Venture capitalists or private
33:11 Equity breathing down my neck on how
33:14 fast we could exit out of this you know
33:16 it was myself that that I had to deliver
33:19 to and so then that’s when I started
33:22 going okay it’s okay I’m not going to
33:24 say it’s easy to get into a company even
33:27 if you acquire a company it’s not easy
33:28 to get into or if you go from that zero
34:30 to one it’s not easy but it’s it’s easy
34:33 to get in but it’s hard to get out and
34:36 my advice to anyone listening here when
34:38 you start your company and you get the
34:41 accountant you get the lawyer start
34:43 thinking about your exit plan your exit
34:46 Jason Bor in the room okay I got five
34:48 doors there’s six villains I got four
34:51 passports how am I going to Jason born
34:54 my way out of this situation unscathed
34:58 how can I maximize you know an exit as a
34:01 business owner and but for the acquiring
34:03 company how do I maximize the value for
34:06 them so that is financially responsible
34:10 for both sides and so I started looking
34:13 up like I went there’s you know the one
34:17 commodity in life that is most precious
34:19 is time and so I looked at I have a life
34:24 triangle that I run and that is self
34:27 which includes working out social
34:30 snowboarding in
35:31 Japan whatever family and business and
35:35 so for the first 17 years of the company
35:38 I focused on work and family and I
35:41 sacrificed a lot of self um a lot of
35:44 friends were out traveling the world
35:46 doing things younger years but I had
35:48 already started with my family young I
35:49 started my company young and so that I
35:52 looked at time as a commodity and I said
35:55 the only way I can access self is if I
35:58 can I’ll never give up family that’s
35:00 forever I have to be able to subtract
35:03 from the work side to put onto myself
35:07 side and the only way for me to make
35:09 that
35:10 happen was to say well who can take this
35:13 on that already has an accounting
35:16 department who is willing to scale HR
35:19 who can already tack things on now I was
35:22 willing to do that for as long as I
35:23 needed to do but I made the decision in
35:26 myself that my
35:29 ego is not the company my personal bank
36:33 account is not the company’s bank
36:35 account I and I also differentiated the
36:38 difference between ownership and
36:40 management and that’s two different
36:42 things ownership and management so I
36:45 eventually looked at it from an
36:46 ownership position going I need to exit
36:49 from this position and so come
36:52 20203 the word methane never been
36:56 mentioned more than ever in my 17 years
36:59 of operating the company I’m like the
36:02 world is talking about methan on a
36:05 global basis Russia is being Russia the
36:09 European Union decided that uh natural
36:13 gas is going to be considered a
36:15 renewable or a green energy source so
36:17 that geopolitically shifted all Energy
36:20 Products you know okay now the Mina
36:22 region is going to start shipping
36:23 natural gas um you know eqt I saw a
36:27 thing from Toby rice me I left the thing
36:29 in Houston going USA USA like natural
37:33 gas is like the
37:36 decarbonizing decarbonization tool to
37:39 weaning the world off whole but also
37:41 empowering you know a democratically
37:44 elected socially responsible energy
37:47 sources being the energy source and I
37:49 said Now’s the Time Now’s the Time and
37:52 so I already kind of soft shocked with
37:55 others thinking hey would you be
37:58 interested I wasn’t waiting for people
37:59 to come to me and I started with again
37:02 who I know and who knew me and the value
37:05 that we brought to our clients those
37:09 that may have been like jealous of us
37:10 jealous of our revenues jealous of our
37:13 you know what we’re doing and and so
37:16 started soft shopping and um so I didn’t
37:19 go out to I didn’t hire a firm to go you
37:21 know find the acquires for us um I did
37:25 dial with the company and and funny
37:27 enough the Lo logos that they came back
37:29 with to say hey here’s your potential
38:31 suitors were exactly the people that I
38:33 already knew because I know in my
38:36 business I know every rumor I know the
38:39 gossip I know the players because again
38:42 I spent 90% of my time researching and
38:44 on the internet figuring out who’s who’s
38:47 and connecting the dots behind the
38:48 scenes so and really really quick kind I
38:51 two things there I want to really kind
38:53 of hone in on right how big were you at
38:55 the time are we talking 30 employees 100
38:57 employees a thousand employees you know
38:59 how you know whatever metric you want to
38:00 share there and then the other question
38:02 I want to ask is this firm that you
38:04 brought in right for those listeners
38:06 what how do they work what do they ask
38:08 you for what is their comp model Etc
38:11 yeah you bet so at a time of exit we
38:13 were 40 employees um uh revenues kind of
38:18 nearing up around $8 million Mark um
38:22 cash flow
38:24 positive Runway ahead of us a pipeline
38:27 fill with work healthy business yeah you
38:29 bet and so now going out to the firm um
39:34 so you know one the lawyer that took me
39:37 on in the early days um was was was a
39:41 firm that I eventually got connected and
39:43 the guy specialized um at da Piper you
39:46 know he specialized in oil and gas
39:48 mergers and Acquisitions and so I I I
39:51 like to keep everything in the family so
39:53 I brought all my legal stuff to this
39:55 firm doesn’t matter HR contracts
39:58 everything so just hey hey Dan he’s like
39:01 you know what I’ll let me shop this
39:02 around for you let me talk to the guys
39:04 like he’s he’s in like the the big
39:07 dollar like the 100 million 500 million
39:10 like yeah like you’re small but I know
39:13 some guys who might be able to sing some
39:14 things so the first company I talk to
39:16 they’re like we touch nothing less than
39:19 100 million sorry talk to another
39:21 company and they’re like yeah we can get
39:24 something out of this for you we our
39:26 business model is is we’re gonna find a
39:28 Suitor we’re going to shop your company
40:31 and uh it’s kind of like a real estate a
40:34 realtor they’re G to shop your sell your
40:36 company for you and they’re going to try
40:38 to extract the maximum value out of the
40:42 purchase so that they yield a percentage
40:45 of the amount coming so they have skin
40:47 in the game to help your company realize
40:50 um the best price and so I mean they’ll
40:54 ask things like hey you know what are
40:55 your financials what are your
40:57 competitive strengths you know what does
40:60 the market look like they’re not going
40:01 to do the market research for you you
40:04 kind of have to know your company you
40:06 have to know where it’s going the kind
40:08 of position what’s in and what you want
40:10 to get out of it and then kind of based
40:12 on that you know they do a little bit of
40:13 soft research and they come back and
40:15 they say Hey you know I think these are
40:17 who you sh this and typically you know
40:19 in Calgary you know they know all the
40:22 all the the major service players oil
40:25 players gas players they kind of know
40:27 who’s swinging around because they’ve
40:29 already done deals for them they know
41:31 who’s acquiring they know who’s bought
41:34 who’s sold and they’re already kind of
41:35 tapped into that market space and then
41:37 know the key contacts at each of those
41:39 places that’s most I mean gas is a very
41:43 even though it’s a big industry it’s a
41:44 very small Network I mean oh it is very
41:48 small yeah and if you’ve done good
41:50 business you’ve treated people right
41:51 you’ve got a great
41:53 reputation somebody knows you and and
41:56 that’s the key yeah still is a very much
41:58 a handshake even though there’s
41:60 contracts and msas and all that stuff
41:01 like you said it’s very much a
41:04 relationship oh
41:08 yeah yeah and you know and that doesn’t
41:10 matter if any business because even
41:12 though I was B Tob the relationship even
41:15 if you’re a widget company you know the
41:18 relationship is the customer the
41:21 relationship is the person you’re buying
41:23 with and you know in my case it’s
41:25 personal it’s a personal phone call it’s
41:27 a to be a relationship it’s not an
41:29 online marketing at sea store sending
42:32 something out but nonetheless a
42:35 relationship game so nonetheless so you
42:37 know going back and we looked at them I
42:40 said you know what I’m kind of in no
42:41 rush I’m kind of already talking to
42:42 these guys I mean I’m not and I didn’t
42:44 lead them on I said you know what if
42:46 something happens I’ll let you know um
42:49 so long short um we got approached we
42:54 got approached from a Houston player uh
42:56 Global you know services and offerings
42:59 and I said hey you know what they’re
42:60 getting into this line of business and
42:01 they could really use us and uh there’s
42:05 one thing I learned is cultural
42:07 differences between h a Calgary lawyer
42:10 and a Houston lawyer okay Houston
42:12 lawyers are sharp very sharp you got to
42:14 know who you’re playing with and so when
42:17 the first deal that was offered to us or
42:20 to me I should say um I took it to the
42:23 11th hour I went through full due
42:24 diligence and folks when you think due
42:27 diligence
42:29 um plan on working 17 18 hours a day for
43:32 three months you got to run your company
43:36 and you got to prepare the data room the
43:38 vendor data room you’re going back 15
43:40 years to find bake statements you’re
43:42 find a che cash receipts you’re doing
43:45 everything and so anyone either
43:46 acquiring a company or building a
43:47 company I’ll advise you right now build
43:50 your data room right now single place
43:52 for all your HR contracts bank
43:55 statements any contracts you’ve signed
43:57 anything consistent any liabilities
43:60 you’re taking on insurance products
43:02 policies start cheer rating it now scan
43:06 it put it to PDF and put it in there
43:08 because I’ll tell you what when it comes
43:09 to sell you’re going to be grateful no
43:11 different than selling um your house you
43:14 want to paint the fence you want to make
43:15 the grass screen you want to make it
43:17 presentable so when the suitors come in
43:19 they go you know what this place smells
43:21 good it’s tight it’s clean I like it but
43:24 if it walk in and you’re like God damn
43:26 this place is a mess like you’re already
43:29 on the back foot and and the buyer has
44:32 the advantage at the end of the day that
44:34 data room is critical I’m telling you
44:35 when when we did energy funders we
44:38 literally launched in in our second year
44:41 I had I don’t know who I read but I read
44:43 just an exit book right like you said at
44:45 the beginning having that end in mind be
44:48 always thinking about the exit and then
44:50 it talked about building your data room
44:52 so we took a Dropbox file we we we
44:54 labeled it like a normal data room and
44:56 as we went on throughout the years and
44:58 months and everything we just save
44:59 things to those files and so it was huge
44:02 when we had a chance to get through our
44:04 merger I mean everything was there and
44:06 and the buyer feels a lot more
44:08 comfortable with you because they make
44:09 you go wow you really are running a
44:12 business I sure you can bring them value
44:14 too right we can learn from how you’re
44:16 doing this thing and make our processes
44:18 better because of that so huge advice
44:20 yep y exactly and uh so got the vendor
44:23 data room set up got going just just
44:26 burning the midnight oil
44:28 due diligence you know due diligence and
45:30 so like the size of my company like plan
45:32 on spending you know a small company
45:34 plan on spending about $100,000 of
45:37 external Services give or take
45:40 accounting lawyers all that it’s going
45:42 to cost you even if the deal doesn’t go
45:44 through still going to cost you 100
45:46 Grand so get to the end of it I take it
45:49 to the 11th Hour that Friday I was the
45:52 sign I woke up and I said I can’t do
45:55 this I can’t do this
45:58 because there was three things three
45:00 tenants that I stood on of why it made a
45:03 good deal one I to be good for business
45:06 none of this like maybe we’ll
45:09 synergistically unlock or we’ll sprinkle
45:11 some pixie dust on this and you know
45:14 your services will help sell a different
45:16 line of product that’s not even relevant
45:18 to the thing that you’re doing and we
45:20 try so a it had to be good for business
45:22 good for the market good for our
45:24 customers good for business second my
45:26 employees
45:28 my employees were the backbone of the
45:30 company they’re the ones that made
46:32 things happen we worked hard together
46:36 I’m not a leader who uh you know I push
46:39 the ball with them uphill and we’ve been
46:41 pushing the ball for a long time I’ll
46:43 tell you in 17 years I never lost a
46:45 single person the only time I lost a
46:47 person is because either they had to
46:49 move back to Ontario or they wanted to
46:51 do a career complete career change so
46:54 that’s the type of company I Ran So it
46:56 had to be good for them and then thirdly
46:58 it had to be good for me as the owner
46:01 the first two were the most important
46:03 third will then be me um got to the end
46:08 I’m
46:08 like it’s bad for the company it’s bad
46:12 for the employees bad for me this a bad
46:16 deal this and even my accountant was
46:18 like Josh and so actually he was part of
46:21 the value Builder platform series and so
46:24 he helped me structure things I I found
46:26 me trust in place holding company interc
46:29 company dividends like you know working
47:31 within you know the laws of tax and
47:34 positioning myself and retained earnings
47:36 and do to shareholder amounts and all
47:38 that um basically said Josh they’re
47:42 going to strip this company Drive
47:43 they’re going to take your own cash you
47:45 got a million and a half dollars in cash
47:47 in your bank account and they’re going
47:49 to use that cash to go back and you go
47:51 to buy your deal that actually is that
47:53 after networking Capital that’s your
47:55 cash so he’s like you would be better
47:58 off just folding the company taking your
47:01 book of business walking over your
47:03 competitor selling at 50 cents on the
47:05 dollar liquidating some equipment and
47:07 walking away you’ll get more value out
47:09 of it that with none of the stress oh
47:10 wow and I was like he that’s
47:15 depressing good to have that person
47:17 there to tell you that you know that’s a
47:19 good advisor right not someone to just
47:20 go oh great job Josh go ahead told you
47:23 how it felt and that’s what you got to
47:24 have yeah and you have to listen to your
47:27 people that are around you and uh and so
47:29 when I even went through my counting he
48:31 said why do you want to do this you have
48:33 a machine that generates money you put a
48:36 dollar in a135 comes out so I described
48:39 the triangle to him he said you know
48:40 what Josh that makes sense so there’s
48:44 some checks and balances along the way
48:46 and you got to listen to your checks and
48:48 balances and you I mean I looked at that
48:51 offer I’m like that’s a lot of money
48:53 that’s still really good but the way it
48:55 was structured um and then even like the
48:57 little things um employment contracts
48:01 you know they’re like you’re going to
48:02 have to move to Houston and I talk to my
48:03 wife and I’m like no fense guys in
48:06 Houston she’s like you’re I’m gonna have
48:09 to move to Houston she’s like well we’re
48:10 getting divorced um so I went back I’m
48:13 like I can’t move to Houston I got to
48:15 stay in Calgary and they’re like well
48:17 they rewarded and said you can live
48:21 where you’re at but you may have to move
48:22 to Houston okay well little things like
48:26 that that just sort of like
48:28 it was they were taking advantage of me
49:31 and I knew that at the end but it was I
49:33 had to come to terms with that and so I
49:36 said no to that on the 11th Hour the day
49:38 we were to sign I sent him a text I said
49:40 it’s Friday just call me Tuesday don’t
49:42 call me and uh sure enough they called
49:44 me right away
49:45 but um I think it was good for them too
49:49 at the end of the day second deal comes
49:51 along um great company good opportunity
49:56 um good for
49:58 business good for me but lousy for the
49:02 employees basically they were going to
49:05 keep the company structured as its own
49:06 legal
49:07 entity myself I would become an employee
49:10 of the acquiring company and then I
49:12 would
49:13 manage the company outside independently
49:17 but the company I go to work for had an
49:19 ESOP so an employee shareed ownership
49:21 program great perks great compensation
49:25 and I’m like I’m getting all these
49:26 benefits but none of the people that I’m
49:28 working with are and in addition they
50:31 weren’t really good at buying companies
50:34 mean and they were a little bit cheap
50:36 I’m like I believe in myself I believe
50:38 in my company and so again um good for
50:41 me good for the business but it’s bad
50:43 for the
50:44 employees and can’t do I just can’t do
50:47 this one and again you know I didn’t get
50:48 down that far we didn’t go to the due
50:50 diligence phase and whatnot you know
50:52 it’s not you it’s
50:53 me c we’ll still do business together
50:57 third one comes along and I get invited
50:00 to this bougie dinner in Calgary um and
50:03 it’s this private Equity Firm coming in
50:05 and they got a name for themselves and
50:08 uh they and I respect them I learned a
50:10 lot from these guys Houston Calgary base
50:13 me these guys invented private equity
50:16 for oil and gas like it goes back and
50:19 I’m like I’m enticed they’re building a
50:22 Global platform they have companies
50:25 globally they have the contract they
50:27 have the network families that own the
50:30 other companies like this is you’re in
51:32 the club let’s get
51:34 going however there’s a few things that
51:36 came along the way again a little bit
51:39 cheap they didn’t really want to respect
51:41 some due to shareholder amounts we had
51:43 different different divis uh definitions
51:46 of networking Capital adjustments of you
51:48 know how much cash need to be left
51:49 behind to keep this company
51:51 running
51:53 um and one thing that was said to me
51:55 that kind of R me and guys if you’re
51:56 listening to to this I know You’ said
51:58 this but I still love you but I came off
51:00 a snowboarding trip with my business
51:02 partner and we had literally I I do a
51:04 heli trip every year two years and not
51:07 gluty world class like cell Kirks the
51:10 pels they’re fired so I come off get off
51:13 the heli I hop into my truck fire it up
51:15 tether my phone get on a call with them
51:18 and the first thing they said to me is
51:19 they’re like they’re like we’re really
51:20 disappointed that you did that like me I
51:23 had booked this in advance a year in
51:25 advance you don’t do H stuff and you
51:27 know a whim your book
51:29 ahead and I’m like the boot is on my
52:32 neck already and I haven’t even sold
52:34 them the company hav even got there I
52:38 can’t do
52:39 this screw it I can’t guys I’m
52:42 done sure enough I get back to mode
52:45 clear my mind get back to operating my
52:47 company and so what happened is that we
52:49 ended up winning a large contract here
52:50 in Canada large enough that my
52:54 competitor calls me and says let’s go
52:57 for
52:59 lunch and so I took the learnings and
52:02 they said I first of all they’re like
52:03 congratulations on winning such deal you
52:06 know that kind of hurt us that brought
52:07 us
52:08 down is it time time for us to finally
52:12 emerge stop competing with each other I
52:14 said well I took the learnings of all
52:17 three and I said if you can respect my
52:20 due to shareholder amount if we can
52:22 agree on a networking Capital adjustment
52:24 that is normal if we can do this this
52:28 this and we can get a a a decent size of
53:31 an EA range between 5 to
53:33 eight um that um I’m in two days later
53:39 they call back and they’re like yes we
53:41 can do all of
53:43 this twice had already polished the
53:46 vendor data room had already gone
53:48 through the legal learnings I got my MBA
53:51 it costs me
53:55 $250,000 but I got a real MBA on that
53:59 side and then in two and a half months
53:02 be closed they hit every Mar boom boom
53:06 boom boom boom patience patience
53:09 patience the the the first thing that
53:11 comes along is not necessary but having
53:14 people in your court legal
53:19 counting my my wife is my is my Tennesse
53:22 is my strength just where you know
53:24 sounding
53:25 board and when they all those people go
53:28 yes this is good this is good you say
54:32 yes and then you you do not listen to
54:35 anyone after the fact saying oh bad time
54:38 to sell maybe you should have wait cuz
54:39 next year there’s always naysayers
54:41 everybody it doesn’t matter what any
54:44 price that I buy a car from there will
54:45 always be tell someone telling me that
54:46 they could have gotten a better deal for
54:48 me somewhere else just and you just
54:50 eliminate the fomo and any of that from
54:53 the mind and celebrate the win celebrate
54:56 why the reason you wanted to do what you
54:59 wanted to
54:00 do and then give her hell so me I now
54:05 I’m an employe at a company still
54:06 leading my people growing things it’s
54:09 been absolutely phenomenal the market
54:11 responded favorably um they’re like hey
54:14 Green
54:15 Path we we can invest on you we can
54:19 build together now as a public you now
54:21 with the publicly traded company you got
54:23 resources you got people you got legal
54:25 we can do bigger things together which
54:28 was awesome it was great for the
54:30 employees they landed everyone got a
55:33 great employment contract everyone found
55:35 a place in the company so again good for
55:39 the business great for the
55:41 business great for the
55:43 employees and really good for me and I
55:46 found those three tenants and I struct
55:48 to those and that got me the best
55:50 possible deal and in and also for the
55:53 acquiring
55:55 company they bolted on some serious
55:57 bench strength they got some well
55:60 motivated well greased well organized
55:02 Professional Organization coming in that
55:05 allowed us the first day of that
55:08 acquisition first day that we were
55:09 operational together we were already
55:11 closing deals together we were already
55:13 merging the Oro chart we were already
55:15 hitting stride and just and firing on
55:19 not all cylinders because it’s rough in
55:20 the first bit Yeah but we you’re going
55:23 you’re doing and we’re and we’re
55:25 greasing together and making things
55:26 happen happened and it’s really been
55:28 magical a great story absolutely 2007 to
56:35 2023 man that’s a great journey man and
56:38 very excited to hear your story and
56:40 really really quick before we wrap up
56:41 you know for those listeners was there a
56:43 lot of negotiation around multiples and
56:46 what kind of multiple does this type of
56:47 business go
56:50 for um not a lot lot of negotiation you
56:53 know because one of my mentors always
56:55 told me to uh companies are bought
56:58 they’re not
56:59 sold and uh and so I gave my range five
56:03 to eight they landed on a six and a half
56:06 and I was like you know what fair play
56:08 as a service-based company that’s not
56:10 selling widgets that doesn’t have any
56:13 patents or trademarks but our Goodwill
56:16 is really strong and our demonstration
56:19 of generating cash flow and repeat
56:22 business and and a strong management
56:24 team and a strong employee base
56:26 Justified those evid as um and a very
57:31 good brand name the market we you know I
57:34 wanted to Kleenex ourselves I wanted
57:36 people to know when they think em
57:38 missions in Calgary they thought green
57:40 pth we were the c i you know I achieved
57:42 that and so that would kind of help
57:44 justify and and still carries on through
57:47 no it’s great multiple actually more
57:48 more than I would have thought for kind
57:50 of a Services Project based company so
57:52 awesome good congratulations to you
57:54 congrats know definitely an Epic Journey
57:56 there
57:57 yeah there’s a lot there’s a lot to
57:58 uncover when we when we talk about it
57:60 yeah we’ll do the debrief after princip
57:02 minded very
57:03 centered I love the stoic statement
57:06 you’ve been saying the whole time
57:07 because I very much understand what that
57:09 means and for those that don’t
57:11 understand it stoicism is a choice uh
57:13 but I think it’s a it is a practice
57:15 that’s pretty amazing right and uh so
57:18 pretty cool so want to jump into the
57:20 rocket round let’s do it so before we
57:22 wrap up right as always we like to do
57:24 our rocket round where we ask three
57:26 questions
57:27 to each uh each person we we bring on
57:29 the on the show so first question Josh
58:32 what do you like to do in your free
58:33 time uh free time uh of course uh on the
58:36 triangle it’s family I got uh two boys
58:39 and a girl um a girl 13 she loves flag
58:43 football she loves anything in NFL so
58:45 now it’s just attending football games
58:47 with her seeing her play Flags seeing
58:49 her Rush a QB and grab that flag oh
58:52 you’re talking about actual like
58:54 American football not soccer football
58:55 American football
58:59 and it’s funny because you mentioned
58:60 your triangle and I’ve always heard it
58:01 as basically you know you have you have
58:03 health family and work choose to
58:07 right that’s right so I choose and then
58:09 with my wife I love going to a soccer
58:11 game so competitive soccer is really
58:13 kicked up on that side seen that my
58:15 little guy you know he’s exploring what
58:17 he’s still into and just yeah and then
58:20 getting know it on uh snowboarding I
58:21 just wrapped up a two we snowboarding
58:23 trip with some friends in Japan I want
58:25 to talk about that with you here after
58:26 the show so yeah and uh again heading
58:29 back out into the cies to go get some
59:32 back country access on some well there’s
59:35 not a lock of there’s a lack of powder
59:36 in western Canada this year but still if
59:38 it’s ice I’m on it uh and I love that
59:41 side and um and I’m pretty I’m a pretty
59:44 low-key guy other than that um da and
59:47 skateboarding in the summer when my body
59:48 still holds up and uh yeah fantastic all
59:52 right next question here is what’s the
59:53 most memorable moment in your business
59:55 Journey
59:57 the most memorable
59:01 moment it goes back to what I was
59:03 talking about EOG
59:05 Resources and when I first when I
59:07 delivered the first invoice to them and
59:11 they paid
59:12 it and it was like it was like $4,000
59:15 some hundred just shy of five
59:19 grand I left in I had a 1994 Toyota
59:23 Camry that I was bombing around in and I
59:26 remember remember driving away shaking
59:29 going this is real I felt like I I
60:32 almost robbed someone I’m like they’re
60:34 willing to pay this for this this is
60:37 awesome phenomen it was validation that
60:40 what I had
60:43 started there was there that that was
60:45 the first Ember and just that that that
60:48 like yes like like let’s go like that’s
60:52 that moment awesome awesome perfect and
60:56 then last question what’s your favorite
60:57 tool or
60:59 resource people mentors um Joe Lucas CAC
60:04 old Hungarian fellow who invented
60:08 environmental it’s wisdom of others it’s
60:11 it’s it’s listening it’s researching
60:13 it’s it’s um that that’s through the
60:16 tools
60:17 and and just
60:19 being for lack of better words a child’s
60:22 mindset of exploring the world
60:25 absolutely every day and keeping
60:27 absolutely everything fresh and and and
61:31 listening to those of others preferably
61:33 in
61:34 person and um and not and being
61:39 vulnerable to them really expressing
61:42 what’s going on so that they can really
61:44 give true you know Sage advice back and
61:48 uh and and and it’s not so much you know
61:50 when I look at thing it’s also a DA off
61:52 a few I’m a big Tim Ferris fan I got all
61:55 the books crush the Tim feris stuff
61:58 tools of Titans I love that’s my
61:00 bathroom read what’s going on like what
61:03 can I pick up from others who’ve done
61:06 and absorbing the world that is around
61:09 me and saying coming back and then um
61:12 lastly um is my faith my my faith I I
61:15 pull a lot of biblical principles um
61:18 there is truth uh within the Bible and
61:21 uh and there’s a lot of Concepts that
61:23 keep me grounded and um and I’ve come
61:26 come to believe there is nothing new
61:28 Under the Sun absolutely nothing the
62:31 only difference is the speed at which
62:33 it’s being done and the medium of which
62:35 it’s being delivered awesome a man of
62:38 many tools and resources so Josh thank
62:40 you for being on the show and last
62:42 question how can people get a hold of
62:44 you LinkedIn that’s that’s my social
62:47 media uh Joshua anhalt on LinkedIn find
62:51 me on there happy to connect and um
62:55 thank you gentlemen thank you for
62:58 passion I mean just all of those things
62:00 you bring to the table so I just really
62:02 enjoyed having you a part of this thank
62:04 you very much Josh appreciate you being
62:05 on the show thanks guys appreciate it
62:08 thank you for listening to the m&a
62:10 Launchpad podcast if you’ve enjoyed
62:11 today’s podcast and would like to
62:13 support us please leave us a rating and
62:14 a review after you listen I’m Casey mchu
62:17 and I look forward to talking with you
62:18 next
62:21 week
