Eric Van Dam

And so they can be a tremendous partner to you and just helping you navigate some of those strategic initiatives.

And so they can be a tremendous partner to you and just helping you navigate some of those strategic initiatives.

I think the first thing we do is we always ask our clients, what are your goals and objectives overall in the process? And then we will design the process to really achieve those goals and objectives. So, for example, we may have a business owner who is 65 years old and is just ready to retire and wants to exit the business.

I think the first thing we do is we always ask our clients, what are your goals and objectives overall in the process? And then we will design the process to really achieve those goals and objectives. So, for example, we may have a business owner who is 65 years old and is just ready to retire and wants to exit the business.

In that type of scenario, that's probably a better fit for a strategic buyer. just because private equity firms really want to see business owners roll equity, continue on with the business. And so if somebody wants to exit, they may be better positioned for a strategic buyer.

In that type of scenario, that's probably a better fit for a strategic buyer. just because private equity firms really want to see business owners roll equity, continue on with the business. And so if somebody wants to exit, they may be better positioned for a strategic buyer.

But if somebody is young, hungry, wants to roll equity, wants to be a platform, wants to pursue an add-on acquisition strategy, that could be a better fit for a private equity firm. And so we really try to understand those goals and objectives, and we will design a process to achieve those goals.

But if somebody is young, hungry, wants to roll equity, wants to be a platform, wants to pursue an add-on acquisition strategy, that could be a better fit for a private equity firm. And so we really try to understand those goals and objectives, and we will design a process to achieve those goals.

I want to be a platform.

I want to be a platform.

Yeah, Rob's exactly right on those comments. The other thing, too, is those groups, they have enormous buying power. So overnight, they're able to, given their size and scale, whatever company that they would kind of tuck into their organization, without a doubt, they have to be buying better than what that organization is on their own.

Yeah, Rob's exactly right on those comments. The other thing, too, is those groups, they have enormous buying power. So overnight, they're able to, given their size and scale, whatever company that they would kind of tuck into their organization, without a doubt, they have to be buying better than what that organization is on their own.

And in a lot of circumstances, Rob and I will see larger platforms that are able to buy 30 to 40% better in pricing than where maybe a 5, 10, 15, $20 million EBITDA business is able to buy on their own. And so There are efficiencies that can be gained, but there is a much higher bar in today's market for level of integration, as well as what is your value creation playbook?

And in a lot of circumstances, Rob and I will see larger platforms that are able to buy 30 to 40% better in pricing than where maybe a 5, 10, 15, $20 million EBITDA business is able to buy on their own. And so There are efficiencies that can be gained, but there is a much higher bar in today's market for level of integration, as well as what is your value creation playbook?

Are you just financial engineering and kind of throwing a bunch of companies together? Or do you have a real value creation playbook on how to buy a good business and make it great by helping it improve revenue and improve EBITDA? And if so, that is what the private equity firms are really paying premium valuations for.

Are you just financial engineering and kind of throwing a bunch of companies together? Or do you have a real value creation playbook on how to buy a good business and make it great by helping it improve revenue and improve EBITDA? And if so, that is what the private equity firms are really paying premium valuations for.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And Tommy, as you may recall, in your process, what we did is we created a KPI data book for the private equity firms to really unpack how is the revenue growth being driven? Is it by pricing growth? Is it by volume growth? Or is it by mix? And one of the things is different investors were looking at the average ticket growth.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And Tommy, as you may recall, in your process, what we did is we created a KPI data book for the private equity firms to really unpack how is the revenue growth being driven? Is it by pricing growth? Is it by volume growth? Or is it by mix? And one of the things is different investors were looking at the average ticket growth.

We really had to unpack that so that different private equity firms really understood that wasn't just purely inflation. In fact, when you really unpack the data in a lot of detail, you guys did a great job driving the mix shift up in the business. And so there was a couple of different things that A1 was doing. Three to five years ago, you guys used to just sell the garage door.

We really had to unpack that so that different private equity firms really understood that wasn't just purely inflation. In fact, when you really unpack the data in a lot of detail, you guys did a great job driving the mix shift up in the business. And so there was a couple of different things that A1 was doing. Three to five years ago, you guys used to just sell the garage door.