The Origins and Future of a 9-Figure SMB Holdco

And so our peak EBITDA was I think just over 3 million in EBIT. Okay. And yeah, and we ended up exiting that business in late 2021 and found our way out. I think it was, I think we can report all this now. So we found our way out I think at like a 5.7x multiple.

So in a very hard. Starting from a small position in a very challenging industry, you really made something of this business. Yeah, that sure sounds like a success, a win. Maybe not what you hoped going in, but those are, those are strong numbers, are they not?

Happy with where we ended at the end and super happy about what we built. I thought we built one of the best players in the industry. And what I always say now is I felt like that business was swinging a bat in the batter's circle with donuts on it.

And now when I go up and look at other businesses and I get to just swing the bat, it feels easier. And so I'm happy. I got the learnings out of it. And we ended up with a great exit which, which was fortunate and we get to move on.

Great. And we're, we're now just coming up to, to kind of the genesis of what Elmore looks like today, which is going to be great. But I do just. Matt, on that experience, going from Bain to operating at seven years in a really difficult business, blue collar business, you, you must have had doubts at some point that operating was for you or. No. Even in the challenging moments you liked.

You like the SMB world. I'm really just trying to tease out what a dramatic shift this was for you in, in and how, you know, all those bane. The bainies were like, what are you doing man?

And maybe at some point you were like, yeah, what am I doing, man?

Uh, yeah, I was ton. Tons of doubts. I mean I, I think there's an evolution. That first year I had a full time seller by my side and the business was somewhat simpler, hadn't grown yet, had a lot of fun, learned a lot, enjoyed the job.

Year two, we had a part time consulting agreement with the seller. We had acquired some things, some of the challenges started to pile up, had a little bit less fun. By year three, I realized some of these things aren't going very well.

The industry wins. Started to change. It was just me. In consulting, I say you get to recommend some things and then walk away and let them implement them and they live with the decisions. And I Don't even have to see how they turn out. Always. In these small businesses, I'm making decisions constantly, and then I don't know all the ramifications right away, but they continue on forever, and they…

And by year three, I was starting to see all the decisions I made winding up together and creating good things, but also bad things. And. And so years three and four for me were just really challenging when the reality of the company hit me, and I was out talking to other consulting firms about getting into their forestry practices and thinking about all these things.