Growing a $5m Metal Business 40% in Year 1

Today's guest wanted to move from tech to manufacturing, which as Caleb's Standafer jokes, was the opposite direction of many of his peers. But pivoting his career into manufacturing wouldn't happen overnight. Caleb had taken a class from Noah Wasserman in business school where the concept of experience versus risk had left an impression.

Essentially, there are some domains where you can drop out and start a business, say building an app, but other domains where your prospects are far dimmer without some real industry experience. Manufacturing is like that. So Caleb laid the groundwork for his search over years working in manufacturing and he ultimately made it all happen.

From gaining experience to searching part time over five years, to acquiring and now owning a metal machining business. Springfield's Tool Die had 5 million in revenue when Caleb bought it in July 2024. In his first calendar year of ownership, 2025, he pushed the business to 7 million in revenue and grew headcount from 17 to the mid-20s.

We learn how he did that and we get a lay of the land for the diverse and vast world of metal manufacturing and machining. We also hear Caleb address customer concentration. One of the business's customers represents over 70% of revenue.

Here he is Caleb Standafer, owner of Springfield Tool and Die. Welcome to Acquiring Minds, a podcast about buying businesses. My name is Will Smith.

Acquiring an existing business is an awesome. Opportunity for many entrepreneurs and on this podcast I talk to the people who do it. If you ask owners in the ETA and search community which insurance broker provides highest quality work, great outcomes and has a practice dedicated to searchers and acquisition entrepreneurs, one name comes up again and again.

Oberle. Oberle Risk Strategies has worked with hundreds of searchers over nearly a decade and is in fact led by a two time successful searcher, August Felker, which makes Oberle a specialty insurance brokerage for searchers by a former searcher and if you've got a business under Loi Oberle will provide complimentary due diligence on that business's insurance and benefits program. An easy no risk…

To take advantage, check out oberly-risk.com that's O B E R L E- risk.com. Link in the notes. Caleb Stadafer welcome to Acquiring Minds.

Thanks for having me Will Caleb, you.

Bought a hundred year old machine shop,. You wanted to be in manufacturing. You'd said to me on the pre call that you had colleagues who were trying to go from manufacturing to tech and you wanted to go in the opposite direction.

We are going to hear your journey to do just that. Start us off with some background on you, please, Caleb.

All right. Well, I'm from Southern California originally. Grew up out there with a father who was in manufacturing in finance. He did corporate corporate tax, but worked for companies like Lockheed and Teledyne, which have long storied manufacturing histories.