How to 4x EBITDA in 3 Years Without Growing Sales

I don't really want the burden of running something right now, but how do I stay around operators? How do I, you know, is share knowledge? How do I help them on their journey?

What does that look like? So that was a driving force for me. And, and then ultimately I, I landed on coaching.

And right away I drank the Kool Aid and I was fully in. And I loved it. And I'd always been investing in search funds along the way, but honestly, I Felt a little disconnected. I was an individual investor, and I'd say in about a third of the deals, I was really engaged.

I was either on the board or speaking with the entrepreneur pretty regularly. About another third, few times a year, whenever they needed me, and then another third. I didn't really hear from them very often, so I was just a check.

And I didn't really like that. I wanted more full contact. I wanted more. So I had to rethink how I wanted to invest.

And by this point, I had invested in almost 40, you know, kind of between 40 to 50 operating companies. And. And I just got really clear about what I wanted to do. I wanted to be people's best board member, whether I was on the board or not.

I just wanted to be that. Dave Dodson, writer. You know, the board members that really impacted me, like MK o', Connell, Search Fund Partners.

Tom Cassette, cassette, Cassette. And Dave Lazier. These guys just meant so much to me, and. And I wanted to be that for someone else.

So, yeah, I created a fund with other operators, and then we mentor and help CEOs that do traditional search. Just help them, you know, run a great business, run a great life. And I just don't think business should be that hard.

So we're really direct with them, but we're there for them. We have compassion and empathy for the journey.

Ned. So. But you had invested in a few dozen deals as an individual investor.