Complexity Hides Fragility: Losing a $20m Business

Even though you're in a new tax bracket.

We figured it out. I walked through how tax brackets work with them. I'm not a tax guy, but I knew enough at the time. To know was bad advice.

All right, pick us up. 2016, 17.

Yeah. So around that time I said to my wife, I still have tears left. My GI Bill. I should get an undergrad or, sorry, a master's in business. And I had had several friends go through different programs and somebody I knew actually done the, the Berkeley program.

And I mentioned my wife and she laughed because she's like, you're not getting in there. So long story short, I applied on a whim in a very short time frame, last minute, took the GMAT and passed all of it somehow with great scores. I've always been a good test taker, but great Joe.

Yeah. Anyways, got in and just kind of just blown away, right away from, from the systems process. Things that I was learning. You know, I knew the go to market side of things.

I learned that on the fly with a consulting group. But everything else, business finance, you, large parts of operations, hr, all of that was brand new to me. And so business school was my opportunity to really get exposed to the other parts of the business.

You know, I could manage a very muted P and L at the time because it was, you know, really just consulting fees and labor that I was, I was handling at the time. So fast forward a few months into school and taking a class called New Venture Finance, had a guest speaker come in and they were a traditional searcher from about seven years prior and had bought out their investors and were owning and…

It was very, very successful. And I can't remember his name right now, but I can look it up and get it to you, Will, because.

I knew, I'm so curious. I was going to ask, I knew it. What was the business? Do you remember that?

It was a manufact company. I remember that in Washington State. I think Trilogy was, was very connected with them, if I'm remembering right.