So Much Fun: The Buyer of Choice in a Fragmented Industry

Why? Why are you like a moth to a flame? And maybe, and maybe, you know, help our listeners figure out what they are. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that, that last part of the question is a really provocative one.

So I, I should say that I've had friends ask me, mark, do you have amnesia? Like, have you forgotten how hard it is?

About, like, where are you on your, like how do you want to organize yourself? Do you really want to be an OpCo CEO or do you want to be like a Holdcoe type or even, you know, just like a private equity investor? And, and one of them is not better than the others.

And this starts to get to the last part of your question. It's like, what authentically suits you? And what I have discovered about myself is I spent a year after I exited, like really just investing in search funds, like pretty full time.

And I'd been doing that just as a hobby on the side while I was CEO for the preceding three or four years. And what I found to be really fun as a part time thing or hobby, I found just not to be fulfilling as a full time thing. And, and, and by the way, there are a lot of people who I love and respect who find that to be the most fulfilling thing they can imagine.

And so it's just Again, there's not good or bad. It's just what suits you. And what suits me is I think I really derive satisfaction from waking up every day.

And again, I said it earlier, I'm kind of a simple guy, like thinking about one business, like getting out of bed thinking about one business, going to bed thinking about that same business and thinking about that same small group of people that I'm going into battle with every day. And to me, that is a really fulfilling way to spend your days.

So I don't know if that, if that fully addresses your question, but yeah, for me it's just, I'd rather be more focused than less and, and spend time with fewer people than more. Maybe that's another way of saying it. And what about Mark, as you reflect on your years in little sprouts.

Just. How close to the action you were? Did one suit you more than the other? So, so, so in the early days, you know, you probably maybe showing up at centers here and there and maybe in the later days much less.

So you were, you know, there was some distance between you and the front lines.

Was in that, in that spectrum, was there a place that you liked? I'm really glad you asked that. Well, because I could have left your listeners with the wrong impression.