Ep.217: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Mike Stone ( @michael-stone ). My guest today is Mike Stone, CEO of CertaPro Painters, the largest painting company in North America structured as a franchise with 370 owners across 500 territories and over $700m in revenue. Their goal is to become a $1B company shortly and a $2.5B revenue company by 2032. The painting industry is a $60B industry growing modestly and is highly fragmented, making this an interesting industry to explore given the lack of ...
Apr 02, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 217
Ep.215: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Ayman Al-Abdullah ( @aymanalabdul ). My guest today is Ayman Al-Abdullah, former CEO of Appsumo and now executive coach to other ambitious CEOs looking to scale 7 and 8-figure businesses past $100m, Ayman’s specialty. I love learning from CEOs who’ve made that journey and can share key lessons and takeaways, and Ayman fits that to a “T.” He’s also a Durham native, which is where my wife and I will be moving to this summer so we had some fun talking abou...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 215
Ep.214: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Dennis Dresser ( @DennisDresser ). My guest today is Dennis Dresser. Dennis was a sales leader at IBM and Oracle and became CRO at Anaplan and Dialpad before taking on an advisory role with companies looking to develop best-in-class sales organizations. Throughout his career, he’s developed a playbook for creating these high-performing sales teams and has thought deeply about talent management, performance management, and implementing better processes. ...
Mar 12, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 214
Ep.213: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Armon Petrossian ( @ArmonPetrossian ). My guest today is Armon Petrossian, co-founder and CEO of data transformation company Coalesce, built on Snowflake’s ecosystem. Armon and I kick off talking about his time in China and learning Mandarin in undergrad, and move through topics like building within Snowflake’s, nuances in selling to enterprises, hiring in sales, opportunities in data, and navigating challenging topics with a co-founder. Listen weekly a...
Mar 05, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 213
Ep.212: Alex Bridgeman ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Sieva Kozinsky ( @sievakozinsky ). My guest on this episode is Sieva Kozinsky, co-founder of Enduring Ventures, a holding company founded in 2019 with 17 acquisitions to date. Sieva and I met at a dinner following the Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha, his first time attending the meeting. A theme from our first conversations in Omaha that continues through this episode is long-term thinking being a huge advantage, and that compounding happe...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 212
Ep.211: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Eric Jorgenson ( @EricJorgenson ). My guest on this episode is Eric Jorgenson. Eric became a close friend while my wife and I lived in Omaha. I love the energy and enthusiasm he brings to whatever he’s doing, whether it’s investing in tech startups, writing books like The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and The Anthology of Balaji, hosting his Smart Friends podcast, or telling you about the latest innovations in sandwich making. And as of last summer he is t...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 211
This week, we are running the episode I did with Chris Powers on the Fort podcast where I was a guest on that show, and in this episode, we talked all about my background, my interest in data, the podcast, and all kinds of other things that kinds of weird theories I have about restaurants too near the end! This is a good episode showcasing not only the origin of this podcast, but also a good friend of mine, Chris Powers, his podcast, which I think is awesome, especially if you're into real estat...
Feb 13, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 210
My guest on this episode is Roland Lessard, former Co-CEO of Morningside with his partner Tom Klein, a language translation services business that served over 4,000 clients in 55 countries. A core piece of their thesis revolved around M&A, and Tom and Roland through that experience acquired deep domain expertise in creating value through a methodological M&A and, more importantly, integration process. This episode is all about M&A and corporate development, both for companies doing o...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 209
My guest on this episode is Richard Reese. Richard took over as CEO of Iron Mountain, a physical records management business, in 1981. He ran the business as CEO through going public in 1996 before retiring from the role in 2013. Revenue over that period grew from around $3 million in 1981 to $3 billion in 2013. Our discussion focuses on incentivizing teams with cash and stock, something Richard has thought deeply about over many decades, developing compensation plans, working with private and p...
Jan 30, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 208
Ep.207: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Savneet Singh ( @SavneetS ). My guest today is Savneet Signh, CEO of PAR Technology, a billion-dollar market cap publicly traded point of sale software business serving the restaurant industry. I’ve been following Savneet’s career since college when he went on Invest Like the Best talking about acquiring software businesses through his holding company Tera. Through that work he connected with PAR, joining the board and eventually replacing the CEO. Sinc...
Jan 23, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 207
Ep.206: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Tim Strickland ( @Tim-Strickland ). My guest today is Tim Strickland, former Chief Revenue Officer of ZoomInfo and now an advisory partner at Summit Partners. Tim led during a massive growth period for ZoomInfo and had to learn how to rapidly scale sales teams both within ZoomInfo and incorporate go-to-market teams from acquired companies. I’ve loved my own sales experience through data at Altos Research and wanted to hear what sales look like in hugely...
Jan 16, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 206
Ep.205: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Mike Wyman ( @michael-k-wyman ). My guest today, Mike Wyman, brings over 30 years of experience in various CFO roles to this episode where we dive into the CFO role, especially in newly acquired businesses with limited financial infrastructure. Today Mike advises CEOs throughout the search fund ecosystem on making critical CFO hires and brings his experience to several boards as well. In our discussion, Mike outlines the CFO mentality and focus on const...
Jan 09, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 205
Ep.204: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Mike Zani ( @MikeZani ). My guest today is Mike Zani, CEO of The Predictive Index, a talent optimization platform built around their nearly 70-year-old behavioral assessment tool. Today they help companies optimize their teams by identifying the key strengths of employees and hiring prospects to get the fit right. This is Mike’s third time being a CEO and he brings a wealth of knowledge around early team construction and scaling. Mike and I talk about t...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 204
Ep.203: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by David Dodson ( @Dave-Dodson ). Today’s episode is a re-run of my conversation with David Dodson, an investor, professor, former CEO, and author of one of my new favorite management books, The Manager’s Handbook. We talk about the strategies and tactics he’s learned over many years of studying high-performing CEOs and distilled into his book. If you’re looking for a belated gift for an ambitious friend, I cannot recommend highly enough gifting a copy of ...
Dec 26, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 203
Ep.202: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Scott Barstow ( @ScottBarstow ). My guest today is Scott Barstow. Scott has founded and led tech companies and teams throughout his career. He now supports the Pacific Lake portfolio as an operating partner focused on building great software product and engineering orgs. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Scott through my Chief of Staff role with HW Media and Pacific Lake’s executive leadership program, and I think highly of his perspective on sof...
Dec 19, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 202
Ep.201: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Gary Walter Jr. ( @GaryWalter ). My guest on this episode is Gary Walter, Jr, who took over running Infutor, a consumer identity data business, as CEO after his father passed. Infutor took on investment from Norwest Venture Partners and experienced rapid growth before selling to Verisk for $250m in 2022. Today he advises other data companies and CEOs, with specialties in data and sales orgs. Gary and I talk about building great sales teams and go-to-mar...
Dec 12, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 201
This is my 200th episode of Think Like an Owner, and for this special episode I’ve invited my good friend Justin Mazeka Vogt on for the honors. Justin and his business partner Ed Redden were among the very first to reach out to me when I first started the podcast 5 years ago. We’ve discussed this episode’s topics extensively, from thinking bigger to gaining leverage and designing the ideal life for ourselves, all topics Justin is passionate and thoughtful about. We also talk about what they’ve l...
Dec 05, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 200
Ep.199: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Ann Rhoades ( @Ann_Rhoades ). I’m thrilled to share my episode today with Ann Rhoades on building values-driven cultures that drive outperformance. Ann was the VP of People at Southwest Airlines with founder Herb Kelleher and was a founding executive as VP of People, and eventually a board member of JetBlue Airways. She has also worked with companies like Doubletree Hotels, P.F. Changs, Restoration Hardware, and countless others through her consulting a...
Nov 28, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 199
Ep. 198: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Joel Peterson ( @JoelPetersonGSB ). My guest today is Joel Peterson. Joel is the founder and chairman of Peterson Partners, a private equity, venture, and search investment firm, and the former CEO of Trammell Crow. He is also the former Chairman of JetBlue AIrways and is currently in his 31st year teaching at Stanford GSB. Finally, Joel has published two books, The Ten Laws of Trust and Entrepreneurial Leadership. This in-person episode goes far and w...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 198
Ep.197: Alex (@ aebridgeman ) is joined by Jason Anderson (@ andersonjasone ). My guest today is Jason Anderson, CEO of Arizona College of Nursing and former CEO of VRI. Jason brings an extensive range of experience as CEO to this episode and we dive into critical skills he’s developed to be effective at each step. One of my favorite parts of our discussion was on how he is constantly on the lookout for talent in everyday life, always in “recruiting mode” for his company. We also talk about hiri...
Nov 14, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 197
Ep.196: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Shikhar Saxena ( @shikhar-saxena ). My guest today is Shikhar Saxena, co-founder and CEO of Milan Laser Hair Removal. Milan, founded in 2012, is the nation's largest laser hair removal provider with over 300 locations in 32 states and 1,900 employees performing 50,000 treatments a month. Keys to Shikhar’s growth story have been an obsession with customer experience and a constant study of other CEOs and resources to improve his performance. We talk abou...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 196
My guest today is Mahesh Rajasekharan, CEO of Cleo, a software platform for supply chain system integrations. A few months ago I asked a few friends which sales-focused CEO they admired most and they all unanimously said Mahesh. With Mahesh at the helm, Cleo has grown from a single-digit ARR business in 2012 to nearly $100 million in ARR today, with even greater ambitions for the future. He has built some of the most robust and high-performing sales and product teams I’ve seen and is a value-add...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 195
Ep. 194: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Coley Andrews ( @coley-andrews ) and Mitch Cohen. This is the final episode in our Launch Series with guests Coley Andrews and Mitch Cohen, partners at Pacific Lake and Trilogy, respectively. Through this series we have talked about industry research, starting your search, working with sellers, legal diligence, first 100 days, and more. Today’s conversation touches on the spirit of search and the collaboration and mentorship that comes from the search ...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 194
Ep.193: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Jehiel Oliver ( @Jehiel ). My guest today is Jehiel Oliver, founder and CEO of Hello Tractor, a farming equipment rental platform serving farms across Africa. Jehiel has an amazing blend of energy, excitement, and tenacity that is hard to find and energizing to be around. Jehiel and I talk about how he influences behaviors in creating new markets, training markets, capital strategy through growth, and growing in his role through vulnerability. Please en...
Oct 17, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 193
Ep.192: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Chris Powers ( @fortworthchris ). My guest today is Chris Powers, founder and chairman of Fort Capital, an industrial real estate investor based in Fort Worth, TX. Chris is also the host of The Fort Podcast, which I was a guest on just last week and we’ll link to that episode in the show notes. Chris has built an amazing real estate firm and recently promoted his business partner Jason to CEO so he could step into a chairman role. We talk primarily toda...
Oct 10, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 192
Ep.191: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Sam Krieg ( @sam-krieg ) and Chris Hendriksen ( @chris-hendriksen ). Today is the 6th episode in our Launch Series, a partnered episode series with Pacific Lake Partners and Trilogy Search Partners on preparing for the CEO role as a search fund. This conversation centers around a CEO’s first 100 days in the company post-acquisition, and I’m joined by Sam Krieg, Co-CEO of Central Storage & Warehouse, and Chris Hendrikson, partner at Pacific Lake Part...
Oct 03, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 191
Ep.190: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Felix Brooks-Church ( @felixbc ). My guest is Felix Brooks-Church, CEO of Sanku, which helps local mills across Africa produce fortified food, primarily flour, via their machines and technology. Felix was introduced to me by David Dodson, co-founder and chairman of the board at Sanku. Sanku has a fascinating origin story, which includes a stint in Nepal, refining the technology, and is now a quickly growing enterprise that has required a ton of learning...
Sep 26, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 190
Ep.189: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Dave Thrasher ( @dave-thrasher ). My guest on this episode is Dave Thrasher who along with his family in Omaha owns Thrasher, a foundation repair business with three core business units: a wholly owned foundation repair brand, an acquisition strategy of non-Thrasher branded services businesses, and Supportworks which sells industry products and offers training to customers on running more successful businesses. It’s a fascinating collection of family-ow...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 189
Ep.188 - Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Edward Coady ( @EdwCoady ). My guest on this episode is Edward Coady, CEO of Mainely Grass, a Chenmark-owned company he is taking over leadership for from former CEO and past podcast guest Palmer Higgins. Edward joined Chenmark through their GVP (Generalist Vice President) program, the same way past guests Sean Joy and Philip Hussey joined their Chenmark companies as CEO. The GVP program is Chenmark’s CEO accelerator program to get folks first experien...
Sep 12, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 188
I want to tell you about our audience survey we are currently running. These surveys help us create the best content for listeners and better understand your needs and interests. Thank you in advance for sharing your feedback, we greatly appreciate it. After 30 days we are giving $250 cash to 4 survey responders, just add your email at the end of the survey. Take the survey here: https://bit.ly/3QLBB1N Ep.187: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Scott Alderman ( @Scott-Alderman ) and Alex Temel (...
Sep 05, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 187
