SMB15

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . When Dane Sawyer came across Roland Swiss Pastry & Bakery, he wasn’t looking to buy a food business. In fact, he told every broker he wanted nothing to do with food. But Roland wasn’t just any bakery. It was a 60-year Houston institution founded by a Swiss craftsman in the 1960s, someone who once rented a pizza shop’s oven at night to bake gingerbread houses beca...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . When Nick Thompson launched Grounded Lawn, it started as a side hustle doing backyard installs, sod, rock, and hardscape projects for new Colorado homes. By 2021, he realized there was a bigger opportunity. Recurring maintenance wasn’t just steadier income; it was a more sellable business model. In this episode, Nick shares how he turned Grounded into a profitabl...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . When Brian Reyburn’s father left the Air Force fire service to start a landscaping company, no one could have predicted it would lead to refurbishing fire trucks for the U.S. military and fire departments across the country. In this episode of SMB15, Brian shares the 20-year journey of building Fire Trucks Unlimited, from a “dumb idea” combining old landscaping m...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . From a life-changing trip to Sonoma to scaling three retail locations in New Jersey, Jeff Carroll’s journey with Wine Dads shows how passion and persistence can reshape a career. He shares the leap from Trader Joe’s into entrepreneurship, the million-dollar challenge of opening his first store, and why he calls Wine Dads “a boutique shop cleverly disguised as a l...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . From a five-star review on his very first job to scaling toward $600K in revenue, Will Barrett’s journey with Will Do It Windows shows what happens when you combine grit with speed of execution. He shares the scrappy beginnings, the early hires, and the lessons that helped him turn a simple service into a serious business. In this episode, we dive into starting l...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Brandon Karam was practicing patent law when he stumbled on a very personal problem: he loved wet wipes but developed an allergic reaction that forced him to stop using them. That frustration led him and his cousin to launch Pristine Sprays, a toilet paper spray that transforms regular toilet paper into a wet wipe alternative. What started as kitchen counter expe...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . From $2M worth of equipment bought for just $265K to building a team around veterans and experienced distillers, Jordan Griffie’s story isn’t your typical spirits launch. In this episode, Jordan shares how Valor Peak Distillery came together out of a bankruptcy auction, and the systems, culture, and discipline that keep it running like a business instead of a hob...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . After getting stiffed on a big commission, Scott Crosby decided he’d never work for someone else again. Within a year, he bought American Services, a 30-year-old commercial HVAC and refrigeration company in St. Louis. In this episode, Scott talks about building trust with his team, the nonstop nature of B2B service work, and why he believes culture is the ultimat...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . From getting fired as a bartender to running a multi-crew painting company, Matt Carlson has seen it all. In this episode of SMB15, Matt shares the raw story of building M. Carlson Painting over 25+ years: the mistakes, the systems, the culture, and why reputation is the only real warranty in business. Some takeaways: * Paying your guys more lets you demand more...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . When COVID hit, Ryan Baskins was selling HVAC systems to hotels — not a great place to be. Over beers with a friend, he had a realization: 3D printing had finally gotten good enough to launch physical products without a factory. That spark led to Chatelet Manufacturing, a fast-growing additive manufacturing business with 80 printers and a thriving B2B and consume...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Julia Callahan quit a stable career in medical sales to knock on doors with a handwritten notebook. Less than a year later, she’s grown Jubilee Cleaning Services to 17 employees and $70K/month in revenue. What started as a low-overhead side hustle has become a full-time mission — delivering dignity through cleaning while building an operation that can scale. In t...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Ryan Robinson didn’t grow up dreaming of shingles. But after working in transportation and getting laid off during a downturn, he fell into roofing — and never looked back. Today he’s the co-owner of Upright Roofing and Construction, one of the fastest-growing roofing businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Along the way, he’s also built a paintless dent repair...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . After 14 years as a railroad engineer, Scott Gunter bet the house — and $116K — on a single container of packaging from a Chinese supplier he’d never spoken to. That gamble paid off. Today, he runs JarCo, a growing print and packaging business in Arkansas with clients in food & beverage, schools, and beyond. In this episode, we get into what it takes to run a hyb...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . California has 6,000 metal fabrication shops and very few successors to run them. Jules Brenner is on a mission to fix that. Through Industrial Succession, he’s buying and operating metal fabrication shops that serve time-sensitive and highly engineered use cases — from data centers to critical infrastructure. In this episode, Jules shares what makes the successi...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . After stints in investment banking and private equity, Chris acquired System Six in July 2021, a remote accounting firm serving SMBs. He doubled the team, expanding into payroll and tax, and built a fully remote operation spanning 25+ states and 3 countries. Along the way, he's been active in the Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) community, frequently sp...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Many assume print is dying, but Connor Pera would disagree. After acquiring The Print Authority, he found a surprisingly durable and fragmented market filled with sticky B2B relationships and reoccurring demand. With a speciality in web-to-print services, Connor is on track to clear $3M in revenue in his third year of ownership. In this interview, we dive into th...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Paul never saw himself installing fences. After serving in the Marines straight out of high school, he joined the upper echeleons of finance at Blackrock, but something was missing. Once thing led to another and he left his career in finance behind to start a fencing company with his friend. Three years later, Hawk Fences is installing 15 fences a week for a mix...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Kyle has built the WeBuyUglyHouses of the floral industry. He won't pay top dollar, but he'll give retiring owners cash at close and let them drop the keys and walk into the sunset. What happens next is the product of dozens of acquisitions and treating flower shops like assembly lines. In this interview, we dive into his journey to developing a dialed playbook f...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . What does it take to build a vacation rental management company from scratch? Franklin Dusserre walks us through his journey building French Cowboys Management. What began as helping a few friends manage their Airbnb listings turned into a leading vacation rental management company in Austin, TX. In this interview, we dive into the Golden Age of Airbnb, the chang...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . John started in debt collections right out of college. Staked by his former boss in his late 20s to buy his first agency, he's spent the last two decades quietly scaling in a misunderstood industry. Today, he runs a national network of 16 collection agencies serving hospitals, banks, and utilities across the country. In this interview, we go deep on what most peo...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Shawn Allard is the owner of Novel Ice Cream, a multi-location ice cream shop in Phoenix known for its inventive flavors and standout branding. After starting his career in dental consultancy, Shawn knew he wanted to find a more entrepreneurial path. He discovered the entrepreneurship through acquisition (EtA) world on Twitter. Within a year, he acquired Novel Ic...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Kyle Miller is part of a third-generation family business that started in the 1950s supplying parts to ships in the Port of Detroit. Fast forward 70 years, the company is now headquartered out of Charlotte, NC and primarily focuses on distributing fasteners across a wide range of applications. In this episode, we get into the history of Bamal Fasteners, life work...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . After working on the family business with his father, Matt Railla joined Transworld business brokerage in Los Angeles. But he didn’t stay there for long. In 2024, he bought one of his own listings: Top Termite Co. He’s now the owner-operator of a trusted termite inspection business in California, doing over 1,500 inspections a year. In this interview, we discuss...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Bob Frisch grew up in the family business, helping his dad demolish pools across Southern California. Today, he’s at the helm of Frisch & Sons, the leading pool demo company in Orange County. With small lots and the rising popularity of ADUs, Frisch & Sons stays busy helping homeowners reclaim valuable backyard space. Some takeaways: * Explosion of ADUs is drivin...

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube . Royal Flush is the fastest growing portable sanitation company in the Vegas market. That wasn't always the case. When Scott acquired it, the trailing twelve months of revenue was only $150K. Now the business grosses over $3M. In this episode, we get a crash course in operating and growing a portable sanitation business. Some takeaways: * Most sanitation businesse...