The Boardroom Buzz: Grow, Sell, or Exit

Link To Video Episode You know there’s going to be good information when the interview starts with a legal disclaimer. Phil Tortorich sits down poolside with Paul and Patrick in The Boardroom’s first San Juan Session. This interview is the prelude to Paul and his wife sitting down with Phil for Paul’s personal planning. Phil made his Boardroom debut in Episode 73. Phil steps into the outdoor Board...

You can sprinkle pixie dust and hold your breath, or you can build a system to deliver a world-class experience for your customers. Stop waiting to exhale and step into The Boardroom with our guest Vance Morris. Vance shares his best practices for service businesses from his time at Disney operations. He’s going to clue you in on ways to set yourself apart from your competition. Hear how ownership...

The locker room meets The Boardroom as Paul and Patrick visit with the newly appointed president of Nisus , Lee Barrett. It wasn’t just any ordinary agent that got Lee his start in pest control. The franchise leader pushed his West Coast way forward from the mailroom at US Borax to now president at Nisus. With 30 years under his belt in the industry, which type of coach is now at the helm of Team...

Paul makes a trip to the Holy Land, but has he found the Holy Grail? Tel Aviv’s high-tech hub creates a new generation of mousetraps. Paul visits with Ronen Amichai and Ethan Vickery of PestOptix to see how future technology is now a reality. The pair of tech-forward thinkers go all-in on digital to change the industry. Pest control is full of countless creatures, but the most reliable is the crea...

Paul claims that this is “one of the most valuable sessions we have done thus far, if not the most valuable session, when it comes to very, very important estate planning issues.” Before jumping into estates and trusts with attorney Phil Tortorich , The Boardroom conversation begins with the pros and cons of various entity structures. Paul recalls witnessing a debate between Phil and Paul’s CPA re...

If you’re not too busy breaking fire boards or walking on crushed glass, step into The Boardroom with Mike Agugliaro. On his own at age 15, Mike chose the martial arts and vocational school combo. Follow Mike’s path scaling from electrician to entrepreneur to exits. Exits, yes, plural. There were times when Mike and his business partner, Rob, fought for survival. Hear how together they chose the p...

"How do you best sabotage the wealth building exercise of growing a business?" sounds so gloom and doom. It could be re-stated "how do you increase the value of your business?" for the eternal optimists out there. It's not often that Patrick gets away with giving Paul homework. In no particular order, The Boardroom duo makes it through a top seven list. Now it's time for you to do your homework. E...

Class is in session. Log this one in your planner as a case study on search funds. Harvard Business School classmates, Jay Davis and Jason Pananos, left their successful careers behind to find search funds, or maybe, search funds found them. One minor (major) problem. The year is 2008. Armed with patient investors and critical criteria, the determined duo found themselves in pest control, specific...

A listener’s economic question kicks off this episode although Patrick admits to his own self-interest. Following the listener’s follow-up research on Supernova , the signals and signs are out there, but what are they? The conversation inside The Boardroom turns to investing and the economy. As you can imagine, this episode earns its fair share of financial disclaimers.  Paul chooses to self-manag...

Paul goes unplugged in this interview. Literally. Maybe this was part of Paul’s plan to get Allan back for another episode, but the show must go on. This isn't an ivory tower novel. What was the powering force for Allan writing The 1-Page Marketing Plan ? You’ll be glad that Allan wrote a book to himself but shared it with everyone. Paul name drops some of the biggest names in direct response mark...

Guest Bryan Dodge kicks off the interview as the host as you’ll hear him interviewing Paul. Young Paul was an entrepreneur in the… farming industry?!? From Cornell to investment banking to private equity, Paul opens up about his world traveling backstory with Bryan.  It must be a prank when McGraw-Hill, one of the largest publishers in the world, calls you. It’s a good thing Bryan answered that ca...

That’s a wrap on the Atlanta Sessions, but Paul is already heading back to Atlanta for a celebratory dinner. Congrats to Anticimex and Pestban! Patrick knows the emotions involved in selling a business. Imagine the feeling when your out-of-the-know acquirer calls the office line. There is more chatter about private equity. Is this a tell-tale sign of the bubble? What scenarios make sense for priva...

Congratulations to Brian Alexson on his recent promotion at Anticimex (AX). Quicker than you can say SMART, Brian rose the ranks from reporting to Senator Scott Stevenson to the President of Anticimex North America. Stockholm-based Anticimex views North America as a new frontier. AX entered the US in 2016, and now sits at #8 on PCT's Top 100 list . With $1 billion in its sights, will AX provide co...

Andreas was first mentioned in Episode 23 via shared credit for Nomor’s turnaround alongside Svein Olav Stölen and Robert Stierngranat. It’s time to put the spotlight on former Nomor COO Andreas and his wife, Victoria . Victoria represents the world’s largest privately held leadership development organization, Franklin Covey . (Yes, as in Stephen Covey's  The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Peopl...

How did Arrow Exterminators grow into the $300 million family business it is today? Step into The Boardroom as Emily Thomas Kendrick takes us back to Arrow’s humble beginnings. What sounds like an episode of Breaking Bad, was just Emily’s PawPaw cooking up business greatness. Step back to hear Arrow’s family heritage, including Joe “Chief” Thomas taking the reins in the ‘70s and Emily’s rise to Ch...

What hatched as a Peugeot and an island dream, turned into the breeding grounds for the largest pure-play mosquito business, Mr. Mister . Evolving their client-technician relationship, Matt Brill and Ryan Claterbaugh, quickly qualified for PCT's Top 100 list. Matt sits down to share their recipe for success in the first Atlanta Session. As mosquito franchises swarm this industry, Mr. Mister progre...

Patrick and Paul have been busy during the break. Tune in to find out what they’ve been up to since the end of Season 1 and what's next for Season 2. The two look back at Project Black Bear. Behind the scenes of the process, Patrick was able to visit with Rentokil’s Alex Nigh and other potential acquirers. As a client, what does Patrick have to say about his first hand experience working with the...

Brett Ponton makes his first industry media appearance since taking over at Terminix . The Boardroom Buzz took the show on the road as Brett and Paul joined Patrick in Waco. Why Waco? Check out Episode 59. Brett has a storied history in the automotive industry. So what is it that steered him to Terminix? His experience with private equity and publicly traded companies fill his resume, but this sto...

Welcome back to Season 2. Head over to  ProjectBlackBear.com  for a video-only episode. Subscribe to our YouTube channel -  youtube.com/theboardroombuzz

Before jumping into next week's Supernova presentation, Paul and Patrick catch up on all things M&A. Tune in to hear what the strategic acquirers have been up to so far this year. Gambling, gold, or gambling for gold. Before signing off for Season 1, Paul recalls clients who found even greater wealth after pest control. A few seats remain for Supernova. Register today. It’s not even July. Is t...

From mixologist to MBA to management trainee, Kyle Varona traveled a road less taken into his family's pest control business. Instead of graduating into Fahey! Pest & Lawn Solutions , it was Truly Nolen - the business - that launched Kyle into his post-college career. It was Truly Nolen - the (legend) person - that inspired Kyle along the way. Customer reviews do a lot more than make a phone r...

Peter Schiff joins Paul for lunch at Dorado Beach to chat about currency, asset prices, and what is coming down the pipeline for America's economy. Peter is a successful investor, author, and host of  The Peter Schiff Show . Before stepping into this interview, you'll hear Peter's 2006  CNBC's Kudlow & Company  clip in which he predicts the economic downturn.  Of all days to visit, Paul and Pe...

Sally sells seashells by the seashore, but Shelley wants to know about selling her pest control company and starting back up in a nearby area. Brands, logos, and restrictive covenants come to mind. What else will Patrick pull out of the mystery grab bag of listener-submitted questions? While Shelley is curious about making an exit, Jesse wants to know about competition. Does The Boardroom Buzz duo...

The marketing game is rigged. What would happen if advertising utilized a President-producing marketing machine? Phillip Stutts introduces his Undefeated Marketing System in this game-changing interview. There isn't enough room for our guest's resumé. Phillip has worked on eight presidential campaigns. Here are a few previous clients: Pres. George W. Bush, Sen. Bob Dole, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Jo...

One year after selling  Responsible Pest & Scorpion Services  to  Certus , Darin Huffaker recalls the glory and not-so-glory days. From California to Arizona to Idaho, Darin and his brother, David Huffaker, made big moves along the way. Darin is quick to share mistakes, and how the siblings journeyed together in this turnaround.  Responsible found top-line growth on the doors, but it trickled...