Think Like an Owner

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 experie...

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...

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 loo...

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...

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, wit...

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 fo...

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...

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 tw...

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 looko...

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...

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 bu...

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 conversat...

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, trainin...

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 prom...

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...

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,...

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 tra...

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...

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/3Q...

Ep.186: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Brian Yormak ( @brian-yormak ). My guest is Brian Yormak, co-founder of Story Ventures alongside his brother Jake, a venture capital firm with a strong focus in data and data software. I connected with Brian as they are an investor in past guest Craig Fuller's media and data company FreightWaves and are one of the few VCs with a strong focus in data. I've...

Ep.185: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Michael Horowitz ( @mahorowitz ). My guest today is Michael Horowitz who recently sold a roll-up of 20 Wingstop franchise locations (15 acquired, 7 built, 1 closed) and co-authored a paper with A.J. Wasserstein about the franchise path for entrepreneurs. In this conversation, we discuss his strategy and components of an effective franchise roll-up. We tou...

My guest today is Nick Huber, founder of now over a dozen companies beyond Bolt Storage, his self-storage business he's perhaps most well-known for. Check out our first episode together, episode 68, for more about Bolt Storage. Nick has used his growing Twitter following as a top-of-funnel for all these companies, all of which serve each other in a pretty unique entrepreneurial ecosystem.  Nick an...

Ep.183: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Mark Valdez ( @_markvaldez ). My guest Mark Valdez is the founder and CEO of Eads Bridge Holdings, a holding company with a tech-enabled thesis, and now the owner of a behavioral health business, Stokes Counseling. Mark and I talk about what a tech-focused thesis looks like in practice and what it means to be a software-defined holding company, dynamics i...

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/3Q...

Ep.181: Alex ( @aebridgeman ) is joined by Ben Tagoe ( @btagoe ). My guest today is Ben Tagoe, CEO of Objective Management Group who through a partner network provides sales assessments to sales teams and individual salespeople. Founded over 30 years ago, they have assessed millions of salespeople and 10s of thousands of companies across hundreds of industries. They are a fascinating business that...