Key Points From the Interview
sk any acquisition entrepreneur who bought a blue collar business what the most difficult aspect of running their business is.
For 9 out of 10, the answer will be:
People.
Lots of worker turnover in blue collar businesses.
Now imagine you run a seasonal blue collar business, with waves of sales in the spring and fall, but still waters in summer and winter.
That seasonality just adds to your staffing complexity, and you're likely to see that much more churn.
Andrew Harbin bought an awning business outside Pittsburgh.
The awning business is seasonal, with high seasons in spring & fall.
And Andrew came up with a solution to this issue:
Do a second business whose high season is his first business's low season — thereby smoothing out the seasonality and allowing him to retain the crews he so painstakingly hired and trained.
We get into all that, plus the usual goodness:
Andrew's search, what he paid, how's he grown, and his plan to get to $1m in EBITDA in 5 years.
Enjoy this interview with Andrew Harbin of Venango Awning:
Sponsors
August Felker is a 2-time successful searcher — first with a traditional search fund; the second time around, he did a self-funded search.
Today August runs Oberle Risk Strategies, an insurance firm with a dedicated practice group for searchers and acquisition entrepreneurs like you.
If you've got a business under LOI, Oberle will provide complimentary due diligence on that business's insurance and benefits program. A great, no-risk way to get to know August & team.
They love helping searchers; they've worked with hundreds. Oberle is a specialty insurance brokerage for searchers, by a former searcher.
Check out the Search Fund Team at Oberle.
