egular listeners of Acquiring Minds know that while we celebrate fast growth and big numbers, we also champion long-termism, going slow to go fast, and success factors that go beyond EBITDA and IRR.

So we were excited for today's interview with Brendan Duebner.

Brendan's vision for his business is not to grow as big as possible.

Instead his target is a certain, modest size: 20 to 40 people.

‍This number is akin to the tribes of prehistory, or Army platoons. It's a number where mutual dependence, shared purpose, and cohesion more naturally occur. All properties sorely lacking in modern life.

Now, Brendan is also a capitalist. Building wealth is certainly part of his project as well.

But it is neither paramount, nor unbounded.

‍He seems to already perceive something that many guests do not perceive before they get into their businesses, but only later learn:

That there is deep gratification in the impact you can have on your employees as owner of a business.

Brendan bought a very small business — just $300k of SDE, 4 employees — and we talk about how his long-term vision influences his thoughts on size.

We also unpack his deal structure; listen closely there to learn how structure can mitigate the risk in the acquisition of such a small business.

Here he is, Brendan Duebner, owner of IT Total Care.