Key Points From the Interview
ost business owners in the US will have heard about private equity and roll-ups.
But while consolidation of fragmented industries is a mature concept here, it is less so in many markets around the world.
Today's guests, Francisco Del Rio and Diego Silva, are bringing it to an industry in their native Chile.
Francisco was itching to do something entrepreneurial, and he connected with former classmates from business school who had rolled up 200 veterinary clinics here in the US.
He liked what he heard and thought a similar model could work in Chile — even though he knew nothing about the veterinary industry.
Flash forward:
- he's partnered with Diego
- there have been 5 acquisitions total
- and by the end of next year, 2025, they aim for that number to be 15.
Now you'll notice that many patterns in their journey are actually similar to those of their US counterparts:
For example, it's difficult to find owners with decent businesses, willing to sell for a reasonable price.
Many of the owners are technicians first, in this case veterinarians, and the business side of their businesses suffer from neglect.
So there are low-hanging opportunities in simply introducing CRMs, variable compensation schemes, and other operational best practices.
All of that is familiar.
But there are other elements to their journey that are different:
The trust building takes longer in an environment where small businesses are rarely sold, let alone to strangers.
Accessing capital & financing is more difficult because Chilean investors are also not used to seeing roll-up ventures.
On the positive side, the market is untapped. So there is a great opportunity to be first-movers with a powerful model.
So we can all learn from what Francisco & Diego are building down in Chile, but especially those of you who may be wondering if you can be among the first to bring ETA and roll-ups to your own home market.
Here they are, Francisco Del Rio and Diego Silva, owners and builders of LatamVet.