've been reading a book recommended by Niklas, my partner in Minds Capital.

It's called The Compounders: From Small Acquisitions to Giant Shareholder Returns.

As one of the blurbs says about the book, it's a "blueprint for turning small acquisitions into generational wealth."

Well today's guests have set out to build a compounder themselves in the HVAC space.

Greg Shapiro and Zach Cooper-Vastola are two of the three founding partners of Hickory, which today sits at $80 million topline, with 300 people and 200 vehicles.

We hear the story of their first acquisition — in Manhattan, of all places — and how their vision has evolved in the 8 years since.

Today they see themselves as the anti-PE home for trades businesses in a world where PE is gobbling up the trades.

This is the origin story of the compounder business that Greg, Zach, and the team at Hickory aim to build — and a business that I know many of you too would love to build.

Here are Greg Shapiro and Zach Cooper-Vastola, co-founders of Hickory.