One Year Later: Holdco Grows to $75m in Total Revenue

March 16, 2023
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t's super cool what Justin Turner and his partners are building at their holdco Traction Capital.

Justin came on about a year ago to discuss Traction's backstory and the 4 acquisitions they'd made.

A few weeks ago I saw Justin tweet that they'd bought 2 more businesses recently, so I invited him back on.

For those of you with dreams of a holdco, Traction is showing the way.

Five years ago, they hadn't made a single acquisition.

Today, with these 2 new acquisitions, Traction stands at $75m in revenue across the portfolio of 6 businesses.

And it's a really diverse mix: distribution for firefighters & first responders, ecom, brick & mortar retail, paving, asphalt milling, and disaster restoration.

Those latter 2 are the new additions, both with interesting features.

Listen for how the asphalt milling deal came through the existing paving business.

And the disaster restoration business is Traction's first franchise acquisition, so it's valuable to hear how Justin & team thought through that.

By the way, Justin will be on stage at SMBash in Austin in April, so if you're there make sure to say hello.

OK, here is Justin Turner of Traction Capital.

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One Year Later: Holdco Grows to $75m in Total Revenue

Justin Turner returns with details on 2 new acquisitions by his holdco Traction, plus updates on the existing 4 portcos.

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Introduction

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I

t's super cool what Justin Turner and his partners are building at their holdco Traction Capital.

Justin came on about a year ago to discuss Traction's backstory and the 4 acquisitions they'd made.

A few weeks ago I saw Justin tweet that they'd bought 2 more businesses recently, so I invited him back on.

For those of you with dreams of a holdco, Traction is showing the way.

Five years ago, they hadn't made a single acquisition.

Today, with these 2 new acquisitions, Traction stands at $75m in revenue across the portfolio of 6 businesses.

And it's a really diverse mix: distribution for firefighters & first responders, ecom, brick & mortar retail, paving, asphalt milling, and disaster restoration.

Those latter 2 are the new additions, both with interesting features.

Listen for how the asphalt milling deal came through the existing paving business.

And the disaster restoration business is Traction's first franchise acquisition, so it's valuable to hear how Justin & team thought through that.

By the way, Justin will be on stage at SMBash in Austin in April, so if you're there make sure to say hello.

OK, here is Justin Turner of Traction Capital.

About

Justin Turner

Justin Turner

Show Notes

Justin Turner returns with details on 2 new acquisitions by his holdco Traction, plus updates on the existing 4 portcos. 

Topics in Justin’s interview:

  • Justin helps run investment firm Traction Capital Partners
  • How Traction is different from Private Equity
  • The risks of buying into a franchise network
  • How he bought one of his vendors
  • Lessons learned from buying 6 businesses
  • Driving sales in a disaster restoration business 
  • Doubling revenue in 5 years for a Fire Department supply business 
  • Facing the post-Covid economic downturn
  • Rising competition for acquiring a business
  • Trends in the blue and white collar labor market

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