oday's interview has two key themes.
The first is about the vision of friends Sarah Chiles & Matthew Ferguson, natives of Aspen, Colorado, who wanted to partner on something entrepreneurial.
When they saw the opportunity, both financial and to preserve the fabric of their hometown, they decided to buy a local Aspen business.
And it probably wouldn't be a one-off.
They could grow their impact in the rapidly-gentrifying town by acquiring other local institutions over time, assembling something of a hometown holdco.
We spend the first part of the interview exploring this vision, its strengths, its potential in other geographies.
Part two is about their acquisition, an auto repair shop, the only one for an hour in any direction.
There is a lot to learn here:
- How to recover from the loss of their key man, the shop manager.
- How to earn the trust of mechanics.
- Putting in best practices to grow revenue.
- The value of industry peer groups.
- Decentralizing power in an organization to strengthen it.
And much more.
I love this tackle shop-style business and hearing how Sarah & Matthew have navigated becoming owners of it.
But I especially love the larger vision here. A hometown holdco, and the flywheel and purpose that such a model embodies.
Maybe that's how you should approach your search.
Here they are, Sarah Chiles & Matthew Ferguson, owners of Aspen Total Automotive.
