henmark is a name many of you will know.

The 3 founders of the Maine-based holdco quit Wall Street in 2015 to go out and buy small businesses to hold and operate forever.

Today's guest Trish Higgins is one of those founders.

Trish and her two partners are often on panels and podcasts (including episode 55 of Acquiring Minds) doing high-level talks about holdcos and small business acquisition.

But I had Trish on today just for storytime.

I wanted to hear about a particular acquisition, that of Cap'n Fish's Cruises, a boat tour business in Maine.

Trish Higgins - Cap'n Fish's Cruises
Trish Higgins with the GM of Cap'n Fish's Cruises

Even for Chenmark, whose founding principle was to take the road less traveled, this seemed like such a funky, unlikely, and, frankly, unappealing business.

I wanted to understand what Trish saw that I didn't.

Well, she delivered; you're going to learn a lot about what to look for in these businesses.

And by the way:

We do actually get into some high-level stuff about Chenmark overall. (I couldn't resist.) So the actual story part of the interview doesn't start until around minute 20.

Please enjoy my conversation with Trish Higgins, cofounder of Chenmark.👇👇👇

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