Most roll-ups run on a clock.

‍Outside equity is raised and it comes with a return to deliver and a date to deliver it by.

That pressure shows up as velocity — deals done fast, debt that never amortizes, an exit at the end.

Today's guest is building one with no outside equity at all, and so no reason to hurry.

Tyler Hoffman bought Metro Wireless, a Detroit managed IT and connectivity company, in late 2021 at 28 years old.

‍Eight months in, his largest customer gave 30 days notice and walked, taking 25% of revenue and half of earnings with it.

Which meant Tyler had effectively paid twice what he thought for the business — the 3.7x he'd been proud of became more like 7, overnight.

Revenue fell to $3.6 million, and there were Fridays he cleared payroll only because a check landed on Thursday.

It took two years to climb out.

Today Metro Wireless is at $9 million of run-rate revenue and more than $2 million of EBITDA, with three tuck-in acquisitions behind it — two of them bought at 2x.Tyler's plan is to reach $50 million in revenue by 2035, mostly by acquisition.

And listen for the pace he's setting.

A president he promoted from within runs the day-to-day, so Tyler spends 10 to 15 hours a week in the core business, and he is not building this to sell.

An entrepreneurial roll-up, with Tyler as sole owner.

‍Here he is, Tyler Hoffman, owner of Metro Wireless.