Buyers and Builders

The Buyers and Builders podcast with PrivateEquityGuy is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about holding companies, buying and building businesses, entrepreneurship, investing, and more. Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

Buyers and Builders is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 176 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Buyers and Builders, a business show with 176 episodes published.

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  Buyers and Builders

  The Anti-Private Equity Playbook: Buy Great Businesses and Don’t Change Them | Justin Escajeda

  Aug 25, 202644 min

  My guest today is Justin Escajeda, an entrepreneur who owns 12 trade businesses around Pittsburgh, employing roughly 250 people and generating more than $50 million in annual revenue. What makes Justin’s story interesting is that he never set out to become an acquisition entrepreneur. He started in masonry, construction and real estate before buying his first roofing company which did $600k in SDE in 2018 for $846k. That acquisition changed how he thought about building businesses. Today, Justin owns companies across masonry, roofing, insurance, material supply, general contracting, property management and luxury remodeling. His approach is unusually simple: buy businesses that already work, preserve what made them successful, put great operators in charge and resist the temptation to change things simply because you can. We also explore how he manages 12 businesses without micromanaging them, the four KPIs he watches every day and why he stopped taking cash from portfolio companies to fund new acquisitions. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Building a $50M portfolio of trade businesses 1:24 The first acquisition that changed everything 4:34 Buying a roofing company for under $1M with an SBA loan 6:21 Why Justin never wants to start another company 8:15 Why he avoids changing businesses after buying them 12:24 Inside a portfolio of 12 trade businesses 15:00 The acquisition Justin overpaid for 16:49 SBA loans, cash, and why he prefers seller financing 22:25 Solving key-person risk after an acquisition 27:14 Growing companies without micromanaging operators 31:05 Why Justin went an entire year without buying anything 34:38 The four numbers he watches every day 37:42 A $300K mistake, liquidity, and why ownership isn’t passive This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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  Buyers and Builders

  Masters of Private Equity: Warren Hellman, Tully Friedman and Joseph Rice

  Aug 18, 202651 min

  In 2010, Robert Finkel wrote the book The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital: Management Lessons from the Pioneers of Private Investing In this episode, I explore the ideas, decisions, successes, and failures of two people who helped define modern private equity: Joseph Rice, co-founder of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Warren Hellman, co-founder of Hellman & Friedman. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The Masters of Private Equity 2:15 Private equity is more than buying and selling companies 5:42 What separates the best private equity investors 7:14 Joseph Rice: Building Clayton, Dubilier & Rice 10:13 Jack Welch’s advice during the 2008 crisis: “Hammer them” 15:23 The failed deal that changed how Rice invested forever 19:28 Lexmark: Turning an IBM division into an entrepreneurial company 22:06 Kinko’s, a total loss, and the danger of believing you can do anything 26:20 Joseph Rice’s five lessons from 40+ years in private equity 31:03 Warren Hellman: Building Hellman & Friedman 32:23 “This time is different” — the investing lesson Hellman never forgot 36:35 Every investment is guilty until proven innocent 39:51 Think like an owner, not an employee 42:38 Levi Strauss and the deal that put Hellman & Friedman on the map 45:34 Why a great security can still be a terrible investment 49:08 Warren Hellman’s five rules for investing This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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  Buyers and Builders

  How Two First-Time CEOs Bought a $5M EBITDA Business | Greg Geronemus Interview

  Aug 12, 202657 min

  Greg Geronemus bought a ~$5M EBITDA business with no operating experience, financed half the purchase price with a seller note, and spent his first year doing something most new owners struggle to do: almost nothing. Four years later, the business was larger, professionally managed, dramatically delevered, and sold at roughly 9x EBITDA—producing just under a 5x net return and ~50% net IRR for investors. Greg breaks down the entire journey: finding the deal, negotiating the structure, taking over from a deeply embedded founder, deciding what not to change, discovering the growth channels that actually worked, and ultimately selling the company. Above all, this is an episode about buying well. Because you can change your team, strategy, marketing, systems, and operations after closing. You cannot change the price you paid or the structure you agreed to. For anyone searching for, buying, financing, or operating a business, this is a case study worth studying. Timestamps: 0:00 From Private Equity to Buying a Business 5:12 The High-Volume Strategy for Finding Deals 7:42 The Unlikely Chain of Introductions That Found smarTours 10:01 The Deal: ~5x EBITDA and 50% Seller Financing 13:50 From First Meeting to a $29M Acquisition 17:18 What Made This Business So Attractive 23:14 How the $29M Acquisition Was Financed 25:21 The First 100 Days: Don’t Screw It Up 31:35 Why Great Buyers Go Slow Before They Go Fast 35:23 Modernizing the Business—and What Didn’t Work 39:39 The Growth Breakthrough Nobody Expected 44:12 Selling the Business, ~5x Returns This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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  Buyers and Builders

  Inside a Public 14-Acquisition Compounder | Eric Tan and Patrick Grove

  Aug 5, 20261h 2m

  Eric Tan and Patrick Grove are building one of Southeast Asia's most interesting serial acquirers. As CEO of Catcha Digital, they've completed 14 acquisitions while creating a permanent home for market-leading businesses across digital media, B2B exhibitions, and vertical software. In this conversation, Eric shares why his failed startup became the foundation for Catcha Digital, how they evaluate hundreds of acquisition opportunities, why culture matters more than spreadsheets, and what he's learned from studying companies like Constellation Software, Danaher, Roper and Europe's leading compounders. We also dive deep into capital allocation, decentralized operations, buy-and-build strategies, and why live events may become even more valuable in the AI era. Timestamps: 0:00 Building Southeast Asia's serial acquirer 1:00 From failed startup to Catcha Digital 8:20 How Catcha Digital operates a decentralized holding company 13:05 Why 99 out of 100 acquisition opportunities get rejected 15:25 Lessons from Sweden's best serial acquirers 24:00 Why B2B trade exhibitions are exceptional businesses 28:40 The software acquisition strategy inspired by Constellation Software 30:15 The buy-and-build playbook behind Catcha Digital's growth 39:00 Learning from Danaher, Roper, Constellation & other compounders 43:50 Why live events become more valuable in an AI world 47:00 Working with Patrick Grove & building an acquisition machine 51:00 Capital allocation, going public & balancing long-term thinking with quarterly results This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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  Buyers and Builders

  Traditional Search Is a Win-Win: $67M Exit in Four Years | Greg Geronemus Interview

  Jul 16, 202655 min

  Greg Geronemus is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Footbridge Partners, one of the leading investors in Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA). Before launching Footbridge, Greg and his partner David acquired a business generating approximately $5 million of EBITDA, paid down most of its $20 million debt load, grew EBITDA by roughly 50%, and ultimately exited at around 9x EBITDA—roughly four turns higher than their entry multiple. Today, through Footbridge, Greg backs the next generation of search fund entrepreneurs and acquisition leaders across North America. We discuss the rise of self-funded search, committed capital vehicles, why buying businesses has become more competitive, the real economics behind different search models, and the mindset required to survive a process that often takes years. Timestamps: 0:00 Greg's acquisition story and introduction to ETA 1:03 How search funds have changed since 2010 6:40 Raising equity and debt when almost nobody understood search 10:40 Is buying businesses actually harder today? 17:30 The Harvard ETA course that changed the industry 24:42 The mindset required to survive a two-year search 27:16 Traditional search vs. self-funded search explained 35:33 The biggest misconception about ownership and wealth 40:22 Why committed capital vehicles are exploding 48:38 What Greg looks for when backing acquisition entrepreneurs 50:24 If you had $500k today—which path would you choose? 53:08 Greg's advice for future searchers This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

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