Running a business can feel like you're doing it all alone—but you don’t have to.
Scalepath connects you with a private network of over 2,000 experienced operators, and CEO Rand Larsen will personally intro you to 3 like-minded business owners in your area.
It’s part mastermind, part growth engine, part therapy.
👉 Book your free intro call at https://www.joinscalepath.com/

Want to grow your B2B business? Start with your inbox.
Spacebar Studios builds B2B newsletters that drive pipeline, build authority, and generate real revenue.
- 115k+ subs in compliance
- 7-figure ARR from email

First 6 founders get theirs built free
👉 Reserve your slot here: https://www.spacebarstudios.co/inquire

Today on HoldCo Builders, I’m joined by Chris Hoffman, CEO of HP Solutions Group, the $200M+ holding company behind one of America’s fastest-growing residential services brands. Chris and his brother took over their father's $9M HVAC business in 2015 and turned it into a multi-brand platform with over 600 employees — all without raising outside capital.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 - From $9M to $150M: Why scaling gets easier
00:01:22 - The mastermind that transformed our business
00:03:56 - We didn’t invent the playbook, we executed the process playbook
00:04:56 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:06:54 - I almost let my ego kill our growth
00:08:19 - How we grew 35% annually for 8 years
00:10:02 - Should more entrepreneurs take part in masterminds?
00:11:37 - Why I paid myself $80K for 5 years
00:15:01 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:15:30 - How we built a game-changing advisory board
00:19:38 - We hired a board member as our company president
00:22:24 - Running a family business without the drama
00:25:33 - Our mission: Become the #1 private home service company
00:31:19 - Why we only do 1–2 acquisitions a year
00:33:33 - Only looking for markets with a lot of tailwinds
00:37:35 - Competing with private equity on great deals
00:42:28 - How we 2.5x’d profit at Ferguson Roofing
00:46:18 - The financing strategy that fuels our sales
00:52:49 - How we scaled with zero outside capital
00:55:51 - Capital allocation and debt terms from the banks
00:58:43 - The mindset shift to break through the $30M ceiling
01:01:34 - The goal is to just stay in the business and do the same things we’ve done so far

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh?si=cP_nAarhRmep1lvnR6uk5g

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Running a business can feel like you're doing it all alone—but you don’t have to.
Scalepath connects you with a private network of over 2,000 experienced operators, and CEO Rand Larsen will personally intro you to 3 like-minded business owners in your area.
It’s part mastermind, part growth engine, part therapy.
👉 Book your free intro call at https://www.joinscalepath.com/

Want to grow your B2B business? Start with your inbox.
Spacebar Studios builds B2B newsletters that drive pipeline, build authority, and generate real revenue.
- 115k+ subs in compliance
- 7-figure ARR from email
First 6 founders get theirs built free
👉 Reserve your slot here: https://www.spacebarstudios.com

What if the key to building real wealth wasn’t in startups or VC, but in buying simple, cash-flowing businesses?

In this episode, we dive deep into the minds of Royce Yudkoff and Rick Ruback — the Harvard professors who quietly shaped the world of search funds and acquisition entrepreneurship. Their ETA class at HBS has launched hundreds of successful HoldCos and operators.

We explore the two paths of search (funded vs. self-funded), why the multiple matters more than growth, what red flags kill deals, and how great operators build empires by holding longer.

If you’ve ever thought about buying a business — this is the playbook.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro: The Hidden Giants Behind ETA
00:01:01 - The Bifurcation of Search: Funded vs. Self-Funded
00:05:23 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:06:16 - The Magic Is in the Multiples, Not Growth
00:09:51 - What to Look For: 5 Filters for Great Acquisitions
00:13:58 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:14:54 - Red Flags That Quietly Kill Deals
00:19:01 - Where Real Growth Actually Comes From
00:21:58 - Why Great Operators Still Sell Too Early
00:25:51 - The Real Search Process (And Why It Works)
00:29:45 - More Money Than Time: The Real Reason to Buy a Business

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh?si=cP_nAarhRmep1lvnR6uk5g

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Scalepath connects you with a trusted network of over 2,000 business owners across the U.S. and Europe.
Book a free call with CEO Rand Larsen, and he’ll personally introduce you to up to 3 vetted business owners in your region.

Because in business, the right relationships change everything.
Schedule your free intro call now: https://www.joinscalepath.com

Want more qualified leads without guessing what to do next?
Spacebar Studios is offering HoldCo Builders listeners a free 90-day demand generation roadmap tailored to your business.

You’ll get 2–3 clear growth actions you can implement immediately.
Book your free strategy call here: https://www.spacebarstudios.co

Jack Bennett is the co-founder of Lighthouse Capital, a firm advising and investing in small business acquisitions across the U.S. and Canada. In just under two years, Jack and his team have closed over 20 deals, built a 10-location accounting roll-up generating $8M in revenue, and developed a unique dual structure combining M&A advisory and direct equity investments.

In this episode, we cover:
00:00:00 - Introduction to Jack Bennett & Lighthouse Capital
00:00:47 - Building a ghostwriting agency for wealthy clients
00:04:48 - Spacebar Studios
00:07:30 - Meeting Ben Kelly and founding Lighthouse Capital
00:14:17 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:12:39 - Early days of Lighthouse and first hires
00:15:38 - Structure and the types of companies they invest in
00:17:25 - When do they decide to advise vs. invest
00:19:00 - Why combine M&A advisory and rollups
00:25:02 - Uniqueness of Lighthouse’s dual strategy
00:29:10 - Converting fees into equity and how it actually works
00:33:55 - Deal quality, ownership, and control
00:37:11 - Pros and cons of following the M&A and roll-up strategy at the same time
00:41:34 - Cash for equity and “see you at the first board meeting”
00:45:19 - Being the youngest on the founding team
00:48:39 - Four acquisitions and ten locations
00:52:09 - Everything post-acquisition
00:55:20 - The importance of integration
00:59:53 - What Jack believes earns him the best returns
01:03:29 - Is this the best investment advice you’ve ever heard?

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

Jack on X: https://x.com/jackentr3

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Scalepath has a network of over 2,000 business owners across the U.S. and Europe. Book a call with the CEO Rand Larsen, he will introduce you to up to 3 business owners in your area. Relationships run the world, don’t forget that. Sign up for a free call here: https://www.joinscalepath.com/

Spacebar Studios is offering your company a free 90-day growth roadmap - Sign up for a free call here: https://www.spacebarstudios.co/

Ever wonder what it takes to start a solo search fund in Europe? Luca Hany left investment banking and bet on himself to build Amboro Capital, one of the few traditional search funds in Switzerland.

In this raw and practical episode, Luca dives into his strategy, the gaps in the Swiss market, how he raised capital with no operating experience, and how he builds deal flow from scratch in a country with no public company database.

In this episode, we cover:
00:00:00 - Intro to Luca Hany and Amboro Capital
00:00:27 - Why Luca left investment banking after 6 years
00:02:22 - Discovering ETA and building a personal mode
00:04:44 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:05:16 - Why Switzerland is ripe for ETA—and why no one's doing it
00:07:52 - The Swiss succession crisis in SMEs
00:11:12 - Educating SME owners on alternatives to selling to competitors
00:13:42 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:14:12 - Letter-based outreach strategy and surprising owner reactions
00:16:30 - Lack of company databases and why it's actually an advantage
00:18:28 - Balancing fundraising, deal sourcing, and strategy
00:20:45 - Investor objections: "Does ETA even work in Switzerland?"
00:22:34 - Addressing lack of operating experience head-on
00:24:49 - Why Luca chose to go solo and how he avoids loneliness
00:26:11 - Real costs of doing a solo search in Switzerland
00:28:54 - Recruiting and paying top-tier interns
00:31:15 - What niches and industries Luca is targeting
00:35:49 - How he defines a great business (non-obvious signs)
00:38:00 - Adding Southern Germany to the search scope
00:40:55 - Real competition in the Swiss deal landscape
00:43:04 - Typical deal structures and seller expectations
00:48:15 - When to pull the trigger on a business
00:50:15 - Red lines, long-term vision, and personal motivation
00:54:13 - Best investment advice Luca ever received
00:55:00 - Is he under pressure? Why he sees this as a privilege
00:56:10 - Favorite book and closing reflections

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠⁠⁠

Luca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucahany/

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Spacebar Studios is offering your company a free 90-day growth roadmap - Sign up for a free call here: https://www.spacebarstudios.co/

Scalepath has a network of over 2,000 business owners across the U.S. and Europe. Book a call with the CEO Rand Larsen, he will introduce you to up to 3 business owners in your area. Relationships run the world, don’t forget that. Sign up for a free call here: https://www.joinscalepath.com/

Few realize Drew and Alex of The Chainsmokers are world-class operators and disciplined investors --- with over 220 portfolio companies through their investment firm, Mantis.

In this solo deep dive, I break down the real Chainsmokers story — from sleeping on floors and running fan CRMs to building a systemized investment engine backed by General Catalyst and Mark Cuban.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Why This Episode Exists
00:01:54 - What Drives the Great Ones
00:04:43 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:05:14 - Be Bad First, Then Get Good
00:07:31 - Systems Before Scale
00:10:29 - Two Questions Every Buyer Should Ask
00:14:01 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:15:14 - The Chainsmokers' Investments and Product Portfolio Today
00:19:20 - If Your Revenue Doubled Overnight, Would Your Systems Survive?
00:25:33 - Build Something Only You Can Build and Acquire
00:32:25 - People Don’t Trust People They Don’t See
00:34:58 - What It Looks Like in Year 10
00:36:35 - What Makes Long-Term Investing So Powerful: Everyone Else Burns Out
00:41:16 - Build a World, Not Just a Stack of Companies
00:47:01 - Fix the “Plumbing” Before You Scale
00:52:05 - Are You Building an Investment Firm Worth Joining?

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh?si=cP_nAarhRmep1lvnR6uk5g

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: ⁠⁠https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy

The Chainsmokers on Twitter: https://x.com/TheChainsmokers

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Spacebar Studios is offering your company a free 90-day growth roadmap - Sign up for a free call here: https://www.spacebarstudios.co/

Scalepath has a network of over 2,000 business owners across the U.S. and Europe. Book a call with the CEO Rand Larsen, he will introduce you to up to 3 business owners in your area. Relationships run the world, don’t forget that. Sign up for a free call here: https://www.joinscalepath.com/

Sam Mahmood is the co-founder of Pave, a holding company rolling up businesses in one of the most overlooked, unsexy, yet wildly lucrative sectors in America - paving and line striping. In just 11 months, Sam and his team have scaled to three companies doing $66M in revenue and $7M in EBITDA.

But Sam didn’t start in asphalt. He began in medical devices, building a national distribution and manufacturing business from scratch in his 20s. After taking chips off the table and stepping back, he went searching for his next billion-dollar opportunity. What he found? Line striping.

In this episode, we cover:
00:00:00 - Intro to Sam Mahmood and Pave
00:01:41 - From medical devices to rollups
00:05:22 - Sponsor: ScalePath
00:05:55 - Why Sam chose the paving industry
00:10:07 - Framework for choosing the right industry
00:13:22 - How to build an all-star advisory board
00:13:58 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:17:15 - Raising $2.5M in 30 days from retail investors
00:23:01 - Assembling the core Pave team
00:24:26 - First acquisition: D&O Contractors
00:27:15 - The thought process behind walking away from a New York deal
00:32:30 - "Do the Work" mindset and company culture
00:34:57 - 15–20 paving companies and Sam’s creative “Pave Pod” for deal flow
00:41:05 - “Confidence is two inches wide and 10 feet deep. Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep.”
00:43:13 - Second acquisition and operational strategy
00:46:46 - Why Sam turned down a $150M private equity deal
00:51:53 - Where Pave is today and what’s next
00:53:42 - Sam's “to-WHO” list vs. traditional to-do lists
00:56:10 - Sam’s favorite book and final advice

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠⁠⁠

Sam on Twitter: https://x.com/TheSammahmood_

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Sponsored by Spacebar Studios (https://www.spacebarstudios.co/) – your outsourced growth engine for B2B brands
Peer Groups by ScalePath (https://www.joinscalepath.com/) – expert-led community for HoldCo builders

Guest: Alex from RollUp Europe: https://rollupeurope.beehiiv.com/

Join us for a deep dive into one of the most fascinating stories in British business. In this episode, we explore RDCP Group, a UK-based holding company that grew from a £2 million equity stake into a portfolio generating over £400 million in annual revenue—all without institutional capital.

We unpack:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:49 - What makes Sameer and Iryna special as operators, investors, or builders?
00:01:57 - What surprised Alex most during his research?
00:04:12 - What are the biggest philosophical differences between building a HoldCo like RDCP versus launching a fund?
00:05:03 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:07:17 - How does RDCP’s financing model differ from traditional PE-backed serial acquirers?
00:10:28 - What made the care home strategy bankable, and how did they leverage it to fund other ventures?
00:12:15 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:13:49 - RDCP’s aspiration to become the “British Berkshire Hathaway” - realistic or PR?
00:14:30 - Does the current structure - heavily SPV-based and bank-leveraged - can evolve into a more permanent capital vehicle?
00:16:45 - What did Alex personally learn the most from this research?

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠⁠⁠

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.

Dev Shah is the founder of Pocket Fund, a HoldCo that has acquired 7 businesses. At just 23, Dev has built a growing portfolio of newsletters, SaaS products, and mobile apps without raising a dime of outside capital. One of his first acquisitions, Sourcely.ai, made 37.5x MOIC.

Thank you to our sponsors:
Scalepath: https://www.joinscalepath.com/
Spacebar Studios: https://www.spacebarstudios.co/

In this episode, we cover:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:56 - Discovering acquire.com and the first acquisition
00:03:04 - Overview of Pocket Fund's portfolio and team structure
00:07:08 - Sponsor: Scalepath
00:10:08 - Building and managing a team in India to run the portfolio
00:11:03 - How he finds operators and builds systems to scale to 20+ companies
00:17:14 - His buying criteria and approach to value creation
00:17:26 - Sponsor: Spacebar Studios
00:21:52 - Deal sourcing
00:36:55 - Deep dive into his 35x MOIC case study (Sourcely.ai)
00:43:47 - How does Dev manage a portfolio of six companies
00:47:56 - Why he is rejecting VC and fund money for now
01:00:37 - Long-term vision and building a new Constellation-like model in India
01:05:24 - Hiring global talent

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Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6lr5bE3SNZF2uEE7Nb0DHh

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/holdco-builders/id1695713724

Follow Mikk/PrivatEquityGuy on Twitter: https://x.com/PrivatEquityGuy⁠⁠⁠

Dev on Twitter: https://x.com/devlikesbizness

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.