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Connor Tomkies: We can if you want to let me know
Jason Kirby: Nah, it's fine. They do a pretty good job of chopping it bac... bringing it back to life. I've made that mistake more times.
Connor Tomkies: yeah, Jason, good to hear you. Good to have you with us.
Jason Kirby: So basically what you told me is you ran your own banking pr...s, they see your SIM or your confidential information random.
Jason Kirby: I guess how long did it take from the point of setting that ...rom the point you set it up to the point you close the deal.
Connor Tomkies: Too many questions. I think that if you run a tight process, nin...nce. Nine months is roughly the timeframe. And then I think from
Jason Kirby: And we ended up going with a small boutique firm because I liked...s. So I actually went with the firm that promised less in a way.
Jason Kirby: I see that happen with lot of bankers. kind of put a carrot out ... the price. And I see that often with bankers just promising the
Jason Kirby: Big carrot, they get you under contract and then it's like, well...ther. So, you know, small boutique firms sound like they did it.
Connor Tomkies: Yeah.
Connor Tomkies: At the end of the day, you're actually working a lot with the as...you're talking to is not always the person running your process.
Jason Kirby: rby (04:26.224) Exactly. you might be sold by the sizzle of one partner or someo...ss or was it a cohesive effort? What was that relationship like?
Connor Tomkies: It was cohesive. So we had a potential list of buyers that we we...ything that you do above this will give you a higher percentage.
Connor Tomkies: on that deal and anyone you bring to us that we haven't already ...ed up with going with one of the people that they brought to us.
Jason Kirby: No, it's awesome. it sounds like you ran an efficient process. S...d, what corners should they be looking around in the &A process?
Connor Tomkies: Yeah.
Connor Tomkies: There's a lot of little, sticking points, right? Like, making su...s make sure that you get your price up. One of the kind of like,
Connor Tomkies: You sell the company, you it a couple of years ago. What have yo...w and kind of what has guided you to the work that you do today?
Connor Tomkies: After selling the company, we sold to a private equity firm, whi... company called operator equity, which is essentially a hold co.
Connor Tomkies: where we start buying other companies, teaming up with other ent.... And so I've been working on that for the past year and a half.
Connor Tomkies: we also did something called the entrepreneur cooperative, which...an pull out that will save you a lot of heartache down the road.
Jason Kirby: And so going back to the entrepreneur collective, think that's the kind of PoltCo, correct?
Connor Tomkies: Entrepreneur Cooperative is the kind of like the community with the business edu
Connor Tomkies: cation piece and then Operator Equity is the hold to go.
Jason Kirby: I'm sorry, operator equity, So operator equity, what type of tra...ave prepared you for being on the other side of the transaction?
Connor Tomkies: I think every hold co has its own thesis. And what I've seen, wh...riod of time in the form of like decades instead of a few years.
Connor Tomkies: then this can be a more favorable structure. And all hold co's h...o that's the underlying thesis of essentially operator equity is
Connor Tomkies: They are all operating on the same base layer, the same operating system.
Jason Kirby: Okay, so this is is fascinating. I've been familiar with EOS and...ttle bit of context of what EOS is and kind of what it provides.
Connor Tomkies: ...
Connor Tomkies: And when you're buying these companies, you looking, have any of...pital history of some of these companies that you're looking at?
Connor Tomkies: All of them except for one, I think as bootstrapped and it reall... back and there's a spot open on their cap table or they're not.
Connor Tomkies: actively working in the business each day. And so I work with a ...ally get their, their earn out or, or their chips off the table.
Jason Kirby: So it sounds like you some flexibility in terms of what position...e cases. It's you're flexible. Is it majority often or minority?
Connor Tomkies: It to be a meaningful stake. So normally it's between 40 to 80%....can I give them the resources to, hit that next stage of growth?
Jason Kirby: Yeah, it's, it's, it's fun hearing this just because I deal with...th for something like you where it's like, well, what about this
Jason Kirby: other option of take some chips off the table? You know, be pro...re Kool-Aid for, for so long that they don't realize like, wait,
Jason Kirby: I get a multimillion dollar paycheck. today? It's like, and I still get that side.
Connor Tomkies: Yeah, it can be really nice. Distributions are a great way to be...ing capital and doing pitches for a bunch of different contests.
Jason Kirby: Who would thought?
Connor Tomkies: I was pitching three or four times a week that the company wasn'... hopefully this will kind of help highlight some of those paths.
Jason Kirby: You know, you just gave me PTSD. I did the exact same thing. fir...e realized, this is probably only a $10 million a year business.
Jason Kirby: ...
Jason Kirby: And so venture is prioritizing like next frontier, you know, and...n big moon shots. And so if you don't have that narrative, yeah.
Connor Tomkies: I'm seeing a lot more hardware, like software combined with hard...hat inside our cities have been raising a decent amount of cash.
Jason Kirby: Yeah. Industrial, defense tech, robotics, AI, things that at lea...unds like A16Z, think General Catalyst and a couple other big...
Connor Tomkies: Yeah.
Jason Kirby: funds have raised these huge early stage funds and they're just ...u're on the path to the moon? I guess we have the moon to Mars n
Jason Kirby: ow. It seems to be the narrative. It's like how quickly are you ... that path and what can you demonstrate or at least is the idea.
Jason Kirby: believable to be a part of those markets and be a part of those ...ising money than a SaaS business doing a million dollars a year.
Connor Tomkies: I almost feel like there's a limit to how fast the businesses ca...ead as a CEO to be able to do that through your growth plan. So.
Connor Tomkies: I'm a little curious with some of these companies that are raisi...ey take that check and actually turn it into a tangible product?
Jason Kirby: I think you brought up a good point earlier when you're kind of ...ne as it sounds to you and I that prefer operational efficiency.
Connor Tomkies: Can't it, please? Yeah.
Jason Kirby: ... Yeah, so it's entrepreneurcooperative.com and then operatorequit... I'm around guys and if you guys have any questions, me a shout.
Jason Kirby: Should they try to sell their company to you? Should they try to raise money for me? Coming for help?
Connor Tomkies: If you're selling a company operator equity, if you're trying to...ut entrepreneurcooperative.com. That's the right place for that.
Jason Kirby: Awesome. Connor, I really enjoyed this conversation. Really appr...te you being on the show and look forward to get this out to our
Connor Tomkies: That sounds good, Jason. Have a good one, guys. Bye.
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