Explore every episode of the podcast The Turn: Blue Collar to Billions
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| He Sold His Parents' Paving Company in 30 Days, Then Called to Tell Them | 15 Sep 2026 | 00:23:20 | |
Family businesses are messy, and adding private equity to the mix often creates a powder keg. Erik Guggenheim shares his journey of scaling his family’s specialty carbon fiber construction firm and making the brutal decision to buy out his parents. Operating a self-funded contracting business requires massive upfront capital for projects, a cash flow cycle that Wall Street analysts rarely grasp. Erik outlines how a seemingly lucrative exit transformed into a battle over project financing when backward-looking investors clashed with the demands of forward-looking construction contracts. He breaks down the friction of moving from a founder-led setup to a process-driven organization and the hard choices required to execute a complex buyout. For operators navigating a generational transition or considering outside capital, this conversation provides a blueprint for surviving the structural friction. Subscribe and share this episode with a founder preparing for their own exit. How would you handle a major disagreement over scaling your family business? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| He Sold 40% of His Company but Never Gave Up Control | 08 Sep 2026 | 00:24:30 | |
Hitting $75 million in revenue isn't a finish line; it is a shark tank where companies go to die. Bret Biggart built a massive solar operation, taking it from zero to $300 million by treating market pressure as an asset. We break down the mechanics of bringing on a minority private equity partner while maintaining operational control. Bret opens up about the logistics of moving away from gut-feel management into strict data reporting when customer acquisition costs threaten margins. You learn exactly how to weather severe industry headwinds without panicking. When revenue dropped from $300 million to $150 million, his board forced a hard look at the analytics instead of throwing cash at the problem. For founders struggling to outgrow pure instinct, this conversation provides a clear roadmap to install disciplined financial reporting and scale safely. Subscribe and share this episode with an operator who needs to hear this right now. What data metric completely changed how you view your own operations? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Stuck at Five Million a Month, He Closed the Deal in a Deer Blind | 01 Sep 2026 | 00:28:55 | |
Hitting rock bottom rarely acts as the blueprint for building a $300 million enterprise. Bret Biggart shares how he used the discipline of addiction recovery to bootstrap a solar business with zero working capital. Scaling a regional operation into a streamlined sales engine requires brutal honesty. Bret details the daily grind of early-stage acquisition and managing negative cash flow without venture backing. He breaks down the operational stall he hit at $5 million a month and the internal constraints he couldn't crack. By bringing in an external operator, he overhauled his sales structure and pushed monthly revenue to $50 million. For founders stuck in a plateau, this conversation provides a framework to identify when external talent is necessary to unblock your pipeline. Subscribe and share this episode with an operator fighting a growth ceiling. What metric tipped you off that your internal processes were maxed out? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| His Sale Number Was Fixed Before the Deal Ever Started | 25 Aug 2026 | 00:29:58 | |
Growth can be a silent killer if the systems underneath it crack. When a business scales too quickly, top-line revenue might skyrocket, but profit margins and operational standards can easily collapse into chaos if the foundation isn't set. In our second episode with Cory Brymer, who bootstrapped a fiber optics infrastructure company from zero to $50 million, we unpack the brutal reality of managing hyper-growth and eventually exiting on his own terms. We get into the specific mechanics of scaling a blue-collar workforce, starting with the exact labor-hour metrics Cory used to forecast bidding and feed his expanding crew. The conversation covers the massive risks of failed ERP integrations, the danger of relying on flawed working capital methodologies from a CFO, and the intense process of renegotiating a bad broker contract mid-deal. Cory also shares his secret for establishing true walkaway power during acquisition talks, a mindset that fundamentally shifted his leverage at the negotiating table. The hardest phase of building this infrastructure empire was the realization that generating $50 million in gross revenue still resulted in a net loss during a critical year of mismanaged growth. Cory opens up about the toll of complacency, the failure of his initial executive team buildout, and the heavy burden of jumping back into 70-hour workweeks to rebuild the operations he had already delegated. Listeners will walk away with a clear understanding of why calculating a post-tax, post-debt baseline valuation is essential before you ever entertain a buyer's offer. If you care about scaling an infrastructure operation, navigating middle-market acquisitions, and maintaining operational control during heavy growth, you’ll get a lot from this. Please subscribe to the channel and share this episode with a founder who is currently in the trenches of scaling. What is the firm, non-negotiable baseline number you need to hit before you would ever consider selling your business? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| $500k in Profit. His Dad Said Stop. But He Kept Going. | 18 Aug 2026 | 00:30:22 | |
Being a penny-pincher works on day one, but it will inevitably choke your operations as you scale. In a landscape where well-funded competitors are constantly trying to poach your best people, knowing how to properly structure compensation and upgrade infrastructure is the difference between stalling out and breaking through. We sit down with Cory Brymer to dissect how he bootstrapped a technology infrastructure company from minimum-wage beginnings into a $50 million operation. We get into the actual mechanics of out-punching your weight class against entrenched industry veterans. The conversation covers the friction of migrating away from basic accounting tools toward robust ERP systems, the specific math behind structuring phantom stock plans to keep high performers, and the stealth tactics required to secure major contracts without alerting the competition. Cory shares his foundational philosophy that calculating the true hourly value of your own time is the ultimate trigger for transitioning from a solo bootstrapper to an executive who pays a premium for A-level talent. The path to these operational milestones was not paved with easy capital. Cory opens up about the devastating firsthand experience of watching a family member's business slide into bankruptcy and personal financial ruin. You will walk away with a stark understanding of the emotional toll of rebuilding from zero, the operational limitations of working 14-hour days to save a few dollars on overhead, and a framework for maintaining firm boundaries during complex compensation negotiations. If you care about retaining elite employees, scaling past early growth plateaus, and navigating the complexities of commercial project bidding, you will get a lot from this. Please subscribe to the channel and share this conversation with a fellow founder in the built environment. What is the most expensive mistake you've made when trying to save money on your early operations? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| The Warehouse Lease Details Most Owners Never Think to Fix Before Selling | 11 Aug 2026 | 00:41:29 | |
Selling a business isn't just about a clean balance sheet; sometimes, the dirt sitting underneath your warehouse dictates the terms of the deal. With private equity pouring unprecedented capital into the blue-collar sector, understanding how to strategically position both your operations and your real estate has never been more critical for founders. We sit down with an industrial commercial real estate expert to break down the heavy collision between legacy property ownership, family business dynamics, and modern company acquisitions. We get into the exact mechanics of what makes a trades business attractive to institutional buyers right now, moving past the hype. The conversation covers total addressable market, the importance of recurring revenue, and why capital allocators are pivoting away from heavily overbought sectors like HVAC. A major shift in perspective comes when we unpack why buyers actually prefer to lock in long-term, fair-market leases during an acquisition rather than buying the building, strictly to protect their own future exit valuations by normalizing EBITDA. The hardest part of transacting isn't always the negotiation table, but the environmental red tape that can quietly kill a buyout before it begins. We discuss the heavy burden of historical liabilities, the current surge in industrial subleases as struggling companies fold, and the real cost of trying to grow a business without strategic financial guidance early on. You will walk away with a clear framework for deciding whether to hold your real estate forever as a cash-flowing asset or restructure it to maximize the final sale price of your operating company. If you care about business acquisitions, commercial property management, and maximizing your eventual exit strategy, you’ll get a lot from this. Please make sure to subscribe and share this episode with another founder currently building in the trenches. What is the one operational bottleneck you need to fix before you would confidently put your company on the market? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Fired From the Family Business, Then He Built the Exit on Purpose | 04 Aug 2026 | 00:42:33 | |
Tying your entire personal identity to a company is the fastest way to lose yourself when the business is gone. In a market where founders are constantly chasing the next revenue milestone, knowing when and exactly how to walk away is a rare, necessary skill. We talk with Jonathan Sherrill about his journey from getting fired by a private equity firm to bootstrapping a manufacturing business built strictly for a strategic exit. We get into the tactical realities of preparing a company for acquisition. We cover the necessity of eliminating founder risk, deploying an ERP system early, and executing a rigorous quality of earnings audit before ever going to market. We also break down the process of building out a confidential information memorandum that actually attracts serious buyers. The core takeaway is his operating philosophy: if you cannot hand the business over to department heads and disappear for three months, you do not have a sellable asset. The reality of selling a business often involves intense isolation and a sudden loss of purpose once the deal closes. Getting walked out the side door of a company you helped scale to nearly $40 million takes a massive mental toll, and surviving a strict three-year non-compete requires severe geographic and professional pivots. You will walk away from this conversation with a clear framework for systemizing your daily operations and a stark warning about navigating the psychological void that follows a clean break from your life's work. If you care about structuring an exit, systemizing manufacturing operations, and prioritizing family over endless scale, you’ll get a lot from this. Please make sure to Subscribe and Share this episode with a fellow founder navigating their own growth phase. What operational bottleneck is currently keeping your business entirely dependent on you? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| $40M to $90M Twice: His Secret Was Making Himself Replaceable | 28 Jul 2026 | 00:38:20 | |
Stagnation is the silent killer of middle-market businesses. Scaling past the $40 million revenue mark requires a fundamental shift in infrastructure and leadership mindset that most owners simply miss until it is too late. Greg Hirsch joins the show to share his expertise in buying mid-sized companies, breaking through their growth barriers, and engineering highly profitable exits. We sit down to break down the exact playbook for achieving twenty percent organic growth year over year without burning out your staff. We cover the shift from reactive hiring to proactive capacity building, the necessity of ripping out legacy HR and finance architecture, and the strategic advantage of joining a health care captive. Greg shares his operational secret sauce, which focuses heavily on optimizing the universal seventy-five percent of business infrastructure so that his team can completely dominate their twenty-five percent industry niche. The hardest part of rapid growth is managing the organizational fatigue that sets in when pushing continuous improvement. Cutting the checks to upgrade technology and back-office operations requires serious conviction, and learning to get out of your own management team's way is often a painful transition for hands-on owners. You will walk away from this conversation with a clear framework for building transferability into your daily operations and a roadmap for turning your key operators into bankable buyers. If you care about middle-market acquisitions, operational scaling, and management buyouts, you’ll get a lot from this. Please hit the like button, subscribe to the channel, and share this episode with a fellow founder. What is the biggest infrastructure bottleneck holding your team back from scaling right now? Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| They Didn't Buy His Customers. They Bought His Culture. | 07 Jul 2026 | 00:30:45 | |
Phil Cooper joined the family pest control business in 1984. He got handed the title of commission-only door-to-door salesman, and went to work. His brother wanted nothing to do with pest control — he hated the pesticides, hated the smell, wanted to be a scientist. Phil restructured the company so his brother could come back as an entomologist instead. That decision became the thing that eventually attracted Terminix. Phil's dad gave him an ultimatum at graduation: prove yourself by 30, or the business stays his. Six months before Phil's 30th birthday, his dad transferred the stock — gifted it outright. No purchase price. No negotiation. He'd built his own retirement separately and didn't need the money. From there, Phil and his brother spent 30 years getting Cooper Pest Control from $1 million to $6 million, then three years getting from $6 million to $11 million once they finally cracked the code on sales systems, leadership, and culture. When Terminix came calling, Phil had two things ready: a number, and a list of exactly what it would take. When their chief revenue officer asked to see the list on the spot and said he'd sign an LOI that day if it checked out, Phil and his brother had their moment of truth. They sold for life-changing, generational wealth. Phil stayed on for 20 months running newly acquired pest control brands, calls it the hardest job and the fastest learning curve of his life, then left to become an EOS implementer when his sponsor inside Terminix resigned. Here's what we discuss with Phil: • Growing up in the business and joining as a door-to-door commission-only salesman in 1984 Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Most Owners Are Terrified to Do This. He Did It Anyway. | 23 Jun 2026 | 00:36:08 | |
Chris Lee's mom called him with a U-Haul in the driveway. He'd already accepted a job in Little Rock. The U-Haul went to Texas instead. He joined his family's landscape company — Earthworks — when it had 25 employees, an answering machine, a pager, and no real systems. His stepdad was a brilliant operator who couldn't tolerate people. Chris was the opposite. He liked people. That turned out to be enough to start something. Over the next 25 years, Chris built Earthworks from a few hundred thousand in revenue to more than $40 million. He expanded geographically before it made obvious sense. He invested in data systems early, then figured out how to share that data with his team — and tie it to how they got paid. That comp shift, he says, was the single biggest thing they ever did. He opened new branches in Dallas and went greenfield into Houston with one operator and a foreman. And two years before going to market, he hired an advisor and did his own due diligence on the business — so when buyers came, there were no surprises. He sold to Osprey Landscape Group and rolled equity. He's still running the Texas platform. Still working more than he expected to. Still proving they made the right call. Here's what we discuss with Chris: • Canceling his job offer and joining the family business in 1998 with a pager and a roll of quarters Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| They Grew to $40M and Destroyed the Family Doing It | 09 Jun 2026 | 00:36:29 | |
Seth Zeller's dad and uncle started an electrical contracting company in the early eighties on a handshake and a work ethic. No succession plan. No operating agreement. Just family, and the assumption that family would figure it out. When five second-generation Zellers entered the business, that assumption got tested. Hard. Seth pushed the envelope — bought out the first gen, took the reins, grew the business from $7 million to $40 million. But the conflict never went away. It just got worse. The fractures inside the business followed them everywhere — to the kitchen table, to Christmas dinner, eventually to the floor of the office. Seth and his brother had a physical altercation. In front of a customer. Their accounting manager had to pull them apart. Through all of it, the business kept growing. Consultants came and went. One fired them as a client. They tried EOS, YPO, a pastor as mediator, and a third-party buyout that fell apart on the one-yard line in January 2025. Seth finally forced his exit through the buy-sell in August of that year. He got out. He's not sure it healed anything yet. The family isn't taking vacations together. His parents are hurt. His confidence has wavered. But he's building something new — a consulting practice, a growth coaching business — and processing all of it out loud. This is the story of what happens when you don't make a plan. And what it costs. • How the Zeller's built a $7M electrical business on integrity, reputation, and a handshake Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| 12x EBITDA—and Still Regrets Selling | 27 May 2026 | 00:31:29 | |
What if you got exactly the number you dreamed of—and it was still the wrong decision? Danny Namerow built Farryn Electric from scratch on lessons his electrician father taught him the hard way: diversify, don't work for builders, and never let one client own your business. He pivoted to service work, adopted flat rate pricing, built a tight crew of six, and watched his margins soar. Then a private equity firm called three times. On the third call, he listened—and walked away with 12 times EBITDA. Within a year, he'd watched them lose 90% of his customer base. Danny opens up about the earn-out nightmare, what he'd negotiate differently, and the business fundamentals that made Farron sellable in the first place. He found his Costa Rica anyway. But he'd tell you there was another path to get there. Here's what we discuss with Danny: • Why Danny's father drilled one rule into him: never work for builders Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Didn't Want to Sell. Then Life Changed. | 12 May 2026 | 00:21:00 | |
Jay Maier started a tree service company in Rochester, Minnesota at 29. No business background. Parents were educators. He paid himself $36,000 a year on $180,000 in revenue and reinvested everything else into equipment and people. He scraped, clawed, and grew—slowly and conservatively. The real shift came around 2005 when Jay stopped doing the work and started developing the people who did it. He realized his best value wasn't trimming trees—it was making sure everybody knew exactly what to do. That mindset change took him from a self-employed tradesman to a business owner. By 2013, he was doing $2 million, had no debt, and genuinely didn't want to sell. Then his wife was diagnosed with stage four cancer. That changed everything. Jay sold to a national company, completed a three-year earnout, and walked away. But he wasn't built to sit still. He started consulting blue-collar businesses, then took a GM role at a 50-year landscape company in his hometown—no ownership, just a third of the profits and a chance to follow someone else's vision. Six years later, the business had grown 75%. He's still there, still fulfilled, still building. Here's what we discuss: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Started Over at $3M, Built to $200M | 28 Apr 2026 | 00:23:44 | |
Jerry Schill spent 20 years building a landscaping business with his brother. Design-build, residential, creative work—chasing every shiny object along th way. But then they split. Jerry took the maintenance side and rolled back to $3 million. He'd admit that he was scared. But he got laser-focused. And from 2012 to 2019, he took the business from 0% recurring revenue to 93%. He ditched residential entirely, built a "business in a box," and grew to $16.5 million before partnering with Argon Capital. Four years later: 37 locations, 1600 employees, eight states, nearly $200 million in revenue, and best-in-class EBITDA margins. The lesson? Focus and discipline beat chasing shiny objects every time. Here's what we discuss: Running a blue-collar business? Thinking about selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Family Business to $410M Exit | 14 Apr 2026 | 00:34:42 | |
Tony Mallinger joined his family's roofing products manufacturing company in 2001. His dad bought it in the late eighties for about $2 million. By the time Tony led the first sale in 2020, it was doing $62 million. Four years later, after two acquisitions under private equity, they sold again—for $410 million. But this isn't just a growth story. It's a family business story. Three brothers, a father who wanted to treat everyone the same, and years of misalignment that made the success feel hollow. Their best year ever? Everyone was miserable. That's when Tony knew it was time to sell. He pushed for a fiduciary board, hired the best M&A attorney and banker, and signed the purchase agreement two weeks before COVID hit. The family relationships got rough after the first sale. The good news They're better now. But the lesson is clear (and it's a rather common one): you can win the deal and still have wounds to heal. Here's what we discuss: Running a blue-collar business and wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or reach out to theturn@iconicfounders.com. Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| 15 People to $50M in Profit | 31 Mar 2026 | 00:29:46 | |
Bryan Carruthers started his first company in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis, right after college. A tiny consulting firm called Consilium. He sold it to a publicly traded business a few years later. Then he went the private equity route—got backing, bought a 15-person shop, and built it into a national $50 million EBITDA business in under five years. Then he sold it to one of the largest consulting firms in the world.
Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Bootstrapped to Over $70M | 17 Mar 2026 | 00:35:21 | |
Chris Meyer didn't stumble into entrepreneurship—he trained for it. Two and a half years at Ernst & Young, 400 business plans reviewed, and a clear list of criteria for what he wanted. In 2006, he found it: a $5-6 million materials company called Mintech that specialized in turning industrial byproducts into construction and environmental solutions. He was 27, had never worked in the industry, and put everything on the line to buy it.
Sixteen years later, he sold to a strategic partner—a supplier he'd known for over a decade—for $72 million. Majority cash upfront, three-year employment agreement, and a piece of the upside. He and his wife shared part of the exit with the entire team. Now he's reprioritizing: time with family, giving back through the Boys & Girls Club, and staying open to whatever's next. Here's what we discuss:
Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Learn More: https://www.iconicfounders.com Connect: theturn@iconicfounders.com Production: Lower Street https://lowerstreet.co Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Measure Value, Not Revenue | 05 Mar 2026 | 00:19:53 | |
Tom Heaviland bought a one-truck landscape company with his dad in 1985. They each put up $11,000. Thirty-five years later, he sold it to BrightView—the largest player in the industry—for millions. But getting there wasn't linear. He lost his biggest contract overnight when a developer pulled out. His dad died suddenly in 1997. And for seven years, he was stuck splitting everything 50/50 with his stepmom who even didn't work in the business. The real turn came when Tom stopped asking "how much can I make?" and started asking "what's this worth?" At 57, he got serious about value—not revenue, not profit, but what a buyer would actually pay. He shut down the construction division. He focused on recurring revenue and high-margin enhancement work. He surrounded himself with the right people and stopped being slow to fire. In five years, the business went from $5 million to $15 million, and margins jumped to the mid-50s. Tom closed in November 2019. Four months later, COVID killed his earnout. But he'd already taken his attorney's advice: be happy with the deal you have, because nothing's guaranteed. He's 68 now, still working, still loving it. His one regret? Not measuring value sooner. Those last five years—when he finally got serious—that's when the real money got made. Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Two Exits. Totally Different Outcomes. | 17 Feb 2026 | 00:38:11 | |
Kris Birch started working in his dad's lawn and snow business in 2005. Fifteen years later, he sold it to a national brand. The deal looked good on paper, but within a year, most of the team was gone and the business had been absorbed into corporate machinery. When he finally walked away, he discovered something important: he'd already started building his next company. But Kris’s story is a little different because most founders think you only get one shot at an exit. Kris got two. After the first sale fell apart, he and his business partner Tony built a tree care company from scratch. Six years later, they sold again, this time to private equity. Different buyer, different structure, different outcome. The second time around, Kris knew which questions to ask. Live and learn. Here's what we discuss in this episode: • Why working with family requires a third party to navigate the hard conversations • How Kris transitioned from his dad's lifestyle business to a growth-focused operation • The moment he realized he wasn't good at operations—and who he brought in to fix it • What recurring revenue and service diversification did for his business valuation • Why his first exit to a national brand didn't go as planned • The difference between selling to corporate acquirers vs. private equity • How peer groups and EOS transformed the way he ran his businesses • What due diligence actually feels like (spoiler: everyone hates it) • Why the second sale was faster, smarter, and more aligned with his values • His advice to young founders: do hard things, then recover intentionally Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: Learn More: https://www.iconicfounders.com Connect: theturn@iconicfounders.com Production: Lower Street https://lowerstreet.co Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| The Hardest Part Comes After the Exit | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:33:32 | |
Today’s guest is Adam Mopsick. Adam started a construction business in Miami in 1996. Twenty-five years later, he sold it to private equity for life-changing money. The 2008 recession killed his GC business and forced him to reinvent, building an owner's rep firm from scratch that grew every quarter for six years. When he finally got the exit everyone dreams of, he discovered the hardest part wasn't the deal. It was figuring out who he was without the business. Most founders think the exit is the finish line. Adam learned it's just the starting gun for a different race. He stayed with the acquirer less than a year before walking away. For 25 years, his business had been his identity—his team, his purpose, his daily mission. When that disappeared, the money didn't fill the void. He tried fishing. He may have become slightly obsessed with padel. But what he needed was another mountain to climb. Two years later, he's sitting on boards, mentoring and coaching founders, and advising a variety of startups. His non-compete is almost up. And he's starting to get the itch again. Use code ICONIC for 15% OFF your next Salt of the Earth order: https://drinksote.com/ICONIC Here's what we discuss: • Why construction's "terrible service" is actually a massive opportunity Iconic Links: Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||
| Introducing The Turn: Blue Collar to Billions | 16 Jan 2026 | 00:01:03 | |
Welcome to The Turn. These are honest conversations about the challenges, the lessons, and the moments that changed everything. Not M&A theory or deal structures, but the real stories from founders who've scaled and sold. The challenges that nearly broke them. What they wish someone had told them before they sold. And how their lives changed after the exit. Kory's been there himself. He's built businesses and sold them. He understands the questions blue-collar founders are wrestling with about burnout, empowering others, charging what you're worth, and figuring out what comes next. Because the real story isn't just how you got here, it's about the lessons along the way. The Turn is a podcast from Iconic Founders. New episodes bi-weekly starting Wednesday, February 11, 2026.
Iconic Founders works with blue-collar business owners who are navigating growth, scale, and exit. To learn more, visit iconicfounders.com. Running a blue-collar business? Wondering how to think about value or selling? Iconic Founders Group helps founders like you explore what's next. If you're doing over $2M in profit, check us out at iconicfounders.com or send us a message at theturn@iconicfounders.com. Iconic Links: | |||