"Private equity rarely loses." George Baker says it as a director of the company he founded, watching his own shareholder value climb. Lane Carrick, who sells founder-owned businesses to private equity for a living, pushes back: you think it's about the math? "I know it's about the math."George Baker Sr. is the founder of ParkHub, now JustPark, and the founder and managing partner of 2 the Moon Ventures in Dallas. He swept his father's commercial parking lots downtown at 12, founded ParkHub in 2010 to attack cash leakage in a $40 billion industry that had seen almost no technology, and built it into a B2B parking and mobility platform serving stadiums and airports. Jerry Jones was an early investor. LLR Partners put in $100 million of growth equity. More than 20 bolt-on acquisitions followed, then a merger with UK-based JustPark and an FTV Capital recap that moved Baker from chairman to director.The mechanism was boring and enormous: digitize the cash. Parking operators saw revenue lifts of 30 to more than 50 percent. Inside the venue the transaction fell from over 20 seconds to under five, congestion dropped and food and beverage sales rose 19 percent. In 2014, reading the consumer window closing, he shut down his own reservation engine, called Ticketmaster, and rebuilt the entire company as B2B software. Growth ran 400 percent, then 300, then 200.What he gave up was not the money. "We were a band of brothers. I don't think I will ever have that much fun." He has not seen much private equity put weight on culture or job creation, and he does not believe founder culture survives the invitation. He has made peace with that, and he is specific about the trade: four years of school runs and family dinners after a decade of not being around.Also in this episode: why an operator turned investor now buys Texas consumer brands instead of software, why western wear is a $130 billion market, how he judges a founding team in a single conversation, and the advice he gives anyone entering a transaction, which is to write down what success looks like in one sentence, date it, and seal it in an envelope, because the deal will take two to three times longer than the LOI says.Hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick. Produced by Harper Belmont Media.CHAPTERS0:00 Intro1:40 Sponsors3:35 Sweeping his father's parking lots at 126:02 The problem statement was cash leakage18:29 Revenue lifts of 30 to more than 50 percent20:07 Destroying his own business model21:12 Shutting it down and calling Ticketmaster21:39 Jerry Jones invests, then 400, 300, 200 percent growth22:20 EOS, traction, and a band of brothers23:26 A $40 billion market with zero technology28:28 Twenty seconds to five, and what it did to the venue30:06 More than 20 bolt-on acquisitions31:17 The JustPark merger31:52 The FTV recap, chairman to director32:27 Founders backing founders at 2 the Moon36:23 From parking software to boots and cookies39:12 Western wear is a $130 billion market44:20 "You think it's about the math?"44:49 "Private equity rarely loses"44:55 Can founder culture survive private equity?46:26 Contact tracing and reopening Live Nation47:07 The capital he had to give back47:41 Making peace with it not being his baby48:19 The trade: four years of school runs and dinners52:09 Write it down, date it, seal the envelope1:02:10 It is not the company, it is the entrepreneur1:03:40 Book recommendations1:07:03 CloseSPONSORED BYCapital Southwest | https://capitalsouthwest.comSecurity National Bank | https://securitynational.bankBlockchain.com | https://www.blockchain.com2 the Moon Ventures: https://2themoon.venturesThe Deal Table: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-deal-table/Ryan Harper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryansharper/Lane Carrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-lane-carrick-65a728/Lane's book, The Optima Advantage: https://amzn.to/48nLElW

Private equity principals do not say this out loud: "We need to sell this company before something bad happens." Ralph Manning did it for years, not because the market was right, but because he could not see far enough into his own businesses to know what was hiding.Edward Crawford and Ralph Manning are co-founders and co-CEOs of Coltala Holdings, a permanent capital holding company in Fort Worth and Dallas. Since 2017 they have deployed more than $400 million across 24 transactions in aerospace, home health, water, and engineering. No fund sits behind it, so there is no seventh-year clock and no forced sale to raise the next one.What replaced the fear is the Coltala Enterprise System, a lean operating playbook out of Danaher and Toyota by way of Larry Culp, who took Danaher's market cap from $3 billion to $30 billion and now chairs GE Aerospace. The proof is their aerospace business. Lead times sat at 164 days. Two weeks of kaizen on three bottlenecks, one an $80,000 paint shop, brought it to 32 days. Every employee at every Coltala company, forklift operator included, gets a quarterly check from 8 to 10 percent of after-tax profits.Crawford came to private equity from the Peace Corps, where he built a 300-farmer coffee cooperative, and from naval intelligence in Afghanistan, where he earned a Bronze Star with SEAL Teams 2 and 4, by way of Goldman Sachs. He is blunt about the fit: "If you want a guy from New York who has a Harvard MBA who's going to tell you how great they are, then you can maybe go work with them. But if you want a real partner, we're your guys."Also in this episode: why mission and margin are not opposites, what mission critical means after the pandemic, how defense tech changed once Ash Carter stood up Unit X, the knower versus learner test they run on every founder, and why yellow lights never turn green. The last twenty minutes go elsewhere, to Andrew Jackson at New Orleans and the banana peddler who overthrew a government.Hosted by Ryan Harper and Lane Carrick. Produced by Harper Belmont Media.CHAPTERS0:00 Intro1:44 Sponsors2:59 Ralph in the hot seat4:46 Where the name Coltala comes from7:48 The nonprofit that was going under9:34 Why mission and margin are not opposites13:18 What "mission critical" actually means19:31 Unit X and Ash Carter23:21 Where founders hit the ceiling25:03 The Coltala Enterprise System26:25 The $80,000 paint shop26:47 164 days down to 3227:08 The best ideas come from the people doing the work29:39 Profit share for the forklift operator31:45 Meeting Larry Culp34:09 Process is speed, not bureaucracy37:23 Three credit cards to $400 million39:22 "We need to sell before something bad happens"40:47 No fund, so no forced sale41:27 Growth makes complexity, complexity kills growth43:05 Going deeper beats being a generalist44:26 The MRO moat, $1.2 million and three years47:44 The anti private equity pitch48:27 30,000 subscribers and fifty relationships49:40 They are Luke Skywalker, we are Yoda52:37 Knower mindset versus learner mindset54:19 If the seller wants top dollar, it is not for us59:58 "Yellow lights don't turn green"1:00:49 Peace Corps, intelligence, and ground truth1:03:19 Andrew Jackson goes to the gemba1:06:16 Seabiscuit and walking the track at 2 a.m.1:07:27 The Banana King of New Orleans1:11:39 Jim Collins on being in frame1:14:43 Jiu-Jitsu, do not white knuckle everything1:16:58 Give and Take, givers, takers, matchers1:18:07 CloseSPONSORED BYCapital Southwest | https://capitalsouthwest.comSecurity National Bank | https://securitynational.bankBlockchain.com | https://www.blockchain.comColtala Holdings: https://coltala.comThe Deal Table: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-deal-table/Ryan Harper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryansharper/Lane Carrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-lane-carrick-65a728/Lane's book, The Optima Advantage: https://amzn.to/48nLElW