00:05:27 · Ramsey Sahyoun, Mikk
And then we we both kinda realized we had a a passion for Berkshire Hathaway and read all the Warren Buffett's shareholder letters, and eventually, together with a number of other folks, made the trip to Omaha for Berkshire. And yeah, that kind of all came together from there. But yeah, that was kind of how we met and how we got started. [00:05:53] S0: Okay. And it all got started, like the first acquisition was in December thirty one in twenty seventeen. Could you give us an overview of the portfolio today as of end of first quarter of twenty twenty six?
00:05:53 · Mikk, Ramsey Sahyoun
[00:05:53] S0: Okay. And it all got started, like the first acquisition was in December thirty one in twenty seventeen. Could you give us an overview of the portfolio today as of end of first quarter of twenty twenty six? [00:06:07] S1: Sure, sure. Yeah. So we're focused on technology services businesses. We've acquired 160 companies that were very decentralized. So you know, we've done a few tuck in acquisitions over over the years, but for the most part, we we buy businesses and operate them independently. So we've got, you know, call it a 130 independent brands. And then we have three types of companies that we invest in within technology services. The biggest of those is MSPs. So MSPs are companies that provide outsourced IT for small and medium sized businesses. That's under LIRA. So that's our holding company for MSPs. The second area that we focus on is ERP consulting and implementation. So companies that help help you implement and support, you know, ERP application. And that is within our pine. We we call these groves. Each each of our business areas, we call them groves sticking with the tree theme. But pine is ERP consulting. And then Cedar is government. So these are a variety of companies that provide IT solutions to different government agencies from, you know, federal government agencies in The US to state and local and municipalities as well. So those are kind of the three business areas that that that we focus on. MSPs are are the biggest. It's probably about 70% of of the overall business. And then the remainder is split between pine and cedar.
00:07:55 · Mikk
[00:07:55] S0: Now about the early days. When we met in Stockholm, we were discussing a bit, like, you said you leaving... You and Jeff leaving Alpine. So could you could you share the story? Like, how how did you come up with the idea? And you said they were extremely supportive, and now you're also part of the Alpine. So how was the story in early days?
00:08:14 · Ramsey Sahyoun
[00:08:14] S1: Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. So so we had the inspiration after after the Berkshire meeting is when we really had this inspiration to start a holding company. And Jeff actually wrote Graham Weaver, the kind of pitch for Evergreen when we're on the flight back from from Omaha to San Francisco. And then one thing kinda led to another, and and we kinda made this pitch to aggregate service companies under a holding company, we didn't specify an industry. And then one of one of the... That the main piece of guidance that Alpine gave at that time was, hey, pick an industry that you like and focus on it, and get really good at buying and operating companies in that industry. So I remember, you know, we had a... We we We pursued a number of different industries. We actually had an opportunity in the MSP space, and we had an opportunity in another industry. And I remember, you know, it was probably around December 2017, we made the decision to kind of go pencils down that other industry and focus on MSPs and get really good at that. So that was kind of how it came about. But yeah, I think I... It never, like, felt like we were leaving Alpine necessarily. Like, we were we were leaving, like, working at the head office of the private equity firm, and we were essentially going out into the portfolio, but we were doing it with their their full kind of backing and support, and we were aligned on the thesis and everything. So, you know, it it really felt like they were backing us to go do something versus us leaving and they happen to raise... Like, give us capital, like it was... We were kind of aligned, you know, the the whole way through.
00:10:21 · Mikk
[00:10:21] S0: Thanks to this accountant podcast. A lot of... I have a lot of conversations with people who work in a B firms, thinking of leaving, they have the experience, they've seen how to put together the deals, they've seen how to raise capital. Some have done it, they've left, but still twelve months, eighteen months in, they still haven't been able to close a deal because it's it's it's very hard, and it's... There's a lot of pressure financially. So you were just 25 and 27 with Jeff. Like, where were you financially where where you decide... When you decided to leave?
00:10:57 · Ramsey Sahyoun, Mikk
[00:10:57] S1: I mean, probably where a lot of people 25 and 26 were. Let's see. Yeah. I mean, I I was living in a apartment in San Francisco. I had roommates, like, you know, all the all all the stuff. But but I also didn't have any... You know, I don't... Didn't have a family or kids or anyone relying on me except myself. So that was good. Yeah, I mean, I think we were in a good... We didn't have a bunch of money saved up or anything. At least I didn't. But, you know, I think we were in a good place to start the company because we had no other responsibilities, and you can just kind of be very single-minded and running towards building the company. I think about that a decent amount because now I have a wife and I have a young daughter at home and you wanna spend time with them and that takes a lot of time. So I don't know if we would have been as, I don't know, maybe we would have been as successful if we started the company at the current stage of our lives. But I think it was kind of a blessing to start it that early when you could just run super hard at building the business. Okay. [00:12:19] S0: Now tell me about how was the first maybe six, twelve, eighteen months post close, because you've seen it all in Alpine and now you're, we can say independent doing it for yourself. So how was it Like, how many acquisitions did you do? What were the lessons? How did it feel? I mean, the pressure must be must be serious, like, when when you own own own own a company versus just representing another firm.