00:48:49 · Mikk
[00:48:49] S0: Served us very well. A few people reached out to me knowing that Alpine is an investor in this platform, saying that you must know this charismatic leader of Alpine, Graham Weaver, very well. So yes, there are those Stanford speeches which he has given and the goal setting which you just said. There is actually a presentation about this which I recognize. So... But what else have you guys learned from from the guys in Alpine? Because they're doing so well and they have this charismatic leader in the BE space.
00:49:28 · Ramsey Sahyoun
[00:49:28] S1: I think we've touched on on on a lot of these things, but, I think Graham specifically, I think he's a great investor. And I think because he has a lot of content on things like goal setting and a lot of other stuff that I don't think he doesn't talk a lot about investing. But my experience, he has a real knack for understanding what are the key two or three things that are gonna make or break this investment thesis. So I think he's a really good investor. Talent is another one. I mean, is just obsessed with talent. Think around Alpine, it's not Okay to just ignore the talent side, which is I think what most private equity firms do. They focus on the playbook. And the playbook is critical. But Alpine starts with the talent and who's executing the playbook and do we have the right leader in this business? They're just obsessed with that. So I think that creates this environment where it's never okay to ignore talent as an input to to investment success. And then I think the other thing is just the the push on value creation. Alpine and Graham are always asking us the question of like, why are businesses better after they join Evergreen than they were before? Like, make that clear. And I think that's been really helpful as we've started, you know, over the last four or so years to like really get good at value creation post acquisition. I think it was really that push from that. So yeah, those are a few a few of the key ones.
00:51:27 · Mikk
[00:51:27] S0: Now you and Jeff are the talent which you're describing here. So I'm trying to understand now building this large firm, this institution, how have your roles changed over time?
00:51:40 · Ramsey Sahyoun
[00:51:40] S1: Yeah, I think like one of the surprising things, like we always, when we started this, like we wanted to keep the holding company small, and I think we do still have a small holding company team relative to the size of the business with 40 people, although the folks in Sweden might say that we have a big holding company team relative to the Swedish serial acquirers. We look up to how small they keep their corporate teams. But I think just building out the team was kind of a... I think that's been a surprising thing, like just how much... How important that is. Like I mentioned Sydney earlier, like, you know, she's just been a... Just a game changing person that I hired, you know, five and a half years ago now. And, you know, there are a lot of other people that we've brought on over the years that have had just incredible impacts on on the business. And so so I think that's been attracting people like that and training them and developing them. You know, we we wouldn't have done 47 acquisitions last year if it was just Jeff and I running around trying to do them. And we were able to do it. And I think we'll be able to do that pretty consistently. And it's because we have a great team of people that can represent the company well and can work with business owners through these transactions. And so, I think that's been the main change is just going from like me cold calling, you know, cold calling business owners and emailing business owners to developing a team that does that effectively, and probably better than I ever did now. So yeah, I think that's been a fun part of it.
00:53:46 · Mikk, Ramsey Sahyoun
[00:53:46] S0: As we're closing very soon, I have three questions here. I'll just say them out. You will just choose what you what you want to answer because I don't know what to ask like. There is one which is like Ramsey today versus Ramsey at 2017, like, when starting the firm. What what have changed maybe belief wise? What holds back people doing so many deals? Because, again, not too many firms are doing 47 acquisitions per year. And the last one is, what do most people misunderstand about Evergreen? Just you can choose one. Like, these were just the questions I had on my on my on my list which I wanted to ask. [00:54:21] S1: Maybe I'll go in reverse order there. What what do people misunderstand about Evergreen? I think people people see our our acquisition velocity, and they're like, oh, man. Evergreen's just buying everything. And what they don't see is, like, we're probably the most disciplined acquirer in this... In the in the managed IT industry. We just see so many more opportunities than than anybody else because we put a lot of effort into that. So I I think that's that's something that... I think people see the high volume of of acquisitions, but they don't see the things that we pass on or... They they they don't... I think they don't see the discipline in in our acquisition engine. And then what were the other? [00:55:08] S0: You today versus you ten years ago because a lot has changed.
00:55:08 · Mikk, Ramsey Sahyoun
[00:55:08] S0: You today versus you ten years ago because a lot has changed. [00:55:12] S1: Ten years ago. Yeah. I I I didn't wanna manage people. Like, if you talk to me ten ten years ago, like, met my wife when we started Evergreen, like like, we met around the same time. And she remembers me always saying, like, God, I just never wanna manage a single person. And now that's not... Now I manage a lot of people, and it's it's fulfilling, like, seeing people succeed and and working with people that you really like. And so I think that that's been a a big It was very much like, just wanted to... Just want me and Jeff to, like, just do this by ourselves and, like, you know, this holding company model is so scalable and, you know, I... We'll never have to, like, manage anybody. It'll be great. But, like, I think, like, me today is more like, I I love our team. I love the people that I get to work with, and managing great people is is fun because you get this insane leverage out of what they can do. So that's one. [00:56:18] S0: Okay. Excellent. Very glad I asked the asked the questions and... Or you wanted something to add? Sorry for interrupting. [00:56:25] S1: No. No. I think you had one more. [00:56:27] S0: I I had one more, but I think you answered the one which was like, is the belief which is maybe holding a lot of people or firms back when it comes to M and A and the amount of deals you're doing? But I think you answered when it comes down to the team and you've been just doing that for such a long time. [00:56:45] S1: Totally, totally. Yeah, for sure.