He Bought the Business. Now What?

Last year, Jason Bridwell concluded a five-year search for a business to buy by snatching a 130-year-old custom woodworking company in St. Louis from what he calls the “jaws of liquidation.” The previous owners of Gravois Planing Mill had stopped accepting new orders, were allowing key employees to leave without replacing them, and had picked a date to close the doors for good. But Jason liked what he saw enough to make an offer—and then insisted that the owners hire him to start turning the business around even before the deal closed.

This week, Jason compares notes with Paul Downs, who runs a similar woodworking business but is approaching the other side of the ownership equation: He's thinking about selling. Jason explains why he bought Gravois, why he now thinks he overpaid, what surprised him about the business—including an accounting system built around a handwritten ledger—and why he had to inject more of his own cash this year to keep it going. Along the way, the two owners discuss what makes a business worth buying, the value of open-book management, and the relative advantages of their very different business models. Paul, it turns out, wouldn't mind finding a buyer a lot like Jason. The episode is brought to you by Grasshopper Bank .

Show Notes:

This is the episode in which Ted Wolf says Paul Downs is devaluing his business by not implementing AI.

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