Ryan Rouse

Growth advisor to consumer businesses with a focus on every line of the P&L | Previously, Co-Founder at Factor Meals (acquired), CEO at Highkey

Growth-minded CPG leader with deep experience across finance, brand building, and operational leadership.

After more than a decade in finance—culminating in an eight-year tenure at Merrill Lynch—I co-founded Factor_, a ready-to-eat meal delivery company that went on to be acquired by HelloFresh for $277M in 2020.

I joined HighKey Snacks as Chief Marketing Officer and later CEO, guiding the low-sugar snack brand through rapid expansion and an acquisition in 2024.

I'm currently the President of MALK Organics, a fast-growing, near nine-figure brand redefining the plant-based milk category with its commitment to clean, organic ingredients and uncompromising quality.

And I write a newsletter about what it really takes to grow—your company, your mindset, your tolerance for chaos:
​
​• The unfiltered truth about building a brand
• Why “strategy” isn’t always strategic
• What to do when everything feels on fire
• Mindset shifts that keep you sane(ish)​
• Founder mistakes, market moves, and lessons I’m still learning​
​
​Part playbook, part perspective shift.
For anyone trying to grow something—and keep their head on straight.

Sign up using the link here (or below my profile pic above): https://ryanrouse.me/

Vice President | Partner

Data driven investors in early stage consumer brands. 

Watched someone's face light up yesterday. 

I'd just told them their bonus number.

Not a polite smile. Not a professional nod.

Their entire face changed.

After a killer 2025 at MALK, I got to sit down with my team over the last few days and share what they'd earned.

These conversations are my favorite part of leadership.

Not because I'm handing out money. Because I'm watching bets pay off.

Every hire is a bet. Every promotion. Every time you give someone more responsibility than they've had before, you're betting they'll rise to it.

Most of those bets don't feel safe when you make them.

You're trusting people before they've proven they can handle it. Giving them room to fail. Hoping like hell they don't.

And then you get a year like this one.

Where chaos turned into wins. Grind turned into growth. And the people you bet on delivered more than you imagined.

That's the payoff.

Not the revenue. Not the milestones.

Watching someone realize their work mattered (and was recognized).

Never been on a Forbes list // President @ MALK Organics // Follow for posts about the highs and lows of building consumer brands from 13+ years in the trenches actually doing it

MALK made the Bain 2026 US Insurgent Brands list 👀 

What I love about this list is it's numbers based (i.e., not a popularity contest.)

• Greater than $35MM in revenue
• Grown at least 10x faster than their category average over the last 5 years
• Maintained positive growth over the past 2 years

A couple other stats that stand out. 

- While the overall market grew less than 2% in 2025, the insurgents captured 36% of market growth.

- Insurgents grew volumes by approximately 55% year over year in a market where overall volumes were largely flat, demonstrating that their growth reflects real consumer demand, not just price inflation.

- Insurgent brands continue to be at the forefront of where consumer demand is accelerating with 44% of the brands featuring natural or organic claims. 

I'm proud of what we're building at MALK. 

And honored to sit alongside the other amazing Brands on this list. 

Let's get after it once again in 2026!

We’re debuting our new Cleaner Creamers at Expo West.

Organic, dairy-free, and made without gums, oils, or natural flavors. 

One thing we all need at Expo is coffee (duh), so come have a cold brew on us at our Cleaner Creamer Coffee Bar outside of Hall E (S21). 

Or explore the full MALK lineup (and more) at our main booth N322.

Lastly, we're also hosting a happy hour on Thursday 3/5, from 4-5PM — where MALKtinis will also make their debut :)

See you there!

(Full details in the link in the comments)

I turn 47 today.

Five years ago, I wrote a post on my 42nd birthday about entering my prime.

Looking back, I was right. But I underestimated what was coming.

Because every year since then, I've finished even stronger than I started.

Not older. Stronger.

Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.

Patience made me stronger mentally.

I stopped needing everything to happen right now. The urgency that used to consume me is more controlled. The more I let things unfold, the quieter my mind gets. Clearer. 

Acceptance made me stronger emotionally.

I stopped fighting what I can't control. The setbacks, disappointments, and other people's opinions that used to stunt me... I learned to let them pass through instead of take up residence.

Balance made me stronger physically.

I stopped treating my body like it was separate from everything else. Sleep matters. Recovery matters. I'm in better shape at 47 than I was at 37 because I finally stopped grinding myself into the ground.

Focus made me stronger universally. 

I stopped giving F's to things that don't fill me up. Relationships, opportunities, envy of other's people's highlight reels on social media. 

I'm still a work in progress, but recognize and acknowledge that if I'm going to grow, those are the areas that need to be more developed. So I work on them. 

At 22, I thought 47 was ancient.

At 47, I know the truth.

I'm not declining. I'm compounding.

Every hard conversation. Every failure I sat with instead of ran from. Every time I chose the long game over the quick win.

It all stacks.

So if the 22-year-old version of me showed up today, I'd tell him the same thing I said five years ago:

You have no shot against this version of me.

But now I'd add one thing:

You won't have a shot against the 60-year-old version either.

We’re hiring a Director of Finance.

You’ll report directly to and work closely with our CFO Jay Stone. 

MALK is growing fast with a smaller team which means you’ll have meaningful ownership and impact.

It also means we need a builder. 

Someone comfortable operating in the fast-moving, messy world of high-growth CPG.

You’ll partner closely with Sales, Marketing, Category Insights, and Demand Planning to help us understand what’s driving growth and how we invest to scale the business.

We have a culture we protect furiously. 

A group of humans who are all different, but who have common traits. 

Self motivated, open minded, intellectually curious, and cool. 

Last thing I’ll say is this.

This place is special. And will be one of the most fun and rewarding work experiences of your life if you’re the right fit. 

I don’t just believe that. I know it. 

If you’re interested, or know someone great, email hr@malkorganics.com. 

Or text me if you know me.

I've never met a happy person in a hurry.

Last week I looked down and realized I'd eaten an entire lunch without tasting a single bite.

Fork in one hand. Slack in the other. Eyes on the next call starting in 4 minutes.

I couldn't tell you what I ate. I was already somewhere else.

And I thought: what am I actually racing toward?

Look, I get it. Speed wins. 

I've built my entire career on moving fast. I preach it constantly.

But there's a difference between moving with urgency and living in a constant state of hurry.

Urgency is a choice. Hurry is a disease.

Urgency says "this matters, let's go."
Hurry says "this moment isn't good enough. I need to be somewhere else."

Every time you're rushing, you're basically telling yourself: I don't want to be here. I want to be there.

"There" is always some future moment. When the deal closes. When the launch is done. When you're "further along."

You know what you'll find when I got there?

Another "there."

Happiness isn't waiting for you at the finish line.

It's not in the next milestone or the cleared inbox or the lunch you inhaled at your desk.

It's here. Right now. 

Even if "here" isn't where you thought you'd be.

If you can't get your arms around that, happiness will always elude you.

—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

Stop trying to be Steve Jobs.

He's the exception, not the rule.

An entire generation of founders watched the turtleneck tantrums and thought that was the playbook for great leadership. 

It's not.

I've watched brilliant people flame out because nobody wanted to work with them.

Being easy to work with is a competitive advantage.

Nice people make more friends.
Nice people create more loyalty from colleagues.
Friends and loyal colleagues expand your network.
Your network brings more opportunity.

The math is simple.

Be decent.

—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

There’s nothing like putting your skills to the test.

I say it to the team all the time. 

No doubt they’re sick of hearing it. 

But getting the chance to put your hard work to the test is a privilege. 

Full stop. 

I’ve worked really hard on my jiu jitsu since picking it up 3.5 years ago. 

And love to compete in tournaments because what better way to test skills than that?

This is me getting a choke submission in the gold medal match at the Austin Open last week. 

Stoke Level = Off The Charts

Really proud of the work I’ve put in regardless of the outcome. 

But winning is pretty sweet.

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I used to think good leaders had an opinion on everything.

Every deck. Every decision. Every damn detail.

If someone brought me something, I had to weigh in. That was my job, right?

Wrong.

I was exhausting my team and myself.

Not everything demands your judgment.

You're actually allowed to say "I trust your call on this."

You can sit in a meeting and just listen. You can let your direct report run with their idea without inserting yourself into every corner of it.

The best leaders I know? They're selective about where they spend their opinion capital.

They know the difference between:

• Things that need their input
• Things that need their approval
• Things that need neither

When you comment on everything, two things happen:

Your team stops thinking for themselves. And you become the bottleneck.

So now I ask myself: Does this actually need me? Or do I just want to feel important?

Most of the time, it's the latter.

Shutting up is a skill. And it might be the most underrated one in leadership.

—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

Nothing will advance your career faster than being able to connect with other humans.

It trumps every other skill by a country mile.

This starts with you making everything less about you and more about them.

Ironically, even though it's the most important skill to get you into a leadership position, it's actually more important once you get there.


—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

The best leaders don't announce themselves.

Sure, you can feel their presence.

But when they're with their team, there's no performance. 

No need to remind everyone they're the boss.

Their authority comes from how they listen. How they ask questions instead of giving orders. How they make space for others to shine.

The insecure ones do the opposite.

They interrupt. 
They dominate conversations. 
They make damn sure you know they're running the show.

But real leadership shows up in the room without saying a word. 

People lean in when they speak. 
Decisions get made faster. 
The team moves with confidence.

That's the tell.

If someone has to constantly remind you they're in charge, they probably aren't.

Your best relationships aren't built in the good times.

They're forged in the shit storms.

When revenue's down. When you're making layoffs. When the product launch flops and everyone's pointing fingers.

That's when you find out who's really on your team.

I've watched partnerships crumble during growth phases that should've been celebrations. And I've seen teams get tighter during crises that should've torn them apart.

The difference?

How you communicate when it's hard. 

Whether you protect respect even when you disagree. If you can trust each other when the path forward isn't clear.

You can't go back to the early days when everything felt simple. When the stakes were lower and disagreements didn't matter as much.

And honestly? You shouldn't want to.

Because every hard conversation, every tense board meeting, every moment you chose trust over ego made you stronger.

The relationships that survive the pressure are the ones worth keeping.

Everything else is just networking.

Self reflection is in short supply.

Most people are so damn sure they're right.

I get it. Confidence feels good. Certainty is comfortable.

But what I've learned in nearly 47 years on this planet is the most dangerous thing you can do is stop asking yourself one simple question:

Am I wrong?

Not once in a while. Regularly.

Pick something you're convinced of and argue against yourself. Make the best case you can for the opposite view.

You'll either strengthen your position or realize you need to change it.

Either way, you win.

The people who do this consistently? They make better decisions. They build stronger teams. They avoid costly mistakes.

The ones who don't? 

They get blindsided by their own blind spots.


—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

People who tell you to "enjoy the journey" have already finished theirs.

They're not wrong. They're just not useful.

When I was grinding 90-hour weeks at Factor_, people would say "enjoy the process!"

I wasn't enjoying anything. I was trying not to go bankrupt.

You can't enjoy drowning while you're drowning. You're just trying to breathe.

Here's what actually helps:

• Permission to not love every moment
• Knowing survival mode is temporary
• Understanding gratitude comes later

Stop beating yourself up for not loving the grind.

The appreciation comes when you've got bandwidth for it.

Right now? Just keep climbing.

—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

Intelligence isn't why leaders fail.

They fail because they can't connect.

I watched a VP with all the talent in the world lose his team in 6 months. Not because the plan was wrong. Because no one wanted to follow him.

He couldn't read a room. Couldn't give feedback without destroying morale. Couldn't build trust.

The gap between good and great leadership isn't IQ. It's EQ.

You can be the smartest person in the building and still create a vibe people don't enjoy.

Because leadership isn't about being right. It's about bringing people along with you.

Your direct reports. 
Your counterparts. 
Your boss. 

The hard skills get you in the door. The soft skills determine how far you go.

If you're stuck at a certain level, ask yourself: Is it really your capabilities holding you back? Or is it how you make people feel?

Start there.

The hardest workers at startups aren't always the ones who get promoted.

I've watched this play out dozens of times across three companies.

Everyone's grinding. Everyone's busy. That's table stakes.

The difference? It's not who works the most hours.

It's who takes ownership of their own growth.

Take two different people. Both talented. Both working their asses off.

One finishes a project and asks "what's next?" before you even have time to think about it. She spots gaps in your process and just... fixes them. Builds skills you didn't even know you needed yet.

The other does his job well. Really well. But he waits. Waits for you to assign the next thing. Waits for feedback. Waits for someone to tap him on the shoulder and say "here's your growth opportunity."

Guess which one gets promoted?

Here's the reality at a startup: No one has time to manage your career development for you.

Your boss is putting out fires. Your company is trying not to die. There's no HR department building you a nice little development plan.

If you're waiting for that, you're already behind.

The people who make it aren't necessarily the smartest or most experienced.

They're the ones who look at their current role and ask "what's next?" without being prompted.

They find the gaps. They raise their hand. They build new skills before they need them.

The others? They're always surprised when growth opportunities go to someone else.

Stop waiting. Start owning.


—

I write emails. Unfiltered takes from 12+ years building brands.

It's free. Subscribe (or don't):

https://ryanrouse.me/

I used to think confidence was more correlated to competence.

That the person dominating the conversation must know what they're talking about.

I was wrong.

Tens of thousands of meetings over the decades taught me this lesson the hard way.

The pattern is always the same.

Someone walks in with all the answers. Voice loud. Presence commanding.

Most people defer to them because of the volume and presence.

But...

The quiet ones. The people who didn't fight for airtime. Who wait until everyone else has spoken before they say anything at all.

They aren't quiet because they have nothing to say.

They're quiet because they were actually thinking. Processing.

Connecting dots that everyone else misses while they're busy talking.

I've watched entire strategies shift because someone who barely said a word for 45 minutes finally raised their hand and pointed out the one thing everyone else overlooked.

The flaw in the logic. The customer insight we missed. The operational reality that would kill the whole plan.

But here's the thing.
If you're not paying attention, you'll miss it entirely.

Because those voices don't demand space. They don't interrupt. They don't repeat themselves three times to make sure everyone heard.

They say it once. Quietly. And if you're not listening, it's gone.

The quiet people aren't always right.

But when they're wrong? They're wrong in interesting ways.

Ways that make you think differently. Ways that open up new angles you hadn't considered.

Real insight doesn't need volume.

It needs space. And attention. And someone willing to create room for it to surface.

If you're leading a team, this matters more than you think.

Because the breakthrough idea you're looking for? It's probably already in the room.

It's just not screaming at you.

It's sitting quietly in the corner, waiting for someone to notice.

Pay attention to the people who don't fight for airtime.

Ask them what they think.

Then shut up and listen.

You might be surprised what you've been missing.

Momentum is the most powerful force in business.

It's intoxicating. And finicky as hell.

When you have it, deals close faster. Hiring gets simpler. Problems suddenly have solutions.

That part is obvious. The part that isn't... 

Your team doesn't feel it the way you do.

They're in the weeds. Focused on tasks. They don't see the pattern you're seeing.

So when momentum's on your side, your job isn't just to ride it.

It's to make sure everyone else feels it too.

Point it out. Celebrate wins. Connect the dots between their work and the results. 

So you can get the most out of it when the winds are at your back. 

Because it can disappear as fast as it arrived.

Consuming content doesn't build confidence.

Doing does.

I spent years thinking I needed one more book, one more course, one more framework before I was ready. Spoiler: I was never ready.

The confidence I have now didn't come from any of that.

It came from:

• Launching things that flopped
• Making calls I wasn't sure about
• Building Factor_ with no roadmap
• Getting it wrong, then getting it right

You can watch every YouTube video on swimming. But you don't learn to swim until you're in the water.

Same with business. Same with parenthood. Same with life.

The reps are the education. The failures are the curriculum. The wins are just proof you survived long enough to figure it out.

Stop waiting until you feel ready. You won't.

Start before you're confident. That's how confidence actually gets built.

Codie A. Sanchez

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC fund, Founder

On a mission to create financially free and free-thinking humans.I founded a advisory and investment company called Contrarian Thinking that helps owners buy and scale businesses.Our newsletter has over 1M+ weekly readers, here → contrarianthinking.biz/liOur community has taught 9,000+ members biz buying, biz growing, and doing deals. We value experience over degrees.Betting on yourself over building someone else's dream.Main Street over Wall Street.My mission is less suits, more boots. Meaning: we the people holding the power… and the purse strings.🔗Join 1M+ others who get our free newsletter: contrarianthinking.biz/li🔗YouTube: @CodieSanchezCT🔗Instagram: @codiesanchez🔗Twitter: @Codie_Sanchez🔗Weekly business-buying newsletter Main Street Minute: contrarianthinking.biz/minute-li

Founder

We help free minds and build bank accounts.

I have no energy for hate. Love you, wish you well, or hope you heal. That's it.

Investing millions in Main St businesses & teaching you how to own the rest | HoldCo, VC, Founder | NYT best-selling author

The best advice that no one follows:

- Wake up at 5:45am.
- Marriage done well is a huge superpower.
- Trust God.
- Be careful what you read, it becomes the way you think.
- No going out on a school night.
- If you have to drink to hang out with someone, you probably shouldn't be buds.

Feel free to share if you agree ♻️

You will make 10x more money if you present ideas like this to your clients or leaders.

Underrated superpower:

Just dumb enough to believe in yourself, just smart enough to execute.

You don’t have anxiety because you think you CAN’T do it.

You have anxiety because deep down you know you CAN be doing bigger things.

People overestimate business plans and “genius.” They underestimate irrational inability to quit.

Dumber people than you have done it.

Let's get after it 💥

Follow for more & repost if you need this to be your new mantra.

You don’t get lucky.

You make your luck.

There are 3 ways to increase your odds of luck:

1. Do, repeatedly. Try, then iterate.
2. Be consistent. Resist the urge to give up.
3. Gain knowledge. Invest in yourself.

Knowledge without action is worthless. So is acting without knowing what you’re doing.

Say you want to buy a business.

You could get the best advice in the world from the smartest people in acquisitions… But if you don’t act, you’ll never buy one.

OR

Your could have all the drive in the world, the right mindset… But ruin yourself financially because you didn’t learn the right tactics.

Harsh truth:

Running a company is simply a game of prioritizing problems.

Here’s how to become the Chief Problem Solver in your business:

Want to know Elon Musk's "secret" to running Tesla, SpaceX, and 3+ other billion-dollar companies?

According to Marc Andreessen, it's simple:

"He shows up every week, identifies the biggest problem, fixes it, and does that 52 weeks in a row."

Most companies hide from problems:

• They reframe them as "challenges"
• They create layers of abstraction
• They delegate them into oblivion

But problems aren't biohazards—they're your biggest opportunities.

Bigger the problem? Bigger the potential.

There’s a reason SpaceX is able to send a 400-foot skyscraper into the sky knowing it might explode.

Because they want to know exactly what breaks, when, and why.

Every failure incapacitates dozens of future problems.

This approach works because running a company is simply prioritizing problems.

Your earnings directly reflect what you solve...

Big problems pay better.

Another great example of this is Brad Jacobs.

He built 7 billion-dollar companies in logistics, waste, and warehousing - industries most people find boring until they see his bank account.

Here’s how he evaluates risk vs reward on different deal sizes:

• Small, low-risk deals: exist but limited reward
• Small, high-risk deals: limited reward with high risk (avoid)
• Big, low-risk deals: unicorns (don't exist)
• Big, high-risk deals with solvable problems: "the bingo quadrant"

One of my favorite lines from his book is:

"If you want to win, you have to rearrange your brain to lean into those big, hairy problems and figure out how to cut off the hair and de-risk."

This is exactly what your job is as a CEO.

It’s simple: hire the smartest people in the world... and solve the problems they can't figure out.

That's it. That's the whole job.

Not avoiding problems, but identifying and selecting the right ones to solve.

Becoming a Chief Problem Solver requires you to create your own weekly problem-solving loop:

1. Identify your single biggest constraint
2. Focus all resources on solving it
3. Measure the result
4. Repeat next week

1 problem. 1 solution. 52 weeks in a row.

The best entrepreneurs don't just "think differently" about problems. They actively build muscles for problem identification and execution.

Then they do it again and again.
Fair warning though, this isn't glamorous work. It means:

• Living inside friction
• Facing uncomfortable truths
• Fixing things no one else wants to touch

But it's where all the leverage is.

If your business is stuck, your unlock is often solving ONE big problem.

Maybe you know exactly what it is, but don't know how to solve it. Or maybe you're not sure what the problem is yet...

P.S. If you want to see how we think about solving these problems for our own businesses, you might want to check this out: https://lnkd.in/enaBvipE

A reminder to myself and you this Saturday...

It’s really just you against the mirror. You vs you. No one else can win at a game of one. I know it’s hard not to get distracted, race horses wear blinders for a reason. Your lane you’re game. LFG.

13 other unreasonably simple habits to change your life:

1. Waking up at 5:45am solves 99.9% of daily issues.

2. Grab your to-do list. Do the thing you want to do least, first.

3. Stop all 60 min meetings, make them 45 minutes. Tighter meetings, more time.

4. No social media, email, or text when you wake up. Write something, read something, or create something before you get sucked in.

5. Do the $1,000/hr Test. Group work in 3 buckets based on return: $10, $100, $1,000. Offload one low ROI task per day.

6. Change one meeting a week to a walking call. Watch how excited the other meeting member becomes.

7. Add a How vs Won't check-in. When you say, "that WON'T work." Instead ask, "How could that work?"

8. Be the dumbest one in your friend group, then move on when you’re not. As they say, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

9. Take a picture of your net worth. What gets measured gets managed. Check finances daily.

10. Always the stairs, never the elevator. Pick the hard option. See how much stronger you are than you think.

11. Never write to-dos in stone. You're 10x more productive if you reprioritize daily.

12. Meditate. 10 minutes a day. For a twofer - do it in the sauna. Sometimes hacking culture gets it right.

13. Get intimidated. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Do something every day that scares you a little bit.

Life is the small things repeated daily.

Change one daily habit, and beautiful things start to happen...

So pick one.

↓↓↓

Also...build the habit of getting ownership, not income. 

Come to MSM Live to learn how: https://lnkd.in/gf6hPHdF

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Erica Sinner

Underrated quality of awful leaders:

They try to please everyone & lead by committee.

The hardest parts about leadership:

• Telling truths people don’t want to hear
• Watching decisions people will regret
• But you can’t force mentorship
• No one cares about your business as much as you do
• Micromanaging means YOU hired wrong

Doesn't mean you have to be a jerk.

But often trying to please everyone is the worst thing you can do for your people.

What do you think?

Wall Street has one rule:

Never start what you can buy.

Here’s everything you need to know about buying a biz in 2025: 

While 90% of startups fail, 80% of acquisitions survive the first year.

88% of people worth $30M+ have done at lease one acquisition.

That means the best way to get rich isn’t to start a business like they love to tell us.

The best way to wealth with the highest degree of certainty is through acquisitions.

Right now, the average small business owner in the US is 67 years old. When you’ve run a business for 10+ years, you're bound to be exhausted.

These owners are motivated to sell by what I call the 7 D's:

• Departure
• Divorce
• Disease
• Disagreement
• Distress
• Death
• Dullness

They’re desperate to exit the game but don't know how. 

Most people think they need millions in capital to buy a businesses.

But they don't realize 60% of all business sales involve seller financing.

Instead of going to a bank for a loan, the seller becomes your bank.

You put some money down, and they get paid over time from the business profits.

There are 3 reasons why a seller would agree to this:

1. Cash

Let’s say the bank offered the seller $750,000 for their biz but you offered the seller $1.15 million paid over time.

They’ll make an extra $400,000 by being the bank.

2. Taxes

Lump sum payments hit the seller with massive tax bills.

Installment payments spread over 10 years means lower tax brackets and potentially hundreds of thousands saved.

3. Speed

Bank loans take 3-9 months to close. Seller financing can close in 2-3 weeks.

Now which businesses to target? 

Ones under $10 million in revenue with at least 15% profit margins.

Blue-collar service businesses fit this bill - HVAC, landscaping, cleaning services.

They're cash-flowing, recession-resistant, and boring enough that private equity ignores them. 

BUT, before searching anywhere, create what I call a deal box. Define exactly:

• How much cash flow you need annually
• Maximum purchase price
• Geographic preferences
• Industry focus
• Must-haves and can't-stands

If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never find it.

Next up, how to find businesses to buy? 

1. Venmo Challenge

Pull your payment history and filter out friends and big companies. What's left are small businesses you already pay - cleaning services, handymen, landscapers.

2. Personal P&L Review.

Open your credit card statements and look at small businesses you spend with. These are owners you can reach out to.

3. The 9-5 Strategy:

One of our community members bought her coworker's $1.5M business with full seller financing after he decided to retire to go skiing with his wife.

↓ ↓ ↓

As a thank you for sticking around to the end, I want you give my "Deal Clarity Workbook."

It helps you figure out what business is right for you.

Grab it here: https://lnkd.in/enPdVi_D

What I wish I was told before I had success.

The “Hate Us ‘Cuz They Ain’t Us” Curve:

When you first start out, they tell you...

You’re lame.
You’re crazy.
That’ll never work.
Oh, she’s a one-hit wonder.
She probably has a rich dad.
Or slept her way there.

THEN, we hit the top of the curve. Your success is obvious. And things start to change... They say…

Oh yeah, I know her.
Hey, long time no talk!
Love to meet up and pick your brain.
How did you do that?

And the grand finale...
They ask you for a job.

If success is your goal, expect people to talk a lot of crap for a long time. Let them. Because one day, you’ll just get to point at the scoreboard.

↓↓↓

FYI 

If you're ready to step out of your comfort zone this year and buy a business, come to my live event this week. 

I'll teach you how (over 3 days): https://lnkd.in/eEye_qd6

Is talking about vanity superficial? Maybe.

Is it effective? Absolutely.

Being well-dressed and well-groomed is a massive edge in any negotiation. It’s hard to push back on someone who looks like they’ve already won. Own your 2026 look.

The richest people in the world don't just build companies...they buy them.

Here’s how you can too (without their millions): 

Three reasons why buying beats building a business from scratch:

- 45% of new businesses fail within 5 years
- Most entrepreneurs make only $67k/year
- First 3-4 years are unprofitable

Compare that to when you buy...

You inherit customers, systems, and profits from day one.

"But Codie, I genuinely can’t afford one."

That’s what I thought too when I started. 

There are 3 ways to buy any business (without needing millions):

1. Experience
2. Sweat equity
3. Money

You only need ONE of these three to pull off a deal.

1. Experience

This is perfect for people who know the industry inside and out.

Maybe you've been a plumber for 20 years and want to buy a plumbing company.

Sellers value genuine knowledge over $$ because they know you won't destroy what they built.

2. Sweat Equity

If you’re thinking about working in the business and growing it, this is for you.

Many retiring owners care more about their legacy than maximizing the sale price.

They want someone who'll take care of their employees and customers, not just squeeze the biz for cash.

3. Money

This doesn't have to mean YOUR money.

I've bought plenty of businesses with 0-15% down using other people's money. You can:

- Use SBA loans (government-backed with low rates)
- Get investors to fund the deal
- Or structure seller financing

Seller financing often works as a win-win too. 

Banks tend to lowball business valuations and charge high interest rates.

But when sellers finance you directly, they get a premium price AND earn interest on the loan.

They make MORE money by cutting out the bank.

Just make sure you show what’s in it for them:

- Higher purchase price (ex. 15%+ premium)
- Tax advantages (spread over time vs lump sum)
- Faster close (30 days vs 120 days)

A win-win.

So what businesses should you target?

A few strategies I use: 

1. SOWS method:

- Stale: Revenue hasn't grown in 3+ years
- Old: Been around 5+ years
- Weak: Competitors are terrible
- Simple: You can explain it to an 8-year-old

2. The Venmo Method

Look at your personal P&L:

- Who do you pay every month?
- Who are your competitors?
- What vendors do you use?

These are the businesses you should buy.

Instead of paying to get your problem solved, why don’t you get paid to solve it for other people? 

Right now, boomers own $5-10 trillion worth of businesses.

And when these owners retire…

It’s either we buy these businesses, or BlackRock does.

I’d rather see more of us own our local than have PE swallow everything up.

If you want to learn how to buy a biz, you should come to my masterclass today. 

It's completely free & solely focused on teaching you how to buy a biz for a little as $0. 

Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e86jsivr

I asked my mom & dad for advice recently from raising me and my brother...

This is what they told me, maybe you’ll find it useful too:

1. Your kids are not your friends. They’re yours to safeguard and support, but set rules. Biggest problem with most kids in our generation, their parents wanted to be liked not respected.

2. Psy ops are underrated. My mom had this line for whenever I got into trouble. She’d say, “When I ask you a question like this, I already know the answer. I am giving you a chance to come clean...” At which point I’d sing like a canary because I’m a scaredy cat. I found out today she rarely knew the answers. Brilliant and maniacal.

3. Always on the same page. My mom and dad rarely fought in front of my brother and I. They would never go back on the word of the other. United front to deal with us mini terrorists.

4. Make time. My dad had this silly line that is actually not silly: “You can make money, you can make a cake, but you can’t make time.” So they made allllll the time for us.

5. Four chairs. We have these four chairs in our living room, no tv. Growing up, we’d sit and debate and talk for hours. Politics. Opinions. Our days. Only thing not allowed was an opinion you couldn’t defend unemotionally. We still do this today.

6. Mi Sangre mi siempre. They’d always say, blood comes first. They meant it. I hired my brother, my dad, my mom, my cousin at times. We stick together and we may fight like hell but never in front of others.

7. Once you decide, you don’t quit. We could play any sport or instrument BUT if we committed we had to play the full year all out. No 3 lessons and quit. Taught us to choose thoughtfully and keep going even when it hurt.

8. Always call. They still pick up the phone nearly every time it’s family. My dad in a meeting will pause to answer my mom. My husband taught me this too, and I try to do the same. If they’re your first priority this is an easy way to prove it.

9. You’re not a princess, you’re a president. My dad always used to say that line. He told me this week that I lived up to it. Gutted me. He taught us we didn’t need to be saved, instead we could save ourselves and help others.

10. Hug often and seriously. If you’ve ever hugged my parents, they mean it when they do it. Such a simple, free gesture. My mom always gives you a hug and says vaya con dios… go with God. How can you not do big things with parents that hold you like that?

Just some Lessons from the Road from parents I happen to think are some of the best in the world.

Moms and dads everywhere, I’m in awe of you.

Hardest job I’ve ever seen.

*This is one of my favorite pics of me and my dad. Doesn’t get old.

How to be unrecognizable in 90 days:

1. Be obsessed

Every outsized outcome I’ve seen came from people who genuinely enjoy the pressure. Not motivated people. Obsessed people. It’s almost impossible to compete with someone who treats the thing you dread as fun.

2. Clean out your closet

Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit the person you’re becoming. Cluttered space creates cluttered thinking, and cluttered thinkers don’t make money. Changing how you show up physically is one of the fastest ways to change how you behave.

3. Clarify your ONE thing

Not five ideas. One. Put a number on it and give yourself 90 days to get there. You have to prove to yourself that you keep your word.

4. Tell a better story about yourself

Not a vision board. Write down the words. If your life were a book, what’s supposed to happen next? What goes wrong and how do you react to it? When challenges show up, it’s much easier to keep going if you already decided they were part of the plot.

5. Start a not-to-do list

Becoming elite means cutting distractions aggressively and doing fewer things better.

6. Eliminate distractions

Most distraction is optional so make it harder to waste time and easier to focus. Small changes here create outsized results.

7. Outwork people

If you wake up earlier, protect the first part of your day, and eliminate distractions, you will get ahead faster than you think. Because most people just aren’t willing to work hard.

8. Move in silence

When you’re actually changing your life, you don’t need an audience. Do cool shit. Then talk after the result.

Do this for 90 days and your life will look different.

Because you WILL be different.

Why you never get what you want...

- You don’t ask.
- You don’t make it a win-win.
- You don’t know when to walk away.

Here's how to avoid these negotiation mistakes (& get the deal you deserve):

If you want to fail in negotiating and alway overpay... don’t read this.

Buyers with experience only negotiate on three variables that determine the value of a business.

Most sellers don't even understand these concepts, which gives you a massive advantage if you can educate them on how deals really work:

1. EBITDA/SDE

Contrary to popular belief, this isn't about the number on their P&L.

It's about the cash flow you’ll actually get when you take over.

Here’s an example:

If a seller says "we made $500k last year" but half of that came from a one-time contract that won't renew…

You can't pay for income that won't exist for you.

That's like buying a house and paying for the furniture they're taking with them.

Most buyers get destroyed here because they don't adjust for:

- Salary to replace owner
- Revenue concentration risks
- One-time events that won't repeat
- Expenses that will increase under new ownership

2. Multiple

Think of this as a direct reflection of risk.

Everything that increases risk lowers the multiple. Everything that decreases risk raises it.

That’s why some businesses trade at 15x while others struggle to get 2x.

Lower multiples come from:

- Revenue trending downward
- Business depends entirely on the seller
- Messy financials
- High employee turnover

These are red flags screaming "this could fall apart tomorrow."

Conversely, higher multiples come from the opposite:

- Documented systems and processes
- Diversified revenue streams
- Strong management team
- Clean books
- Consistent YOY growth

You can’t negotiate the multiple arbitrarily. It’s calculated with hard numbers.

But you can influence it by identifying and addressing the risks contractually rather than just pushing for a lower price.

You're buying the future but paying for the past.

The multiple reflects how confident you are in that future.

3. Terms

Price is what you pay, terms are how you pay.

You can give a seller their price IF you get your terms. Or you can give them their terms if you get your price.

But you CAN’T give them both.

It’s the law of price and terms:

Terms are how you hedge against every risk you identified in the deal. For example:

- If there’s key employee risk → Add retention bonuses to the deal
- Seller wants higher valuation? → Use seller financing
- Documentation not in place? → Long transition and training period

The idea is to use the contract to protect against your biggest fears.

At the end of the day, negotiation isn’t about winning.

It’s about getting what you want while keeping the other side happy enough that they don’t sabotage the deal.

It’s an art and next week I’ll be teaching everything I’ve learned about deal making LIVE, more info in the comments...

Everyone should be obsessed with chasing their first $500k.

Capitalism has pulled more people out of poverty than any system ever created.

Stop pretending it’s evil.

↓↓↓

And one of the most important skills to learn to hit your first $500k? 

Sales. 

Read this to learn why now is the perfect time to get great at sales: https://lnkd.in/eqESyABe

How MBAs look at a 27 year old HVAC business in Omaha with no website.

Harsh truth on scaling businesses: 

Your goal as CEO is to build a team that runs your entire company better than you.

5 other lessons I’ve learned the hard way from 15+ years of being an owner:

1. Operating Systems Win

The difference between McDonald's and your local burger joint isn't the food.

It's that any 16-year-old can run McDonald's because of their systems.

If your business needs you to be the hero every day, you own a job, not a business.

No systems = Everything breaks when you aren’t there

The most effective systems I’ve seen all had the same four features.

I call it the PEIC framework:

1. Proven (battle tested)
2. Explicit Processes
3. Implementation
4. Continuous Improvement

Apply them across your core functions and your business will pretty much run on autopilot:

2. Your Revenue Is A Reflection Of Your Vision Distributed

Every time you say your employees don’t care about your business, you're admitting you failed at distributing your vision.

When your team can't see where you're going, they can't help you get there.

Your business needs two guiding metrics. 

At Contrarian Thinking, we call them “Oars.”

One needs to be quantitative and one qualitative. These act as our north stars to drive prioritization and resource allocation. 

Our left oar? Revenue. Our right? Followers. 

Everything flows downstream from those two numbers. 

3. Successful People Make Quick Decisions

Not only that but they move fast, in the right direction.

It always sounds simple but it comes down to knowing exactly what you want and having systems to execute on it.

That’s where planning in layers comes in:

Annual → Quarterly → Monthly → Weekly

Once you're clear on direction, decisions become obvious.

All that’s left is to track:

- What team
- What goal
- Who
- Percentage Done
- Status

 Keep an eye on all five and you’ll always have a pulse on what’s going on in your biz.

4. Successful People Hang Out With Other Successful People

Your success as an owner is determined by who you surround yourself with.

If you're the smartest person in your business, you're doing something wrong.

Your goal should be to build a team that runs your company better than you do.

5. Find 1-1 Mentors To Hold Your Hands

I used to turn my nose at masterminds.

But then I realized my only other option was to figure sh*t out with years of expensive mistakes.

That’s why I have coaches for everything now.

Most wealthy people got rich by paying for shortcuts whenever they saw one.

There’s no shame in stealing someone else’s 10,000 hours.

Time is the only thing you can't buy more of.

Get in rooms with people who've already solved what you're facing.

↓↓↓

I'm running a masterclass this week on how to grow any business faster. 

Sign up here to reserve your seat: https://lnkd.in/eJcGFHnN

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