Nathan Gregory

Acquired a 43-year-old niche media company. Building it into a B2B marketing platform. CEO @AutobodyNews | Ex-CAA | Sailboat racer.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

I was 25 and just boarded a jet at Teterboro to fly from NYC to Toronto with the band KISS for a concert.

As we made the short flight, the map showed us flying over the small town in rural upstate NY that I grew up in.

I couldn’t help but but laugh to myself at how absurdly ironic that me, a homeschooled kid, was now part of the management team for KISS and other iconic artists.

Thrown into the deep end with KISS, navigating Guns N’ Roses through fashion week, my music management career was nothing short of a baptism by fire.

My stint in music management eventually brought me to the top talent agency CAA where I negotiated and managed brand partnership deals for top celebrity music talent for 10+ years.

Something was gnawing at me though…

- Did I want to be dealing with the drama that surrounds artists as I got into my 40’s and 50’s?
- Did I want to be chasing commissions all my life?
- Did I want my time to constantly be hijacked be the latest talent crisis?

--------------------
From a young age, I had a burning desire for independence, control of my time, and a strong wealth building vehicle.

Over time I dabbled in various opportunities that I thought would give me that freedom.

- I bought and sold raw land in Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and California.
- I acquired multifamily real estate. First in Austin, TX, then switching to Long Beach, CA.
- As an experiment, I started a party favor beer koozie brand, which then blew up into a 7-figure business which I sold in 2021
- Started my media acquisition path with acquiring content websites

Around 2019 I learned about Acquisition Entrepreneurship and made a decision that this was going to be my path.

A few years later, after over 100 deals analyzed, pauses, false starts, and multiple offers, we found the right business for us.

Because of me and my partner’s background, and the need stable earnings, we were exploring the more enduring side of media - B2B media - as one of our target criteria.

In 2023 we found a 42yr old B2B media business covering the automotive collision repair industry. The owners had acquired the business 16 years before us, had grown it substantially, and were ready to retire.

We saw this as an incredibly stable platform, with an impeccable and long-lasting reputation in the industry, and plenty of opportunities for us to expand.

7 months ago we acquired Autobody News and I’m having the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

My journey to acquisition entrepreneurship taught me a few important lessons:

1. Being true to yourself and your skills: Like so many searchers, during the majority of our search, we thought we’d acquire a home services business. It turned out that really wasn't right for us, and only when we pivoted to an industry we had some experience in (media) were we able to find and close on an acquisition. I've also seen that play out for us in a big way in the operation of the business, as I'm able to draw on prior skills, knowledge and even my network.

2. Being persistent and adapting over time: Our search process and criteria evolved over time as we learned more. Not only did we change, but the market changed when interest rates increased and the macro economy slowed.

3. How to overcome imposter syndrome: I was home schooled and went to college for music production technology, nothing close to an MBA. I LOVE to learn, and through endless reading, podcasts, acquiring and owning commercial real estate, starting and running various small side-projects businesses, I eventually developed the skill set to successfully acquire and run a great business.

If you also have a winding path, I’d love to connect and hear about it. Share below!

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@MediaKing @stevehunsaker1 Totally. It’s media arbitrage.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@MarketingMax Like any good productivity nerd, I have "communications" time blocks and dutifully review each of my inboxes rather than getting bombarded. I hate notifications.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

Counterpoint: Reuters blocking bots makes sense. Niche B2B trade media doing the same is the wrong read.

My advertisers are vendors who need AI to cite them when buyers search their industry. Being the crawlable authority in a 35,000-shop niche is a product our clients pay for.

[Mediagazer @mediagazer]

Reuters and Time started blocking all AI bots by default and created whitelists of approved bots, following the default disallow strategy of People and others (@spguaglione / Digiday)

(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

Bloomberg: small business optimism near 2024 lows.

Our reader research, more specifically: 58% of auto collision shops in our market are worried about declining claim volume.

Shops' #1 focus right now is gross profit per repair.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@MediaKing @louisnicholls_ 100% agree. One of our collision industry newsletters is just for senior execs of the biggest operators.

Invite/approval-only.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@jryedinak Fascinating. Sharing with my editorial team.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@louisnicholls_ There is a $20-25B segment of our market run by less than 5,000 people. Really, it's about 1,000 true decision makers.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@jryedinak We just launched an invite-only/approval-only newsletter for a very, VERY small, exclusive segment of our audience.

The total TAM is about 3,500 people who control $25B of revenue in our industry.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@ivanfioravanti @hnshah I hear ya. I find that your down time needs to be REALLY down and you can give your brain the rest it needs.

Some days I’m doing a weeks worth of work, and it feels like I lived a week in that day! 😂

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@patrick_oshag Empire of Pain about the Sackler family. A study on the early days of pharma marketing.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@jordan_ross_8F OS

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@wolfejosh @DavidEpstein I think that’s what’s so extraordinary and unsettling about this moment.

AI has exploded prior constraints and given us all the keys to the kingdom.

I guess now it’s about trying to channel the laser beam, constrain that force of energy in one direction.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@mustufa4socials I’m seeing a renaissance atm for consumers of software.

New features are flying out of the programs I use every week, and it’s awesome.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@DavidGeorge83 Really enjoyed this article. I shared it with some software CEOs in our industry, Auto Collision Repair.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@jryedinak That blew my mind when we got into this business.

We overhauled our entire editorial team over the past 6 months and it was a b-12 shot into the content quality.

You are right, for some reason the bar is so low with legacy b2b pubs.

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@AlfieJCarter Inbox

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@AlfieJCarter Prompts

Thanks!

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

If you’re the kind of operator who runs experiments weekly, cares about first-party data, and wants to build the biggest and most engaged audience in a blue collar B2B niche....

We’re hiring an Audience Development Manager at Autobody News.

We need the kind of person who understands that we earn opt-ins with a real value exchange and then obsesses over segmentation, retention, and behavior-based journeys.

Let me know if you are the right person to join our mission!

[Matt McGarry @JMatthewMcGarry]

https://t.co/CBgktIRE3G

[Nathan Gregory @NathanDGregory]

@paulg Liars figure, and figures don’t lie