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$1B in apartments. 325 employees in multifamily, metal plating, and water COs. Ex-Microsoft. Buying unsexy businesses and improving w/ software. HBJ 40 under 40

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I was a program manager at Microsoft. Good job, good money, nothing wrong with it. I quit in 2013 to start a software company and then ultimately build Disrupt Equity to buy apartments.

First deal was 99 units in Atlanta. It was a rough deal and complete reposition.

Nine years later: $1B in multifamily acquisitions, and a property management company running the day-to-day with 150+ employees.

Then started thinking about what else we could improve with systems and software, and give our investors strong cash-flow opportunities.

So we bought a chrome plating shop. 175 people, industrial metal finishing, the kind of business nobody at Microsoft has ever thought about for one second. Three years in and it's been the hardest thing I've done. Not the manufacturing. The people.

Then a water controls company. Now we're 45 days from closing a construction company that builds water and sewage treatment plants for Texas cities, the second company in the roll-up.

325 employees across three industries that have nothing to do with each other, and I'm the software guy in the room in all of them.

That's what I'll be posting about.

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Houston's first halal food truck started here in 2011. Abu Omar Halal is now up to 25 trucks and restaurants across 5 states, and just opened a new spot in Webster. Love watching a Houston food truck grow like that. What's your go-to shawarma in town?

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Eager to still try cybercab out, our office is *almost* inside the area!

[Robotaxi @robotaxi]

Houston, we have liftoff

Bigger service area now live

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Listen to Ep 110 with Megan McGee: https://t.co/HkfU6yalUa

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Buying a business looks like a numbers game until you hear one up close.

Megan McGee: 13 investors, $500K raised, 7,500+ businesses contacted, nearly 4 years. Then a close.

Operators thinking about buying, this one's for you. Ep 110 below.

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Manufacturing folks:

What do you do with your best operator who has zero interest in being a supervisor?

Pay them like one anyway? Make a senior track? Or just hope they don't get poached?

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@findlegacies MUD taxes surprise almost every new buyer around Houston. Look at the total tax rate before you look at the list price.

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@TCaldwell_TX H-E-B on a game day Saturday is its own capacity problem. Nobody is getting that brisket out of there on schedule.

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@PacTheWack @HoustonRockets Houston fans have earned a few finishes like that. Good weekend to be a Houston sports fan.

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@StephStradley Breakfast tacos on a cool fall morning in Houston is about as good as it gets. This is the week that makes up for August.

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@bizbritain From the seller side it makes sense. Most have been burned by a tire kicker or two, and proof of funds is the quickest way to find out who's real.

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@FranchiseWhispr And ask for the numbers on the weakest location, not the average. That's the one that tells you what happens when things go sideways.

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@richschefren First thing I ask when buying a company is who runs it when the owner is on vacation. If the answer is nobody, that's a price conversation.

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@ToddJohns2 Which is why the boring stuff matters. Nobody gets famous rebidding the trash and landscaping contracts, but it shows up in the sale price.

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@LionPawMGT When supply is heavy we lean on renewals over asking rents. Keeping a good resident at flat beats a vacant unit and a turn every time.

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@chasesfish Cheap debt made a lot of people look like operators. The ones still standing are the ones who actually got good at payroll, turns and insurance.

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@amikassar Works if the cash is still sitting there when the deal shows up. Dry powder has a way of turning into payroll in a slow quarter.

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@ChadMPeterman From the owner side, what wins light commercial work isn't tonnage. It's who actually picks up on a Saturday when a unit goes down.

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@PrescottSeth Under-demolished is the best way I've heard office put. On multifamily the supply burns off eventually, the question is who has the debt runway to wait.

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@benbcohen Right, it changes who gets to buy the house, not how many get built. The real fight is still permitting and lot costs.

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@NoUglysAllowed Ask ten Houstonians and you'll get eleven answers and one argument about whether Austin counts.