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Waldemar Pilch spent two decades pricing derivatives at Morgan Stanley, Citi and Standard Chartered, seven of those years out of Singapore, before moving back to Poland to run his aunt's lighting business. He grew it from 50 to 100 million euros, sold it one month before COVID, then launched a search fund and bought Formeds, a Polish vitamins and supplements company, six months later. He tripled revenue in three years and reached a liquidity event while staying on as CEO and co-owner. This episode covers his chicken nugget framework for breaking down risk, why he bet below standard search fund size thresholds on a single subcategory, and his honest answer on being a micromanager.

Chapters

• Growing Up in Krakow and the Family Lighting Business (2:19)
• Moving to New York with Little English (6:08)
• A Career Pricing Risk (7:23)
• Seven Years in Asia (8:57)
• Choosing Operator Over Adviser (12:11)
• Taking ES System from 50 to 100 Million Euros (15:48)
• Why an Outsider Can Run Any Business (17:33)
• Selling One Month Before COVID (19:20)
• From a Hydration Startup to a Search Fund (22:00)
• The Six-Month Search for Formeds (24:08)
• The Founder Transition (26:29)
• Tripling Revenue in Three Years (28:00)
• The Telescope: On Being a Micromanager (31:19)
• A Liquidity Event in Three Years (32:59)
• The True Cost of Running One of These (35:19)
• The Chicken Nugget Framework for Risk (37:51)
• Advice for Searchers (39:30)

SOME ADVICE FROM VAL

"This might be 9:00 to 4:00 AM sometimes, but also at the same time, the most rewarding thing ever, if you get it right."

"If you're thinking about it, losing your sleep over making a decision whether to go down the entrepreneurial path, you'll never know the answer to that question until you do it. And it doesn't matter what stage of your life or career you are. Five years from now you could be an entrepreneur if you make that decision. So just make sure that you're driven, because it's a lot of hard work."

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Jason Hew went from reviewing 1,000 startups a year at Woolworths' venture arm to searching for a business with SMEVentures and buying two instrument transformer manufacturers, one in Sydney and one in Christchurch, in a single transaction. It was only the second search fund acquisition New Zealand had seen. This episode covers his operator-fit framework for knowing when a business is right for you, how he rebuilt a 20-year factory culture as an outsider, and what happened when his vendor walked out four weeks after settlement.

Chapters

• Early Life in Malaysia and Immigration to Australia (2:37)
• The Petrol Station and Grandad's Influence (5:09)
• Cadetship at HLB Man Judd and Early Career (7:34)
• Record Point and the Iron Mountain Deal (9:52)
• Scaling Woolworths Rewards (11:43)
• Employee Number One at W23 Ventures (14:45)
• Cash Rewards and the ANZ Exit (18:00)
• Why a Risk Averse Person Buys a Business (20:58)
• 15 Months of Search (22:25)
• Operator Fit vs Founder Problem Fit (24:30)
• The Acquisition: TWS and WF Energy Controls (28:19)
• The Cross-Border Complexity (31:43)
• First 18 Months as CEO (35:32)
• Vendor Exits at Week Four (38:13)
• The Brightest Moment (40:15)
• Advice for Searchers in the Grind (41:44)
• What Comes Next (42:44)

SOME ADVICE FROM JASON

"Can you actually see yourself doing this for a long period of time? And that equation becomes more important, not when things are going well, but when things are going bad. Can you see yourself struggling through this for a long period of time in this business, in this industry, in this location?"

"The ETA opportunity is real. And there's a deal out there for everyone who's doing this for genuine reasons. Don't be thrown away too much by criteria and business metrics. Really try and hone in on what you think will bring you joy and what will help you wake up in the morning on the right side of bed."

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Graham Weihmiller's journey from Six Sigma black belt to acquiring Griswold Home Care during the Great Recession exemplifies resilience and strategic leadership. He shares his evolution through franchising, scaling Griswold from 100 to 250 locations, and later steering BNI—a global networking organization with 350,000+ members across 77 countries—through one of business history's most dramatic pivots during the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode unpacks the art of founder transitions, the undervalued potential of franchising in ETA, and why your family are your first customers.

Chapters

• Early Signs of Entrepreneurship and Financial Distress (2:38)
• First Venture and Discovering Search Funds (6:45)
• Acquiring Griswold Home Care During the GFC (10:04)
• Why Franchising Deserves More Attention (15:00)
• Founder Transitions: Lessons from Griswold (19:31)
• Getting the Right People on the Bus (23:59)
• Acquiring BNI: A Different Kind of Transition (31:45)
• The Three Bucket Framework (36:11)
• COVID-19: Pivoting a Global Network Overnight (40:14)
• Endurance Sports, Burnout, and Family First (48:00)

Some advice from Graham:

"Your job is not to fix the processes. Your job is to get the right people in the right seats. And they will fix the processes in a much better way than you'll ever be able to."

"I don't know if this organization is gonna survive this pivot that we're about to do, but I know it's the right thing to do. Nobody is gonna get hurt if I can help it. Nothing to me is worth somebody getting hurt or certainly worse."