Welcome.
I’m not going to waste your time. This isn’t going to be some drawn-out, seven-part email that you’ll have to slog through for the next ten minutes. We’re simply going to tell a story, get to the point, and then get the hell out of here. We’ve got things to do, and so do you, let’s do this.
Each email will start with three bullets to set the scene:
📓 The Overview:
Business: Nell Hill’s
Challenge: Preserving a legacy
Learning: Importance of values
📓 The Story:
In December 2014 I decided enough was enough.
I was tired of trying to prove my worth in a system that didn't value me.
Trying my best to earn a seat at the table.
I spent years working my way through various jobs, trying to find a way into private equity…
Only to eventually realize that I was never going to get a seat at the table.
In life, we are only entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
So I decided to heck with it. If I couldn’t earn my seat at the table I’ll just build my own seat. Table too!
And that’s why my business partner and I decided to start Four Pillars Investors.
An investment firm that partners with entrepreneurs and investors to purchase and operate middle-market businesses that have an untapped potential for growth.
You see, they say growth is a young man's game and eventually, as you get older, priorities change.
And that’s true for everyone but especially for business owners.
But a lot of business owners are scared to hand off their life’s work.
I mean especially to private equity firms.
Let’s just say they don’t have the best rep right now.
Business owners don’t want to see their business stripped and sold for parts or watch their culture and people discarded.
No, they want to know that whoever takes the reins of the business will make sure the integrity and essence of the business remain.
I mean that’s what I would want if someone took over my business.
And that’s why we built those concepts into the ethos of Four Pillars:
Pillar 1: Relationships as a cornerstone for success
Pillar 2: Challenge the status quo
Pillar 3: Servant leadership
Pillar 4: Persistence
We want to work together with business owners to achieve shared success.
We don’t want to clean the house or strip and flip.
No, we want to find creative solutions to help the business grow and last long into the future.
And this is a perfect segue into the subject of this newsletter: Nell Hill’s.
If you live in Kansas or Missouri, you know what Nell Hill’s is.
It’s a business that has a deep-rooted history within Kansas, started by Mary Carol Garrity in 1981 in an old bank building in Atchison, Kansas. She named the store after her maternal grandmother who was a pioneer in the state.
It originally started as a gourmet food shop but has grown into one of the most iconic home interior stores in the Midwest.
In 2019, Kansas City native Katie Laughridge decided she should be the person to steer Nell Hill’s through its next phase.
Now a business that has a deep-rooted history like this is nothing to mess around with.
Any wrong decision will disappoint long-time customers.
So anyone that was taking over this business had not only the sellers of the business to please but the customers too.
I mean as a Kansas City native I didn’t want people to know me as the guy who ruined Nell Hill’s.
So maintaining the integrity of the business was non-negotiable.
Enter Four Pillars Investors.
Katie’s challenge was to find an investment partner who understood and valued the importance of preserving the integrity of the business while finding a way to inject life into it.
She needed someone to listen to her vision, and believe in her story and her people.
So our first step was to learn everything about Nell Hill’s.
This meant the people, the processes, the practices, absolutely everything.
What we realized was that there were pockets of discontent within the business itself. Let’s be real, it doesn't matter how great something is, someone is going to be unhappy.
So we listened.
We didn’t bulldoze our way with the mindset of ‘our way or the highway’.
No, we listened to what folks had to say to better understand how we could help deliver Katie’s vision.
With this information, we developed a plan that was centered around the shared culture of the business.
Ensuring that every voice was heard and understood.
The outcome?
A very successful investment that led to our first exit.
The key to our success?
We bought into Katie’s and Nell Hill’s:
- Story
- Vision
- People
And looked beyond what a financial model may or may not tell us.
That’s the difference between us and other PE firms.
We aren’t ‘spreadsheet jockeys’.
We realize that businesses are more than the numbers on spreadsheets.
We care about the folks that choose to walk in and out of the doors each day and make the store a part of their lives.
We build relationships and fully appreciate the trust that has been placed in us by other business owners to carry the torch for them.
This company ethos helped us be the right partner for Nell Hill’s and Katie.
You see, no traditional PE firms were interested in me and being honest I wasn’t interested in Four Pillars being a traditional PE firm.
And that’s the reason Katie wanted to work with us and not other PE firms.
I guess it pays to stay true to yourself.
🧑🎓 The Lessons:
The doers of the world make their destiny. If your contributions don’t earn you a seat at the table, make your own.
Businesses are more than numbers on a spreadsheet.
If you want to learn something about a business, speak to its people.
📅 Next Week:
Next week we are going to dive deep into 3 of the most important criteria buyers consider when evaluating a business.
Keep building,
Nick
P.S.
If you want to hear more from ‘The Most Boring Guy In Private Equity’ make sure to follow me on LinkedIn and Youtube. I dive into the world of Private Equity sharing my thoughts on the industry as a whole and giving you insights on how small businesses can improve their business or even prepare it to be sold to a PE company.
Make sure to follow me so you don’t miss out!
LinkedIn: Nick Mclean
Link to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NickFourPillars
