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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."

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This episode charts the unique path of Adam Johnson, CEO of the critical UK infrastructure company, Water Direct. Adam recounts his journey from an entrepreneurial Texas upbringing to the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley tech sales at startups like WePay and Voxbone, experiences that forged a distinct perspective on adaptability and storytelling. He shares how a Texas blizzard became the "AHA moment" that revealed the hidden value in Water Direct, leading him to acquire the company through the search fund model he discovered during his MBA. This episode highlights the translation of skills between seemingly unrelated industries and the profound challenges and rewards of stepping into the CEO role.

Chapters

Meet Adam Johnson: from Texas to Silicon Valley (0:40)

Adam's early life and influences (2:39)

Navigating career choices and early jobs (8:07)

Sales and startups: lessons from WePay and Voxbone (11:26)

Transition to leadership and private equity insights (20:37)

Discovering the search fund model (23:19)

Getting hooked on ETA (26:22)

The role of an MBA in pursuing a search fund (27:27)

The importance of storytelling in ETA (30:20)

Acquiring Water Direct (31:49)

Understanding Water Direct's business model (32:04)

Challenges and rewards of being a CEO (41:52)

Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs (47:37)

Future plans for Water Direct (49:30)

Conclusion and key takeaways (51:45)

Some advice from Adam:

"It's rare that you you become infatuated with something like this, but it just made sense to me. And I think it's really lucky not a lot of people from a career perspective, at least can say that, they get a bit obsessed with what they're doing. And I, I totally felt that with the search."

"Speak to as many people as you can. Everybody's experience with entrepreneurship broadly is going to be unique. [Try] to form a view of whether or not this is the right path for you can only be done through looking ... into the kaleidoscope because everybody's experience is different and yours will not mimic anybody, but it might at least have quite a few elements from lots of people that you speak to."