I sat down with Dan Maxwell, one of four Army veterans who own Summit Point Leadership. Most of their work is training frontline leaders at rural electric co-ops, and Dan says you couldn’t ask for a better customer. I met Dan at Rice and pushed him into Al Danto’s acquisition class.
Dan doesn’t sugarcoat what buying a company takes. He signed a personal guarantee, and he’ll tell you you’re “essentially buying a job.” Be convinced of the company and its cash flow before you talk price, and expect even a business that already makes money to dip before it climbs. Pay off the debt and pay yourself a reasonable salary, and he counts that as a real success.
In the Army, every time an NCO moves up, there’s a leadership school waiting. At a co-op, the best lineman gets promoted to foreman and is left to figure it out, and Dan thinks that first-line leader is the biggest lever a utility has. Veterans bringing that training to the crews who keep the lights on is exactly what I want more of in this industry.
Dan also helps teach a veteran transition lab at Rice, built around a question I’d put to anyone weighing an MBA or a business of their own: how do you actually want to create value 10 years from now?
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:30 Why Buy a Business, and How the Deal Came Together
07:22 Why Rural Electric Co-ops Make Great Customers
10:56 Why Dan Joined the Army
13:56 Getting Out: Med Device Sales and the Road to Rice
17:57 The T1 Energy Award and the J Curve
20:33 How Organizations Work with Summit Point
23:15 Why the First-Line Leader Is the Biggest Lever
27:04 Running the Veterans Business Battle at Rice
30:20 The Veteran Transition Lab (was 30:01)
33:21 Advice for Veterans Weighing an MBA or an Acquisition
37:46 Everyone’s Your Boss, and Closing
Resources
People & Organizations
Kevin Doffing (LinkedIn)
Project Vanguard (Website - Newsletter - Podcast)
Dan Maxwell (LinkedIn)
Veteran & Transition Resources
Military Scholars Program, Rice Business Veterans Association
Rice Business Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Conference
