60 min listen
Bob Falahee’s Founder’s Journey: 15 years Building SunPro Motorized Awnings & Screens from Day 1 to a Strategic Exit
Bob Falahee’s Founder’s Journey: 15 years Building SunPro Motorized Awnings & Screens from Day 1 to a Strategic Exit
ratings:
Length:
72 minutes
Released:
Mar 19, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In this episode, we interview Bob Falahee, the recently exited founder of SunPro Motorized Awnings & Screens.
Bob’s entrepreneurial origin story starts in Michigan, where he was a sales leader for a semi-truck trailer manufacturer. Bob and his family left behind the cold winters of Michigan for Florida, where he founded SunPro with $36,000 in seed capital. He went on to expand SunPro from a local retractable awning business to a wholesale manufacturing leader in the category.
The conversation reviews SunPro's founding story, its strategic growth and his daughters' pivotal involvement on the finance and retail sides of the business. We also dive into the mind of the founder on the exit process. When did Bob start thinking about exiting? What drove his timing and thinking? How did he start learning about what goes into a successful exit? Bob recounts the impact of cultural fit in selecting an investment banker and walk through how he thought about strategic succession planning and M&A preparation.
Discussion points:
Bob’s first exit from a successful Michigan semi-trailer business
Family relocation to Florida and the search for a small business
Turning a partnership with a local awning business into a new company
Bob’s entrepreneurial origin story starts in Michigan, where he was a sales leader for a semi-truck trailer manufacturer. Bob and his family left behind the cold winters of Michigan for Florida, where he founded SunPro with $36,000 in seed capital. He went on to expand SunPro from a local retractable awning business to a wholesale manufacturing leader in the category.
The conversation reviews SunPro's founding story, its strategic growth and his daughters' pivotal involvement on the finance and retail sides of the business. We also dive into the mind of the founder on the exit process. When did Bob start thinking about exiting? What drove his timing and thinking? How did he start learning about what goes into a successful exit? Bob recounts the impact of cultural fit in selecting an investment banker and walk through how he thought about strategic succession planning and M&A preparation.
Discussion points:
Bob’s first exit from a successful Michigan semi-trailer business
Family relocation to Florida and the search for a small business
Turning a partnership with a local awning business into a new company
Released:
Mar 19, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (25)
Steve Cook and the Making of an Operator-First Private Equity GP: My guest today is Steve Cook, Executive Managing Director at LFM Capital. LFM is a Nashville-based private equity firm founded by operators and engineers. Their focus is on niche manufacturing and industrial services businesses. LFM was founded in 2014 to invest in private, lower-middle-market manufacturing companies. Steve co-founded LFM Capital and brings over 29 years of operating experience, having served in a variety of senior executive and functional roles in manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, technology, and sales. Prior to founding LFM, Steve was a Principal with TVV Capital, Chief Operating Officer of MFG.com, and prior to MFG, Steve spent 11 years as a Southeastern regional Senior Director with The Dell Corporation. We’ll hear from Steve about how he began his career at Dell straight out of MIT and was a self-described type of brash “Iceman” character (from the movie Top Gun) when he got out of flying by Masters in Small Business M&A