This Week on Think Like an Owner

My guest this week was Felix Brooks-Church, CEO of Sanku, which helps local mills across Africa produce fortified food, primarily flour, via their machines and technology.

Felix was introduced to me by David Dodson, co-founder and chairman of the board at Sanku. Sanku has a fascinating origin story, which includes a stint in Nepal, refining the technology, and is now a quickly growing enterprise that has required a ton of learning on Felix’s part to adapt his role to the growing company. Felix and I talk about how he’s adapted his role, leaning on the board for feedback and advice, sustaining growth, and building discipline.

This episode is sponsored Oberle Risk Strategies, the leading specialty insurance brokerage for search funds and the broader ETA community, providing complimentary due diligence assessments of the target company’s commercial insurance and Employee benefits programs. If you are under LOI, please reach out to learn more about how Oberle can help with insurance due diligence at oberle-risk.com. Or reach out to the CEO August Felker directly at [email protected].

CEO Reading List

In Mark Valdez’s latest newsletter he interviews Omni Analytics co-founder and president, Jamie Davidson, in a discussion focused on the value of business intelligence and data tools. This paragraph in particular caught my attention:

“At large enterprises, dedicated data teams create value through leverage. They don’t sell or generate revenue and they don’t build products, instead they provide value by enhancing the capabilities of the rest of the organization. For smaller companies, you won’t have a data team so the focus on creating leverage has to be built within the processes and mindset of your existing functions. By focusing on incrementally solving real problems, e.g. streamlining inventory management and logistics, managing marketing spend, or optimizing sales processes, you can easily find the motivation and ROI for investing in these tools (and people) that can provide you leverage.”

This data and systems discussion pairs well with a podcast we did last year with Josh Schultz, perhaps the smartest systems-thinker we’ve met.

Think Like an Owner is sponsored by:

Ravix Group - Ravix Group is a fraction CFO, outsourced accounting, and HR consulting firm serving small and large businesses alike. Whether you or someone you know is getting started, searching to buy a business, or building out an organization, Ravix will help on the journey. To learn more about Ravix Group, head to their website and tell them Think Like An Owner sent you.

Hood & Strong, LLP – Hood & Strong is a CPA firm with a long history of working with search funds and private equity firms on diligence, assurance, tax services, and more. To learn more about how Hood & Strong can help your search, acquisition, and beyond, please email one of their partners Jerry Zhou at [email protected].

Oberle Risk Strategies – Oberle is the leading specialty insurance brokerage catering to search funds and the broader ETA community, providing complimentary due diligence assessments of the target company’s commercial insurance and Employee benefits programs. If you are under LOI, please reach out to learn more about how Oberle can help with insurance due diligence at oberle-risk.com. Or reach out to the CEO, August Felker, directly at [email protected].

Interested in sponsoring? Reply to this email and let’s chat.