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Jon sits down with Austen Ebenger, a 28-year-old Wharton undergrad and NYU Stern MBA who left private equity in Boston, moved back in with his parents, and bought a $5.4M pool construction business in Orlando. In the first 90 days he lost $200,000 on a permitting disaster. A Zimbabwe hire with zero permitting experience fixed it. Inside: how he found a stale BizBuySell listing, why he skipped Q of E, why he uses global talent to upgrade quality, and his thesis for buying adjacent businesses next.
Chapters:
- 00:00 Cold Open
- 00:52 Welcome to Lazy Leverage
- 01:34 Penn & Wharton Banter
- 02:18 Austen's Path: Wharton → Stern → PE
- 04:02 Brought to You by Sagan Passport
- 05:36 The Self-Funded Search Process
- 07:09 Why He Avoided Buy-Side Brokers
- 08:49 Finding the Deal on BizBuySell
- 10:22 Getting His Florida Contractor License
- 11:59 Deal Terms: 10% Down, No Q of E
- 12:45 Service Provider Shoutouts (Benchmark, Hsu, Hettich)
- 18:23 The $200K Permitting Disaster
- 20:29 The Zimbabwe Hire That Saved the Business
- 23:12 Hire for Attributes, Not Experience
- 25:48 Hard Chargers vs Steady State People
- 28:24 The 3 Things Orgs Don't Naturally Do
- 33:55 Sagan Hires: Permitting & Colombian Drafter
- 36:42 Building an Anti-Fragile Organization
- 40:03 Notion as the Agentic Brain
- 42:54 River-Proofing Your Standards Docs
- 47:23 The Big John Lesson
- 50:08 The Industry Thesis: Global Talent + Acquisitions
- 56:03 Two Businesses Inside Every Business
- 58:32 Closing & How to Reach Austen
References Mentioned in This Episode -
Books:
Goldratt, E. M. (1984). The goal: A process of ongoing improvement. North River Press.
Guidara, W. (2022). Unreasonable hospitality: The remarkable power of giving people more than they expect. Optimism Press.
Roff-Marsh, J. (2015). The machine: A radical approach to the design of the sales function. Greenleaf Book Group Press.
Speeches & Quotes Referenced:
Roosevelt, T. (1910, April 23). Citizenship in a republic ["The Man in the Arena" speech, delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris].
Tyson, M. (1987). "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" [interview quote].
Service Providers & Resources:
Benchmark International (M&A broker): https://www.benchmarkintl.com/
Eric Hsu, Lawyer 4 SMBs (closing attorney): https://lawyer4smbs.com/
Brad Hettich, Commercial Lending X (SBA loan): https://commerciallendingx.com/
BizBuySell: https://www.bizbuysell.com/
Previous Episode Referenced:
Lazy Leverage with Yossi Wachtel (reverse hospitality, Monkey Wrench Plumbing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=295DTy6vOAU
Follow Jon: https://x.com/MatznerJon | https://jonmatzner.com/
Follow Austen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austenebenger/ | https://southernpooldesigns.com/
🌎 Brought to you by Sagan Passport: https://saganpassport.com
Schedule a free consulting session: https://saganpassport.com/free-consultation
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyLeverageofficial
Follow Lazy Leverage on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/763FBQuzXqTqJ3mb837WbW
