$1B in apartments. 325 employees in multifamily, metal plating, and water COs. Ex-Microsoft. Buying unsexy businesses and improving w/ software. HBJ 40 under 40
Houston, TX
Joined December 2009
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I was a program manager at Microsoft. Good job, good money, nothing wrong with it. I quit in 2013 to start a software company and then ultimately build Disrupt Equity to buy apartments.
First deal was 99 units in Atlanta. It was a rough deal and complete reposition.
Nine years later: $1B in multifamily acquisitions, and a property management company running the day-to-day with 150+ employees.
Then started thinking about what else we could improve with systems and software, and give our investors strong cash-flow opportunities.
So we bought a chrome plating shop. 175 people, industrial metal finishing, the kind of business nobody at Microsoft has ever thought about for one second. Three years in and it's been the hardest thing I've done. Not the manufacturing. The people.
Then a water controls company. Now we're 45 days from closing a construction company that builds water and sewage treatment plants for Texas cities, the second company in the roll-up.
325 employees across three industries that have nothing to do with each other, and I'm the software guy in the room in all of them.
That's what I'll be posting about.
Houston Press picked Post Market as Houston's best food hall. Ceviche, West African bowls, Uzbek plov, dim sum, hot chicken, all under one roof downtown, plus Skylawn upstairs. What's the one stall you'd send a visitor to first?
Houston absorbed 11,929 apartment units over the past 12 months. 13,847 more were still under construction at the end of Q3.
Demand is real and the pipeline is still deep. Houston operators: are you feeling lease-ups nearby, or has it eased?
Most small deals need one thing to get done at a fair price: a reason the seller wants out now.
Ian Reynolds of Thesis Capital Partners, a fellow Houstonian, spent time on this with us on M&A Launchpad.
On the capital side for deals under $100M, he under-levers and over-equitizes, and uses banks, SBICs, and BDCs.
Then he lines up the seller with notes, rollover equity, and earnouts, typically 25% to 30% of the purchase price.
Ian's episode: ma-launchpad.podbean.com/e/w…
Buyers and sellers: what was the actual catalyst that got a deal moving for you?
New M&A Launchpad episode: Megan McGee spent nearly four years trying to buy a business before she did.
She raised $500,000 from 13 investors and contacted more than 7,500 businesses. Here's what stood out to me.
She's also looking at AI for efficiency and the customer experience, plus geographic expansion and tuck-in acquisitions.
Full conversation with Megan and Casey: ma-launchpad.podbean.com/e/f…
If you've tried to buy a business: how many deals did you walk from before the right one?
Second acquisition in a roll-up: do you integrate it fully before you look at the third, or keep buying and sort it out as you go?
Curious what's worked for people who've done three or more.
Apartment List: U.S. rent growth turned positive year over year in October for the first time since mid-2023. Up 0.1%.
Same report: 32% of properties offer a free month or more, up from 28% a year ago.
Rents recovering, concessions climbing. Operators, which are you feeling?
Election Day in Houston. We're letting all our employees head home an hour early today so they can vote.
How long was your line this morning, and did you go early or wait for the lunch lull?
Just closed on a business? Etinosa Agbonlahor makes the case for pricing research in the first 180 days: willingness to pay, competitors, segmentation, packaging.
Examples from manufacturing, software, and services on the new M&A Launchpad.
ma-launchpad.podbean.com/e/w…
42 of the top 50 apartment markets posted a month over month rent drop in October, per Apartments.com. Only 1 went up.
Normal fall slowdown or something more?
What are you seeing on concessions right now?
Had a great time taking the team to the McGuireWoods conference this week. Best part was the hallway conversations and meetings with ~2k folks active in M&A. Our Texas Water acquisition closes in a week, and most groups loved the story and want in on the next one! @CaseyMinshew
