My guest on this episode is Sean Joy, CEO at Buccaneer Pirate and Southern Star Dolphin Cruise, a company owned by Chenmark in Destin, FL that provides seasonal boat tours. Sean was a part of Chenmark’s GVP, the Generalist Vice President program that provides a career track to becoming a CEO at a Chenmark company.

Individuals start by working on a couple of projects within the portfolio, then take a non-CEO operating role in a company, before moving to a CEO role. Sean’s background was in control workouts and restructuring, which we talk about to kick off the episode before he found a small business in Chenmark and inquired about their GVP program.

Over the course of the episode, we talk about Sean’s finance experience, what he pays close attention to given his restructuring experience, managing cash in a highly seasonal business, the wide array of services offered on a tour boat and how they interact, and the power of price increases. Enjoy!

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Links:

Sean on LinkedIn

Southern Star Dolphin Cruise

Buccaneer Pirate Cruise

Chenmark

Topics:

(6:08) - What are some interesting lessons you learned and experiences in restructuring?

(12:52) - What are some habits you have today as a CEO that you can tie back to prior experiences in restructuring?

(14:40) - How did you connect with Chenmark and what about it was appealing to you?

(16:52) - What were the roles you had when you first joined the organization?

(20:27) - Were there any learning curves early on in your role as CEO?

(22:06) - How much debt was in the business?

(23:39) - What are some ways that you manage cash throughout the year with a heavily seasonal business?

(27:33) - What are some of the add-on services you’ve implemented to increase revenue?

(31:46) - What are your criteria for cutting vs. keeping products?

(32:47) - How much time and energy do you spend on pricing your products?

(38:10) - How dynamic is your pricing?

(39:28) - What other improvements are top of mind for you?

(46:26) - What strongly held belief have you changed your mind on?

(48:51) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?