Today we are talking with Bowen Banbury, the CEO of Thunderbird Capital. Bowen’s first company came about after a failed real estate venture his father had made. He saw a problem and came up with a solution. A once unusable two floors of space turned into a business that exited to the tune of 8 figures. Unfortunately, Bowen’s story has a lot of turmoil involved, but he’s learned a lot from it, and is a better businessman for it.

CEO’s Are Human

After college, Bowen went straight into business school. He was given an opportunity to be second in command at a new non-profit office in Honolulu. It was an association of CEOs from around that Pacific Rim that did conferences and white papers. Bowen was rubbing elbows with the likes of Boeing and Motorola. He says it was an amazing experience to see how human they were and to witness them make mistakes just like the rest of us. Bowen spent 5 years there before him and his wife decided to move back to the mainland to start a family.

A Solution To A Problem

Upon moving back, Bowen had learned that his father had purchased two floors of a condominium with no windows. He planned to renovate it, add windows, and rent the condos out. Unfortunately, the HOA wouldn’t give him approval to put in windows. Now stuck with two floors that he couldn’t use, Bowen had an idea. He knew how expensive it was to keep an office full of documents. He thought they could use the space for records storage. Bowen’s dad gave him the green light to start Docuvault. With a prime location in downtown Denver, Bowen started going door to door to law firms.

Family Feud

When Bowen first started Docuvault, the agreement was that, other than some equity in the company, Bowen’s dad would have no part in it. Bowen says his dad didn’t honor that and was always poking into the business. Bowen found himself running around cleaning up his father’s messes for 5 years before he got tired of it. So, they rewrote the operating agreement and paid Bowen’s dad 4% of gross revenue just to stay out of the company. That lasted about 4 years before Bowen’s dad was back at his old antics. Finally, Bowen’s dad has crossed a line, and they couldn’t resolve their differences outside of litigation.

Knowing What You Know Now, What Would You Tell Yourself Ten Years Ago?

Bowen thinks back to the legal mess with his family and decides he would tell himself to settle and move on. He says it’s not important to win, just rip off the band-aid. Bowen regrets that he spent 7 years in litigation just because everyone wanted to win.

What Bowen Is Working On Now

Always dabbling in different things, Bowen says he currently owns some wireless stores and some real estate. He’s also the CEO and owner of The Alternative Board, or TAB. He describes it as an executive coaching platform. He helps to run peer boards for other businesses. He enjoys helping people to grow and get their ducks in a row. If you’re interested in checking out TAB, visit www.tabdenvereast.com. If you’d like to connect with Bowen, he can be reached at [email protected].

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The Exit—Presented By Flippa: A 30-minute podcast featuring expert entrepreneurs who have been there and done it. The Exit talks to operators who have bought and sold a business. You’ll learn how they did it, why they did it, and get exposure to the world of exits, a world occupied by a small few, but accessible to many. To listen to the podcast or get daily listing updates, click on flippa.com/the-exit-podcast/