Shore Capital Podcast Network

In this episode, Marc Insul, president and chief operating officer of Commercial Asset Preservation (CAP), and Pat Bowe, head of corporate development and strategy at Maintera, share how a founder who had already sold one company chose a partner the second time around. Marc explains how driving past vacant buildings in Cleveland during the 2008 downturn led him to found CAP, and why he and his business partner came to see that their own capital could only take the business so far. Together with TCG Services, CAP now forms Maintera, a facility services platform serving operating and vacant commercial properties across the United States and Canada. Marc and Pat talk candidly about what founders worry about when they consider private equity, why no two firms operate alike, and what trust and transparency look like after the close. Marc also reflects on the value of fresh eyes on a business he ran for years and why, for him, the best part of selling is the ride that comes after.

• Decide what you want after the close before you weigh offers, because the role you want, whether that's stepping back or staying on to keep growing, changes which partner is right for you
• Treat fresh eyes as the return on giving up control, since outsiders can spot what years inside the business have made hard to see
• Judge a partner by its conduct and its references, and talk to founders who have already made the move, because no two firms operate alike
• Get comfortable with someone else in your business first, because readiness is a mindset before it is a milestone

1. 00:00 – Introduction
2. 02:34 – What a Founder Sees in an Empty Building
3. 06:59 – Giving Up Control, Gaining Fresh Eyes
4. 12:35 – The Ride After the Sale
5. 14:40 – One Plus One Equals Three
6. 18:16 – Are You Ready to Partner?
7. 21:35 – Eight Suitors and What Comes Next

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Microcap Moments episodes, alongside our series Everyday Heroes and Bigger. Stronger. Faster., highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, I talk with Jamie Cusack, CEO of Keystone Access Partners, Shore Capital's entrance and access control platform built on Dillard Companies and The Ritchie Group, with operations across Memphis, Tupelo, the Florida Gulf Coast, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana. Jamie came to the CEO seat in an unusual way: he watched the Shore model work from the inside as a board member of another Shore company before betting his own career on it. He walks through what a growth-based partnership actually looks like for a founder, including the conscious leadership training his teams had never had access to before, and the open conversation every owner needs to have about what role they want next. Jamie also explains why so many owners are more ready to sell than they think, even if the business still runs on pen and paper. And he is direct about what Keystone looks for in a partner: a good business isn't enough, because the people have to be good too.

Key Takeaways:

• Decide what you actually want before the offer conversation, because the right partnership builds a role around your answer, whether that is running the day-to-day, leading M&A, or stepping back
• Recognize that pen and paper is not a readiness problem, because the systems, data, and technology gaps that make owners hesitate are exactly what a platform partner is built to close
• Choose partners for capability and character, not just geography, because a business that treats its customers poorly is a non-starter no matter how good the numbers look
• Learn from the operators you bring on instead of standardizing them, because a process that works in the field is a best practice to spread, not a variance to fix

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Microcap Moments episodes, alongside our series Everyday Heroes and Bigger. Stronger. Faster., highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, I talk with Owen Miller, CEO of 360Pack, a food and beverage packaging distribution business headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Owen joined 360Pack in its first year of operations through the Shore Capital CXO Fellows Program and, in less than five years, moved from CXO to VP of Supply Chain and Operations to COO and now to the CEO seat. He shares what it took to grow into each of those roles, including learning alongside founders with decades of industry experience and what the CEO seat has taught him that he couldn't have learned anywhere else. Owen also explains why the ambiguity of the CXO role is exactly the point: it demands intellectual curiosity, humility, and a willingness to run toward the messiest parts of the business while building influence without formal authority. Finally, he offers some straight talk for anyone considering the program: if you're looking for a cushy, kick-your-feet-up kind of role, this is not for you; if you're looking to be pushed and to grow like never before, there is no better place to be.

Key Takeaways:

• Run toward the messiest parts of the business, because intellectual curiosity and a bias for the hardest problems are what turn an ambiguous role into an indispensable one
• Own your lane as the least experienced person in the room by speaking as the expert on what only you know, whether that's the data, the systems, or what the market is telling you, and cover the rest with preparation and hard work
• Build credibility stakeholder by stakeholder: for the board, know your numbers and deliver what you said you would; for your team, show them you care about their future and convert what they tell you into action
• Set the plan and get people behind it without formal authority, then own the results, because leading through influence is the skill the CEO seat demands most

Chapters:

1. 00:00 – Introduction
2. 02:20 – From CXO to CEO in Five Years
3. 06:15 – Why the CXO Program
4. 11:50 – The Least Experienced in the Room
5. 13:55 – What Makes a Good CXO
6. 18:15 – Do You Hate Losing or Love Winning More?
7. 21:25 – Advice for Future CXOs

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You’ll also find other Bigger. Stronger. Faster. episodes, alongside our Microcap Moments and Everyday Heroes series—highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, Josh Allen, founder of Companion Baking in St. Louis, Missouri, shares how he turned a love of baking discovered in the Bay Area into a frozen artisan bread manufacturer shipping custom products across all 48 contiguous states. Guided by his grandfather's advice to listen to his customers, Josh built the business one customer and one product at a time, pivoted from wholesale to frozen manufacturing, and made helping customers tell their stories through bread the heart of what Companion does. He also reflects on why he always took the private equity calls out of curiosity, what made Shore different, and why partnering now rather than later lets him stay part of the journey as Companion builds its platform.

Key Takeaways:

• Listen to your customers and they'll tell you how to grow. One customer, one product, one SKU at a time built a 33-year business.
• Say yes first and figure it out later. The willingness to solve a customer's problem tomorrow, like renting a van to deliver bread two hours away, opened the pivot to frozen that transformed the company.
• Sell the story, not the SKU. When customers help design their own bread, price fades and the relationship becomes sticky.
• Partner while you still have runway. Choosing partnership now instead of an exit later keeps a founder part of the next chapter, with a board, new leaders, and resources a small business could never afford alone.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 – Introduction
2. 02:25 – From the Bay Area Back to St. Louis
3. 08:45 – One Customer, One Product at a Time
4. 12:18 – Telling Stories Through Bread
5. 17:16 – Why Partner, and Why Shore
6. 24:43 – Building the Platform

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Microcap Moments episodes, alongside our series Everyday Heroes and Bigger. Stronger. Faster., highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, I talk with Nick Sherrard, Chief of Staff at Thermal Shipping Solutions and a member of the CXO Fellows Program. Nick shares how an internship at a Shore portfolio company showed him just how quickly he could make a measurable difference in a microcap business, and what it means to be Chief of Staff in a fast-growing, family-founded company. An engineer by training, he reflects on thinking in inputs, outputs, and bottlenecks, finding the root causes behind recurring fire drills, and driving change without authority by making every solution a win-win-win. Nick also describes the role of the CXO cohort, part joint therapy and part best practice sharing, and shares the best advice he's ever gotten: don't confuse urgency with importance.

Key Takeaways:

• In a microcap business, you can make a measurable difference fast, and the impact is clearly yours.
• Nobody else in your company is living the same highs and lows as the CXO. The cohort is part joint therapy and part best practice sharing.
• Thinking in inputs, outputs, and bottlenecks turns recurring fire drills into root causes you can actually fix.
• When you can't mandate anything, change happens by making every solution a win-win-win. If you can't make that case, you're probably solving the wrong problem.
• Don't confuse urgency with importance. This job is a marathon, not a sprint.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 – Introduction
2. 05:41 – The Cohort and the Operator Path
3. 17:00 – An Engineer's Mindset
4. 22:20 – Playing the Libero
5. 30:02 – Urgency vs. Importance

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You’ll also find other Bigger. Stronger. Faster. episodes, alongside our Microcap Moments and Everyday Heroes series—highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, Keith Caldwell, CEO of H2O Care Partners, and Sarah Longstreet, the company's Chief Marketing Officer, share the story of building a national water treatment platform. It began in 2021 when Keith met Mark St. Hilaire, founder of H2O Care in Massachusetts, and saw an opportunity to combine doing good with the growth potential of a fragmented, family-run industry. Today the platform spans more than thirty brands across nearly twenty states, supported by a Boston-based resource team of over forty across marketing, finance, hiring, technology, and operations. Keith and Sarah reflect on the network effect that emerges when great local businesses come together, how each new partner brings superpowers that get shared across the platform, and why preserving local brands, community ties, and long-tenured teams is central to how they scale. They also discuss what makes the right partner, from founders approaching retirement to those just getting started, and what's next as the platform continues to grow.

Key Takeaways:

• Great partnerships start with people. Keeping the local name, the team, and the reputation intact is what makes strong family businesses open to joining a platform.
• The network effect is real. Every new partner brings a superpower that can be captured in playbooks and shared so the whole platform gets better.
• Scaling doesn't have to cost you culture. Centralize what lifts everyone, like marketing, finance, and technology, and keep brands, community ties, and daily decisions local.
• The right partner comes down to mindset: teams and customers first, a strong reputation in the industry, and a genuine desire to grow.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 – Introduction
2. 02:57 – The Origin of H2O Care Partners
3. 07:54 – The Network Effect
4. 11:04 – Scaling Culture, Not Just Operations
5. 14:16 – Finding the Right Partners
6. 18:01 – Driving Organic Growth
7. 25:44 – What's Next

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Microcap Moments episodes, alongside our series Everyday Heroes and Bigger. Stronger. Faster., highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, Jackson Sprayberry, Anderson Williams, and Cynthia Hiskes close out Season 2 with the widest lens of the series: why acquisitions fail on the people side and what to do about it. They explore how a lack of early communication creates anxiety that turns into headwinds before integration even begins, why clarifying the founder's role is critical to the entire organization's stability, and the difference between change (what happens externally) and transition (what happens internally). The conversation shifts to how talent strategies need to evolve over the hold period, from hiring athletes early on to developing specialists and frontline managers at scale. The episode wraps with a direct call to action: don't let another 5% of the hold period go by without having the conversations that matter.

Key Takeaways:

• The biggest integration failures start with silence. Communicating what you know and what you don't know early prevents months of unnecessary anxiety.
• Clarifying the founder's role isn't just about the founder. It cascades through every team member who used to look to that person for answers.
• Change is the event. Transition is the emotional and psychological recalibration that follows. If you don't manage the transition, resistance will stall the integration.
• Talent strategies have to evolve with the business. What you need at launch (athletes and generalists) is different from what you need at scale (specialists and skilled frontline managers).

Chapters:

1. 00:00 - Introduction
2. 01:47 - What Makes Integration Succeed or Fail
3. 06:45 - Change vs. Transition
4. 10:58 - When Your Talent Strategy No Longer Fits
5. 17:19 - Why Talent Strategy Is Business Strategy

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Raw Talent episodes, alongside our Bigger. Stronger. Faster., Microcap Moments, and Everyday Heroes series, highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, Jackson Sprayberry, Anderson Williams, and Cynthia Hiskes step back from individual people decisions and ask whether the organization has a talent strategy at all. Without one, every hiring decision feels urgent, personal, and reactive. The conversation covers what a real talent strategy includes, the unique challenge of working with both selected and inherited talent in an acquisition-driven environment, and why someone has to own the strategy even if there's no HR leader in seat yet. They explore how org design should match the stage of the business, why not every role needs a top-of-the-nine-box performer, and how ongoing career conversations give leaders better information than annual reviews ever could. The episode makes the case that talent strategy is not a hiring plan. It's how you attract, retain, and engage the people who will build the business.

Key Takeaways:

• If you don't have a talent strategy, every hiring decision will feel reactive. A clear direction helps you know when you're veering off course.
• In acquisition-driven growth, you're working with both the people you select and the people you inherit. Your strategy has to address both.
• Someone has to own the talent strategy. If ownership is assumed to live everywhere, it will live nowhere. You don't need an HR leader to get started.
• Not every role needs a top performer. What matters is having the right talent profile in the right seat at the right stage of the business.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 - Introduction
2. 01:33 - What a Talent Strategy Actually Looks Like
3. 05:02 - Building a Strategy in an Acquisition Model
4. 12:46 - Who Owns the Talent Strategy
5. 16:27 - Org Design and Stage Relevance
6. 19:54 - When to Look Outward vs. Build From Within

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Raw Talent episodes, alongside our Bigger. Stronger. Faster., Microcap Moments, and Everyday Heroes series, highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, Jackson Sprayberry, Anderson Williams, and Cynthia Hiskes tackle what performance management systems actually measure and what they miss. They make the case that an output-only mindset is dangerous, especially in a fast-moving environment where how someone delivers results matters just as much as whether they hit the number. The conversation covers how to embed values into performance reviews, why human capital metrics belong on the same dashboard as financial data, and the real cost of turnover that most companies never calculate. The episode closes with a direct challenge: if leaders say their people are the most important part of the business, the dashboard should reflect that.

Key Takeaways:

• Measuring only what someone delivered without evaluating how they delivered it creates blind spots that erode culture and team performance.
• Performance management systems should be treated as a database for future action, not just a backward-looking scorecard.
• Human capital metrics like engagement, turnover, and promotion rates belong on the business dashboard alongside financial results.
• Manager consistency matters. If one manager's reviews all look green but performance is slipping, the system isn't telling the truth.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 - Introduction
2. 03:55 - Embedding Values Into Performance Management
3. 08:27 - Metrics Beyond the Scorecard
4. 13:23 - People Metrics on the Business Dashboard
5. 19:23 - Connecting the Dots to Talent Strategy

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Raw Talent episodes, alongside our Bigger. Stronger. Faster., Microcap Moments, and Everyday Heroes series, highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

In this episode, Jackson Sprayberry, Anderson Williams, and Cynthia Hiskes slow down to do the diagnostic work most leaders skip. Before deciding that someone is the problem, have you actually done your own work first? The conversation walks through the five whys approach, the will, skill, and fit framework, and why leaders so often project their frustrations onto the situation rather than diagnosing it clearly. They explore the difference between technical problems (which have known solutions) and adaptive challenges (which require the person themselves to change), and why coachability may be the single most important factor in these conversations. The episode closes by identifying when individual people problems start to signal something bigger: a system problem.

Key Takeaways:

• Before diagnosing people as the problem, leaders need to ask whether they provided clarity, coaching, and the right environment for success.
• The five whys approach forces leaders to move past emotion and drill down to what's actually driving underperformance.
• Will, skill, and fit often blur together. Leaders make better decisions when they separate the three and have honest conversations about each.
• When you see the same patterns across different people or teams, it's no longer a people problem. It's a system problem.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 - Introduction
2. 01:01 - Have You Done Your Own Work First?
3. 04:41 - Will, Skill, and Fit
4. 07:16 - Technical vs. Adaptive Change
5. 09:36 - When People Problems Become System Problems

Listen to our podcasts at:

https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Raw Talent episodes, alongside our Bigger. Stronger. Faster., Microcap Moments, and Everyday Heroes series, highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

Other ways to connect:

Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

Shore University: https://www.shorecp.university/

Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-university

This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.