Podcast: SEYSES: George Berczely

From SMEVentures, it’s The Search Fund Podcast, a show about hungry entrepreneurs who, instead of starting a business, decide to buy one. These are their stories of success, failure, and the lessons they’ve learned.

This episode charts the extraordinary course of George Berczely, a truly global entrepreneur now at the helm of SEYSES. From his early years in Miami and Argentina to leadership roles spanning continents with McKinsey, Deutsche Post, and DHL, George's experiences have forged a unique business perspective. Tune in to hear about his leap into entrepreneurship through acquisition, the intricacies of finding and acquiring SEYSES, a renewable energy firm with international reach, and his vision for impactful growth and team development. Discover the lessons he's learned navigating the challenges and rewards of running a global business.

This transcript is auto-generated, so please forgive any errors.

George: [00:00:00] First, I'm so glad I took this route because it really allowed me to reach my Ikigai. You know, I'm doing what I love, what I'm good at. I think pushing the energy transition is something that the world needs. And I can also profit from it financially in a way that was never possibly in a corporate environment.

George: So I'm really happy. And I couldn't imagine of a different path that would have taken me there. And I still have. So many things to do in the next 10 to 15 years. This whole journey has given me a completely new lease of life. 

GLOBAL INTRO

[00:00:20] Jake: From SME Ventures, it's the Search Fund Podcast. A show about hungry entrepreneurs who, instead of starting a business, decide to buy one. These are their stories of success, failure, and the lessons they've learned.

EPISODE INTRO

Jake: From SMEVentures, it's the Search Fund Podcast. A show about hungry entrepreneurs who, instead of starting a business, decide to buy one. These are their stories of success, failure, and the lessons they've learned.   

This week, we're joined by George Berczely, a truly global [00:01:00] entrepreneur whose journey from Miami to Argentina, Europe, Asia, and beyond has shaped his unique perspective on business and leadership. He's a polyglot with six languages under his belt, a former McKinsey consultant, and a seasoned operator with experience at Deutsche Post and DHL across multiple countries.

George is clearly comfortable navigating complex international environments, and now he's brought that global experience to the search fund world. Today we'll hear about how George's itch to be more than just an advisor led him to entrepreneurship through acquisition. We'll delve into his search experience and his acquisition of SEYSES, a renewable energy services firm with operations spanning several countries.

We'll also get a sense of his ambition, his approach to growth, and his desire to leave a lasting impact on the company and community he serves.

You'll hear about his transition from a corporate executive to a CEO, and the lessons he's learning as he guides his team through the unique challenges and [00:02:00] rewards of running an international business. 

Jake: George, thank you very much for taking some time to share your story with us. I'm sure it'll be inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and current entrepreneurs all around the world. Really appreciate it.

George: Now it's a pleasure to be here.

Jake: As usual, I'd like to start at the very beginning. George, tell me about where you grew up

George: I grew up in the United States, in Miami, when I was really small, but moved to Argentina when I was six, and that's where I spent my formative years. I finished my school education in a bilingual German Spanish school until I was 18.

Jake: And who are your parents?

George: My father was an Englishman, but who also moved around quite a bit. My mother is an Austrian, so I'm a bit of everything.  

Jake: And what did they do for a living? . 

George: My father was a pathological entrepreneur. He couldn't fathom working for anybody else. [00:03:00] He started lots of businesses, some of which went under, some of them prospered, for a while. but he also was a very hands on person who could not delegate too much or didn't want to, which restricted the size of his businesses a bit.

George: So he was a very hard worker who cared well for us. And gave us a wonderful childhood and education.

Jake: What kinds of businesses did he start?

George: Well, he actually started as a door to door salesman, selling, pesticides, and he would place maggots in strategic places on the lawn to have a case to make in Miami. And then he grew to doing copies of those plants that smelled of ammonia for architects and so on.

George: And later he transitioned into copying, photocopying, printing and, different services, around, generally printing and copying.

Jake: What were you like as a child, George?

Jake: I was always an avid reader. And I like to, imagine words in [00:04:00] my mind, and I was also, until I was around 14, 15, a bit of a mediocre student until I was sent to a boarding school in England, which completely changed my life made me want to be an overachiever. 

Jake: Did you ever have any early entrepreneurial experiences starting a lemonade stand or something similar?

George: No, quite the contrary. I saw my father working so hard. and that really turned me off except for the one time I tried to sell confetti in the streets in Carnival and nobody ever bought my little bags of crunched paper. So I thought that's not it for me. And, I wanted to be a hired gun, a corporate executive, which is what I became eventually.

Jake: Given your, multicultural upbringing with British Austrian parents, growing up in Argentina, born in Miami, I mean, that was just life at that point, but looking back on it, how do you think that unique upbringing [00:05:00] shaped your worldview and career aspirations?

George: In terms of worldview, I always considered myself up to today a citizen of the world, and the whole concept of the nation state is a bit alien to me. I don't think anyone has a particular claim to living and being in a particular place, which also informs my views on migration, et cetera. so I think.

George: People should be free to vote with their feet where they want to be and, you know, I have no particular allegiance to any place, but I enjoy being able to dip in and out of different cultures like a chameleon and learn about them and try to belong to a degree. And in terms of business, it also means that I've always favored international careers, which allowed me to move around a lot and get to know more of the world.

Jake: You speak a few languages, do you not?

George: I do six languages. Yes. 

Jake: Will you list them?

George: Oh, well, German is my mother tongue. Followed by Spanish, English, French, [00:06:00] Portuguese, and Mandarin, which is the one I would like. Oh, andI learned Vietnamese on the way, which was a really hard slog.

Jake: Interesting that you say that, German is your mother tongue, having grown up in Argentina.

George: My mother is German, so we would speak German at home, and I went to a bilingual German Spanish school. German Abitur, which is, you know, the high school diploma, and actually went to university in Germany afterwards and lives between Austria and Germany for about 15 years. although nowadays I'm not too sure which is my strongest language.

George: It probably depends on the context or the content.  

Jake: You mentioned that, your time at boarding school in the UK, instilled in you a desire to overachieve. Can you tell me more about that? 

George: I came to England with what I had learned at my private school in Argentina, which is, you know, to just get by. and, I found a word in which, , I was the only one with the attitude and everyone else would appear, show up to class [00:07:00] having done the pre reading, having thought about the topics, , being able to argue and reason and expose their points.

George: And I couldn't, it was so embarrassing. You know, I really felt, one Stupid and be like I was not making the best of a marvelous opportunity my parents gave me. So I was very embarrassed by that. And so it only took me a couple of weeks to start studying. And then I then discovered that if you knew more about what was being exposed in class and discussed actually, the topics became more enjoyable.

George: So I think that started off a number of years where I was always, quite dedicated student.

Jake: Might have my kids listen to this episode. Let's, give them a good lesson. In college, you pursued a degree in hotel management before switching to business administration. Did you have at that point, a clear sense of what you wanted to pursue after graduation and what informed the [00:08:00] shift to business administration?

George: When I enrolled into hotel management school, no, I did not have a clear view, but some instincts. So I knew I wanted to work in international environments and I was attracted by the service nature, you know, being able to cater for other people and give them a good experience. I like that. But then when I went through the school, I realized that most of the work in the early phases of our tourism career.

George: Where labor, you know, really manual, it's being in food and beverage and carrying trays up and down and it would take me like 10 years to actually start working with my brain. So I discovered that wasn't so much it, but the one thing that triggered my interest during hotel management school was finance and accounting.

George: So I saw how you could mirror a whole organization through its numbers. So then I decided I had to learn more about that and went and did a proper degree in business [00:09:00] administration.  

Jake: Would you say that interest was purely, intellectual or was there part of that was driven by, a hunger to achieve and, attain success

George: I knew I needed to work with my brain and I wasn't prepared to not do that for such a long time. So it was really intellectual.

Jake: Coming out of university, you decided not to carry trays up and down, stairs instead, you spent a couple of years at McKinsey before getting your, MBA at INSEAD. you were there a few years before me, but, I think, some of the same spirit was there and then you returned back to McKinsey.

Jake: What were you looking for in the MBA? And, was the plan to go back to consulting after,

George: Yes, my MBA was sponsored by McKinsey. Part of the deal is that I would return afterwards and for a couple of years to pay it off, but also. I had not reached what is called [00:10:00] an engagement manager, project manager level at McKinsey which I thought, was the real game changer being responsible for the team on the ground and managing day to day operations.

George: So I had to get back to McKinsey and it was the right decision because that was really the phase where I learned most.

George: What did you learn? Well, how to let go of day to day things, carving out free time in the day and in the week to sit down with a client in a relaxed mode and really listen to what they were experiencing and what they had to say, reflect, they come back to the team and make it operational.

George: So I like this freedom of being able to decide how. What direction I gave the study and how I would spend my own time and helping other younger people, you know, get started and do their work successfully also was a wonderful experience.

Jake: You then went to Deutsche Post and then, you went to, [00:11:00] DHL, where you held positions ranging from corporate strategy to country manager and CFO. Your career took you from Germany to Singapore and Hong Kong, Vietnam, Mexico. could you spend a little time on this phase of your career? Cause it's pretty important and formational in your story, both from a geographical perspective and linguistic perspective, but also functional and you're coming out of this life as a consultant and before that, an academic, and into, a more operating role. can you take us through that transition and what you learned about the world and yourself along the way?

George: Yes, you're right. This was very formative and at least as formative as my experience in McKinsey. So towards the end of my tenure at McKinsey, I was starting to itch more and more and to not just design and talk about something that needed to be [00:12:00] done, but to have a chance to implement, because I was seeing that Oftentimes, our project didn't come to full fruition because they were not implemented at all or not well or not fully.

George: So, you know, I wanted to get an opportunity and it was a long transition from being the consultant to being an operator. It took me 10 years, in fact. So as you do your starting corporate strategy, which was a bit. similar to what I was doing at McKinsey, but helped me to get to know the full organization of Deutsche Post DHL, a behemoth in the logistics and mail industry.

George: And through those contacts I made eventually, I made it to Asia, and did operations controlling during a financial crisis. increasingly I learned how to manage teams and, I got to know almost all functions that we had in the company. I was in operations and finance, sales, sales steering, and management.

George: I still did some strategy and M&A. And eventually I was given an opportunity to lead [00:13:00] a country, which was Vietnam. and finally, finally there, I had the full toolkit at my disposal and a lot of independence and freedom to do with a reasonably small organization, more or less what they want, because, Vietnam had 70 million in revenue and 400 people, which in terms of DHL is really like, a tier two country somewhere, and as long as I was doing well I might get a 30 minute score once a month to see how things were going, but I was really very, very independent.

George: And in that period I learned a lot and also made a lot of mistakes. but first about myself, you know, I guess up until. McKinsey and a few years afterwards, I was pretty much an insecure overachiever with a bit of an imposter syndrome, you know, I always had to exceed and it was very much driven by I was seen and, I defined myself in the eyes of others and so on.

George: It took me a long time to start to focus on the impact I was having on people [00:14:00] and, I'm feeling good about my decision. So I think primarily when I was in Vietnam and I had to take some tough decisions on my own. I saw the impact on people, that I realized that, I was there to serve others and not to glorify myself and look to my position in the world 

George: So I did long and slow process of personal. Maturity, I guess, development there. And then I learned a lot about how each function works, how a well run organization organizes its processes and systems. And I learned how to manage teams, individuals first, and then structures, you know, where you don't interfere directly, but you still manage to imprint your style and ethos, values, etc.

George: And way of working on a whole pyramid of people. it was a fantastic learning experience from that point of view. But there was, one really critical part though was that when I started, especially in DHL Express, the company was in a bad way and losing billions of dollars and more or less the same time that I [00:15:00] joined that division.

George: We got a new CEO, who turned around the division from a very, very loss making company to a moneymaker over more than 10 years. And, you know, through his personal charisma and a lot of right intuitions, some wrong, no structure at all. And that was part of that ride. And I learned so much for it. So technically how you transform a company and infuse it with new life.

George: And. you know, the impact it has again on people and giving them a sense of purpose and future enthusiasm and pride in what they were doing. So this was for me the most impactful experience in my life and one that drives and sustains me until today.

Jake: Yeah. Amazing story. you've touched a couple of times on, the, satisfaction you get out of, helping people achieve their goals, both at McKinsey when you were, helping younger consultants get up the learning curve. and then leading a team of 400, where do you think that [00:16:00] In those different functions, different team sizes, different organization types, structures, if you look back, where do you think you sort of found your stride?

Jake: Where do you think you were the most effective in your flow, or enjoyed yourself the most?

George: Yeah. So it was definitely until today it was a country manager of Vietnam, but I must say what I'm doing right now. And I'm sure we'll get to that later. It's as much, if not more enjoyable. So it's a midsize, it's a couple of hundred people. So when I was in Mexico, for example, where, I was CFO, but the whole organization was 6, 000 people that was too large already, you know, I couldn't relate to everyone in the organization.

George: I didn't get a real feeling of what was going on in the frontline. So I found that I work well at a midsize. scale

Jake: How did those experiences shape what you wanted to do next with your career?

George: At that [00:17:00] stage, I just knew that I wanted to have this impact on organizations. I learned that it's wonderful to take a good organization and make it great, but sustainably. So, and based on the people and their motivation. So I saw that in DHL express and how the leadership of that company did it. And I did it again when I was CFO in, in Mexico and had 120 people.

George: So, and that, it depends on me for my guidance and direction. When I was reaching my fifties, I decided to, to look hard at myself and thought about what I was good at and what made me happy and so on. And that, that clearly stood out. So I like, I don't like managing something that is in a steady state.

George: I like to take something and change it quite a lot and leave something different and better behind. And I like to do that closely with a few people that I really enjoy working with. And I like to have a. Strong and direct, you know, impact on people in the organization and feel it, you know, so all of those things [00:18:00] were those that I decided made me happy and that then decided the next few steps in my career.

Jake: Fantastic. you did go back McKinsey for a little bit after that stint. And did you not?

George: Yeah, yeah. So,

Jake: What drove that? 

George: So when I was looking at myself, I knew I wanted to transform companies. I wasn't, however, at that stage, so sure or so cognizant of, the scale that I wanted to do that. So I looked around at who were the best companies to transform other companies and a few stood out. Alvarez Marsal, McKinsey, BCG TURN, a few other companies specialized in company transformation, especially McKinsey.

George: They had built up a huge organization called McKinsey Transformations, in fact. And I was hired into that group as a hybrid, as an ex consultant with significant executive experience and to be a chief transformation officer in very, very large transformations. And I did that for two years. [00:19:00] And, on the one hand it was great because I organized my existing toolkit in a very structured, systematic way as you do at McKinsey, but I also learned a lot of tools that we hadn't employed at DHL. Like, you know, data analytics, for example, user UX, UI, customer success, lots of concepts I didn't know and had a chance of working with some of the best people in those specialties.

George: But it was so far away from everyday reality and I had no executive power. I could just whisper in the ear of my clients and it was up to them to do or not to do. So I realized fairly soon that while the transformation part of the job was right, the lack of executive authority and the scale was not.

George: So that then drove me to look for something else, to be able to transform a company on my own terms. And that the size that I would feel more comfortably. [00:20:00] 

Jake: Wonderful. So we, we now come to the entrepreneurship through acquisition and search part of your story. Now, I believe when you were at INSEAD, uh, the idea of buying and running a company in an entrepreneurial way was, um, was discussed, uh, but a search fund. Uh, as, as defined by the model at Stanford and Harvard in the US I don't believe that was discussed at INSEAD at, at the time, but, but what, correct me if I'm wrong, but, but was this idea of buying something for yourself in the back of your mind through this whole, whole period that we've gone through?

George: not at all. It was not discussed at INSEAD in 2001. I had no idea it existed. In fact, I started looking for the next job, the transformation CEO of a B2B service company in Spain for personal reasons. With headhunters and it was, you know, such [00:21:00] a precise, scope, you know, I was looking for it was really a very small needle.

George: I wasn't even sure it was a needle there, you know, in a haystack. I didn't find it. I didn't find it. And it was just by chance by meeting a friend of mine who provides mezzanine finance said, he mentioned in an offhand comment that, part of the reason that he exists is that he sometimes finances management buy ins like I would certainly do one day.

George: And then he continued talking about something else. And I stopped him there. I said, hang on, let me rewind, tell me more about that. it's only then that I came to the idea that if I didn't find the kind of job that I was wanting to do, as an employee, I would be able to buy it with a company that came with it.

George: And then when I started looking into it, I discovered there was such a word and such a thing as entrepreneurship through acquisition, an established model called search funds, but that was only after I had already decided to do it.

Jake: And you ultimately partnered with a group [00:22:00] called Novastone, out of Switzerland, but now they have a presence, across a number of, of geographies. before you joined hands with them, were you exploring different paths to entrepreneurship through acquisition? You know, the, the triad of, self-funded and search funds and accelerators or, did you not think that far and you just wanted to buy something?

George: No, no. I went through all of those stages. So originally I wanted to do a self funded search, but then after speaking with many searchers, I realized, , what a crunch time closing is really when you need to negotiate with the sellers and go through the due diligence and secure debt. And also secure equity.

George: So I thought the best thing really of the traditional search fund model is that it allows you to get some of that out of the way to a degree early on by getting to know some investors, not just casually, but, committed enough also that they would put a little bit of money on the table to fund the search.

George: It's not that I needed it, but I like the idea of this [00:23:00] engagement period where we would get to know each other then therefore have a little bit. You know, less, of a compression of, things to do during the closing that might eventually force me to make some mistakes and cut some corners and it worked and some of the investors that, I got to know during my search phase, , Are now on my board of directors because I wanted them there and because I learned to value their input and they got to know me and so I think This is a good strength, a very positive element of the traditional search front model.

George: That was decision one. And then Novastone. So I was not really planning on joining Novastone or any accelerator. I just thought it would be, very convenient way of honing my pitch and learning through the process. And then in the end, kindly declining the offer to join the program if I got accepted.

George: So, but throughout the process, well, I did learn, I improved my pitch and, but they also got to know and appreciate the [00:24:00] professionals in this case behind Novastone. And for me, the really important thing was the M&A transaction experience. So I'm an executive with very limited transaction experience. And I saw that there's a lot to know and do.

George: There are many mistakes you can make there and having a very, very qualified team on the M&A side of Novastone, helping to analyze opportunities financially, helping me to ask the right questions, building models that would take me ages to do, and, , preparing my conversations. , with owners and brokers and then, accompanying me as the bad guy in a negotiation that would stiffen my spine and through closing post closing, you know, that that was a skill set I didn't have.

George: So, in essence, for me, Novastone is an insurance. I forego some of my upside because they're a partner with their own, take and cut. But I thought it would greatly reduce my downside. And, I didn't want to learn from mistakes at this [00:25:00] stage. I wanted to be able to rely on very professional partners.

George: So that insurance value of Novastone was worth it at the time. And it still is today.

Jake: Wonderful. So it did work. You bought a company called SEYSES. Before we talk about that company and what you've done with it, tell me about your search, how long did it take? How difficult was it? And what were you looking for?

George: So the hardest part was preparing the search because I still did that when I was employed at McKinsey. So it was weekends and nights of, , raising my cap table and incorporating my SPV and all that. So being able not to do anything properly, but two things at the same time was really stressful.

George: So the moment I closed my cap table, which was really fast, I think it took me two weeks. And I quit my job at McKinsey and could actually switch my LinkedIn profile and start searching was a huge, you know, moment of freedom for me, you know, and the search itself was wonderful. You know, everyone talks about the ups [00:26:00] and downs.

George: I enjoyed it a lot because, you know, I set up the machine and I had interns running the actual proprietary search, but most of my time, Well, I was coaching and working with the interns, but I was speaking with a lot of owners on the phone or jumping into the car and meeting them. And every time you meet an owner, it's an origin story.

George: It's a segment of an industry that you get to know. You know, I thought he was great fun and it was going well. In the end, it took me 12 months from launching to closing. 

George: and actually I found SEYSES after four months, and it took me eight months from LOI to closings. Tremendously long time. I still searched at the same time, I kept my search up, which is quite hard to do.

George: but overall, I thought it's wonderful. And I'm going to do this again. I will buy more companies.

Jake: Awesome. What does SEYSES do? 

George: SEYSES is a professional services firm that serves the renewable energy space. And we provide construction management and site control service, mainly for the [00:27:00] construction of utility scale, solar parks, wind parks, battery parks. And it's a small multinational. So we headquartered in Spain, but we have our own operations in Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and recently the United States.

Jake: Wow. I read that SEYSES is composed of. Seven legal entities, , as you mentioned in six or seven different countries, how did you navigate the complexity of the business during diligence and the transaction?

George: Frankly, my commercial due diligence was rather weak, , it was very hard to me to get to the kind of decision makers on the client side who would, decide to use SEYSES or somebody else. So I don't think I really understood what kind of services we would provide and why people would choose us, until after I bought the company.

George: It because it was large and expensive, I did the due diligence in three phases. So first I did commercial myself, maybe a month or two and mostly internal CRM data and so on. Then I [00:28:00] did, financial, , and then I did the most expensive one, which is legal labor and fiscal. over so many countries.

George: And I focused on the largest countries because three of them are rather small or new. So I, I only really spent money on the large ones. And for the small ones, I got declarations and basically, and we made it into the reps and warranties.

Jake: Can you give us an idea of the size of the company when you bought it?

George: It's rather small. It's probably one of the smallest in Novastone. So it had just under 10 million in revenue and 1.8 million in EBITDA 

Jake: 180 people, you said?

George: Yeah,

Jake: Oh, wow. you've been operating the business for, I believe a little over a year and a half now.

George: Correct.

Jake: Stepping out of the day to day and reflecting on the experience as a whole. So far, all know that that first year can be quite turbulent, , post acquisition, but has it been just as you expected or have parts of the experience been surprising to you?[00:29:00] 

George: It was very close to what I expected, both in terms of the company and, and what we did, because in my case, the owners are still in the company, they are managing countries and reporting to me and they have no intention of leaving. So, I had a lot of, consistency and stability for the clients and for the team.

George: It's not like I had to absorb the owner's knowledge in a couple of months or weeks. I have the benefit of still relying on them. And in fact, , they hired me more, like the person to take the company in its next maturity curve. And, and we had spent eight months in advance planning in much detail.

George: What we're going to do in what sequence and we executed that and, it's not the first time I took over a job and a team, a company in. So I knew, I've done my lot of my mistakes before. And I, tried not to repeat them. And so it was really very smooth.

Jake: There's gotta be something that was very difficult. What's, [00:30:00] what's been really difficult about the first year and a half? Yeah,

George: Not much. It's really wonderful. I mean, these, these are great people. I enjoy working with, I'm very fortunate that, the renewable energy segments in hugely rising tide. So. you're only limited by ability to hire people and, retain them.

George: There were a few things that were different and from what I expected, one is that the backlog of signed, you know, business that we had was about really half of what we thought and the owners thought, because some companies had signed contracts, but, there was no way of enforcing them. But it was still large enough to give us enough breathing space and we're building the backlog back.

George: And, the other thing is that there's a lot of knowledge, but it's not qualified. And all the people on construction sites around the world know very well what they're doing, but they're doing it in their own way. [00:31:00] I didn't expect it to be, , so little systemized. So we had to hire a very, experienced professional to give us that institutional knowledge and to start qualifying everything.

George: And that was not on my plan, but doing it. Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry to say, but the rest was, there were no, no, no big shocks or surprises, but it's only been once and a half, a year and a half. I'm sure it's going to happen.

Jake: You don't need to apologize for a smooth ride. That's, that's, that's fantastic. On the flip side, what have you really loved about the past year and a half? Do you find it's more of a, , a reprise of, of roles you've had before, or is there something refreshing or new about this adventure?

George: I feel like I can, give the best of my past experience to the company and the company is eagerly absorbing it, like a sponge, lots of young people who always knew that things could be done differently [00:32:00] because, but nobody had actually worked in any larger organization. So, I just need to propose something and then jump on it.

George: So. I'm used to having to step on the accelerator and trying to overcome resistance and inertia at large organizations. So that was, most of it was doing at McKinsey here. I need to really step on the brake more than the accelerator, because, if I'm not careful, everyone starts changing everything at the same time and we overextend ourselves and there are just too many moving parts.

George: So, you know, that's very refreshing. And, , I think the big. Adjustment for me is that I've never worked in anything quite so small,, my life. I had larger organizations to run and, I have to do a lot of things, especially initially myself, like write every single policy, set up the CRM, analyze the data.

George: And it's like, you know, and traveling economy class to the U S and living in Airbnb. So I've, and live the startup dream, Hewlett-Packard in the garage kind of thing. To a degree, it's [00:33:00] fun, but sometimes it hurts a little bit. I think it's the realization that, I want to do a lot of things, a lot of things, and the company can only take so much and I need to be a lot more selective about which are the moves that are really going to create value and there are lots of other nice things, you know, I may want to do with a company that will have to wait for a later stage.

George: And so I think that's the hardest thing for me still is to wrap my head around like to be very, very surgical in prioritizing what needs to be done.  

Jake: You mentioned again, appreciating the opportunity to mentor and lead younger people, in this organization. , so I feel like I have to take a chance and ask you to, think throughout your career of all these younger people that you've helped up the ladder, or is there, is there a story you can tell of one in particular, that gives you a special sense of pride?

George: There are several, but, [00:34:00] there's this friend of mine, Hasan. At some stage, I was responsible for finance of our airlines and hubs over Asia, Africa, Middle East, and half the world. And I had a small team of finance professionals in Bahrain, and I went there, and there was Hassan, a Pakistani, , who was, managing one part of accounting, and there were great professionals there, and after a while, I took some of them with me to Singapore.

George: So Hassan followed and took on a larger role. And when I became country manager in Vietnam, I wanted to have, a really trusted number two. So I took him to me and gave him his first CFO role as CFO of DHL Express in Vietnam. Hassan then moved on in the organization. He's moved through various countries, larger and larger each time as a CFO.

George: And he's a very professional CFO today. And I always enjoyed working with him and I'm proud of him, you know, as he's making his career in the world, for example.

Jake: Fantastic. Can you give us a sneak peek of what's [00:35:00] coming next at SEYSES? What do you think success is going to look like for you and the team in the next couple of years?

George: That's changing actually. , so originally I thought I would, , do four or five years, find an exit and do something else. In the meantime, I'm getting more and more enamored. Not just with the company and the sector, but with everything there is to be done. And I see that I can't do this in just one cycle.

George: So I'm now not thinking about the exit anymore, or I am, I see what just one step on the way. So I'm thinking about refinancing more than an exit and the next phase and the next phase, and all of a sudden it's become a 10 year plan. With a global scope and multiplying the company by 10 and not just by three or four, with a completely different skillset with organic and inorganic growth, as I said, buying a company was so much fun.

George: I want to do this again, but you know, I want my organization to learn how to source and acquire and integrate companies successfully. the dream is growing as the company is growing.[00:36:00] 

Jake: Wonderful. searchers around the world are listening to your story and not just, in our, market we're most active in, which is Australia, but you're at Latin America, Asia, the Americas. Many of them are brand new to search funds. What would you like to share with these aspiring entrepreneurs?

Jake: Are there things you wish you had known when you were weighing the pros and cons of embarking on this path?

George: First, I'm so glad I took this route because it really allowed me to reach my Ikigai. You know, I'm doing what I love, what I'm good at. I think pushing the energy transition is something that the world needs. And I can also profit from it financially in a way that was never possibly in a corporate environment.

George: So I'm really happy. And I couldn't imagine of a different path that would have taken me there. And I still have. So many things to do in the next 10 to 15 years. This whole journey has given me a completely new lease of [00:37:00] life. Um, it worked for me for a number of reasons. One is it aligned so well with my purpose and what I was looking at that point in time in my life.

George: So I was really more looking for the job than for the financial opportunity or something. So I made it possible for me to find the right role and fit in the world for me. And the second. I was very fortunate with the owners that I found because, um, they're wonderful people and we're very aligned in terms of values and in terms of aspirations of what we want to do.

George: And I think no matter how the search goes, you will need that close alignment and trust with the owner. So, so for me, it was one of the big reasons to say yes. And I, I think that's important. In hindsight, maybe I would have liked to buy a larger company because I'm seeing now that I operate better at a larger scale than a very small one.

George: But no deal is perfect. It had so many other things. It was just a bit small. Well, then, you know, I'm making it larger. And [00:38:00] I think that the one thing I overestimated, and I wouldn't do that again, Is how much a company depends on its previous owner. So when, when I bought this company, I thought I would never be able to absorb everything and the company would depend on the owners forever.

George: I don't think that's the case anymore. If you have a proper process in place and hire people, nobody, and also not me is indispensable. So, so, you know, I don't think anyone needs depends, but you know, you need to fear less than you probably think. about how hard it will be to transition away from the previous owners if you have a good process in place to, to document and systematize their knowledge and capabilities.

Jake: Great advice. What a wonderful story and one that's still unfolding. Hopefully we can check back in with you in a, in two or three years and you'll have new stories to tell. George, thank you so much for spending some time and sharing that [00:39:00] story and best of luck on your journey.

George: Thank you, Jake. It's been a pleasure and looking forward to sharing how things develop over time.  

EPISODE OUTRO

[00:58:32]

Jake: As we wrap up this conversation with George, it's clear that his journey is far from over. It's actually only just getting started. George mentioned his preference for a business of a certain size and he touched on his long term view for SEYSES, which is now a 10 year plan focusing both on organic and inorganic growth.

It'll be an exciting journey ahead.

By the way, you know, that, uh, newly established U. S. office that we talked about? Um, well, when, when George and I spoke, they had just issued their first invoice of 2, 500. And while that may, may not seem like a lot, it's an exciting moment for any entrepreneur and definitely worth celebrating. I'll also mention that George has now brought [00:40:00] the ETA bug to his family.

His brother recently stumbled across an acquisition opportunity and he's now a CEO as well. Uh, which is exciting. I'm sure George and his brother will have many stories to share as their stories unfold in parallel. George, thank you again for sharing your experience. It's clear that you've got big plans for SEYSES, and we're excited to see them unfold. 

GLOBAL OUTRO

Jake: Thanks so much for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it, you can find more at the searchfundblog. com or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Jake Nicholson of SMEVentures, and you're listening to The Search Fund Podcast.