Shore Capital Podcast Network

In this episode, Jackson Sprayberry and Anderson Williams pick up where Season 3 of Raw Talent opened: once a top performer becomes a manager, what do they have to stop doing, and how? Anderson starts with the part nobody talks about, the loss of expertise, because the person who was best at the work is now expected not to do it, and in the short term that can feel like being bad at your job. He explains why "if I can do it, why would I ask someone else" comes from a good place and still wears the manager out, enables the middle of the team, and frustrates the top performers who are not getting the reps. He draws the line between delegating and dumping, shares the scoreboard rule he gave a first-time manager who was ready to quit (do the work yourself and you get one point; get someone else to do it equally well and you get two), and answers the question most new managers will not say out loud: what if I don't trust my team? Finally, he lays out what a new manager is owed from above, because the one sure way to prove you don't trust your people is to micromanage them, and that tends to run downhill.Strategic Themes:Recognize that becoming a manager is a loss of expertise before it is a gain in authority, because the person who was best at the work is now expected not to do it, and that identity gap is what deflates new managers and drives good people out of the roleKeep score the new way: doing the work yourself earns one point, getting someone else to do it equally well earns two, so develop people to do it in fifteen minutes like you rather than jumping in and doing it in fifteen minutes yourselfDelegate against the team's goals and never dump the work you do not want, and treat every hour spent on your old job as an hour not spent on the business, because the flywheel of staying in the work only speeds upBuild trust on purpose with the people who were your peers last week, because you cannot carry mistrust into a management role, and the one sure way to prove you do not trust your team is to micromanage themChapters:00:00 – Introduction01:05 – The Loss of Expertise02:50 – If I Can Do It, Why Would I Ask Someone Else?06:05 – Delegating vs. Dumping07:50 – One Point or Two09:50 – What If I Don't Trust My Team?12:00 – Managing Up and What a New Manager Is OwedListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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 and Anderson Williams open Season 3 of Raw Talent with the question the whole season will work through: why does promoting a team's top performer so often backfire? Anderson explains that managing is a fundamentally different job from performing, and that growing companies often promote people into roles that do not exist yet, based on criteria that have little to do with leading people. He walks through what to look for beyond the KPIs: who explains the work to others, who asks forward-looking questions, who engages with where the company is going. He also names the first-month trap that wears new managers out: they do not know how to stop doing their old job. Finally, he lays out what a company owes someone before the promotion, clarity about the role and an honest conversation about its challenges, because promoting your best performer makes logical sense until it doesn't, and going in eyes wide open is how you keep your best people.Strategic Themes:Recognize that managing is a fundamentally different job from performing, because the mindset that makes a top individual contributor is often in direct opposition to what it takes to lead peopleLook beyond the KPIs when choosing who to promote: who explains the work to others, who asks forward-looking questions, who engages with where the company is goingCodify what the new role actually is before you fill it, because growing companies often promote into positions that do not exist yet and judge candidates on criteria that do not match the jobGive the person clarity and an honest conversation before the promotion, including the power dynamics of leading former peers, so they go in eyes wide open and you do not lose themChapters:00:00 – Introduction01:49 – Promoting Into a Role That Doesn't Exist Yet03:17 – Same KPIs, Different Promotion04:28 – Getting the Work Done Through People06:23 – New Managers Don't Stop Doing Their Old Job07:34 – Signals Someone Is Ready to Lead09:15 – What You Owe Someone Before You Promote ThemListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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, Dr. Brian McClain, founder and managing partner of Pinnacle Care Providers in Ohio, and Emily Rafferty, CEO of the new platform bringing Pinnacle together with Preferred Podiatry Group, share how a model of post-acute care built over decades became the foundation for a multi-state platform. Dr. McClain explains why staying the same was the bigger risk for a practice that had always improved, and how unscripted conversations with chief clinical officers across the Shore portfolio answered his concerns before he said yes. Emily describes why the work is personal for her and for most of the team, and how the platform plans to multiply the clinical model's impact through provider recruiting, technology, and relationships with the communities it serves. They also explain how physicians keep leading the clinical model through a clinical advisory board, and why growth in this business means more time with patients, not less. Finally, they look five years out, to a day when coordinated care delivered where people live is the standard rather than the exception.Key Takeaways:Weigh the risk of staying the same against the risk of changing, because with an aging population and fast-moving technology, a practice that improves slowly gets left behindVet a partner by talking unscripted with leaders already inside the portfolio and asking them anything, because trust built that way is what lets a mission-driven practice say yesKeep physicians leading the clinical model and give them a clinical advisory board, so practices in different markets learn from each other instead of being standardized from aboveBuy time for patients by stripping out work that adds no value, because proactive care drives both quality outcomes and financial resultsChapters:00:00 – Introduction02:15 – Why Post-Acute Care Is Personal07:37 – Bringing Pinnacle and PPG Together10:21 – Why Partner, and Ask Them Anything12:52 – Staying the Same Was the Bigger Risk16:17 – Doctors Lead the Doctors20:03 – Growth, Communities, and More Time With PatientsListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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, Jimmy St. Louis, CEO of Agentis Longevity, a national brand of longevity centers, returns for the third conversation in an annual series that began in the platform's first year. Year one was about vision and year two about lessons learned; year three, in Jimmy's words, is about driving the standard in a corner of healthcare that does not yet have one. He walks through the work behind that goal, from a world-class physician advisory board and appearances before Congress and the FDA to the Longevity Quotient, a fifteen-minute assessment that distills five clinical tests and sixty-five blood markers into a single health score tied to treatment protocols in every clinic. He also reflects on why the company's vision statement hinges on the word drive rather than set, how a team doing many things at once stays focused on four big rocks, and what makes sellers want to join the platform. He closes with three questions any consumer should ask before trusting a longevity clinic.Key Takeaways:Choose the words of your vision deliberately, because a single word like drive instead of set tells the team whether the organization is finished or in constant motionBuild trust before scale by giving every stakeholder, from regulators to sellers to patients, a framework they can point to for what high-quality care looks likeStandardize the core and let the edges vary: run the four core services exactly the same way in every clinic, and allow adjacent modalities to differ by market and customer basePrioritize visibly, so that every person in the company can name the quarter's four big rocks even when the organization is doing many things at onceChapters:00:00 – Introduction03:03 – What Longevity Care Looks Like06:40 – Set vs. Drive11:58 – A Scoreboard for Your Health15:58 – The Blueprint for the Ideal Clinic19:21 – The Next Three Years21:59 – Three Questions to Ask Any Longevity ClinicListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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 Brad Morehead, Partner and Head of the Business Services Fund at Shore Capital Partners, who has also been a CEO, a CFO, a business professor, and a founder who built and sold his own company. We talk about business models: why the way a company acquires and keeps customers tells you more about how to build it than the industry it sits in, and what that means when you can group companies across a portfolio of nearly 70 by model rather than by end market. Brad walks through how models evolve, from founder-led selling to professionalized sales and from break/fix work to recurring revenue, and how a future-state org chart, the right board member, and a new set of KPIs carry a company through that shift. He also shares the lesson from a mentor that he now teaches younger investors: when someone tells you an idea didn't work, ask why, because you cannot be wrong when you are asking a question. We close with his own experience being acquired by a buyer in the exact same industry with a completely different model, which he compares to trying to build something with Legos and an Erector Set.Strategic Themes:Group companies by business model, not by industry, because a pest control business and a veterinary practice that both sell direct to consumers have more to teach each other than two companies that merely share an end marketDraw the future-state org chart before you change the model, then design the transition structure, systems, and KPIs (attach rate, cross-sell, recurring revenue) that get you thereAsk why when a founder says "we tried that and it didn't work," because the question gets you to the root cause, validates the person in front of you, and cannot be wrongRecognize the watch-outs that come with a model alongside its upside, because negative working capital or a subsidized customer acquisition model can let a company grow itself out of cashChapters:00:00 – Introduction02:00 – What a Business Model Actually Is05:29 – From Break/Fix to Recurring Revenue11:43 – The Power of Why14:40 – If I Gave You an Extra Million Dollars17:52 – Negative Working Capital Is a Good Thing, Until It Isn't19:40 – Legos and an Erector Set

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.Strategic ThemesDecide 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 youTreat fresh eyes as the return on giving up control, since outsiders can spot what years inside the business have made hard to seeJudge a partner by its conduct and its references, and talk to founders who have already made the move, because no two firms operate alikeGet comfortable with someone else in your business first, because readiness is a mindset before it is a milestoneChapters00:00 – Introduction02:34 – What a Founder Sees in an Empty Building06:59 – Giving Up Control, Gaining Fresh Eyes12:35 – The Ride After the Sale14:40 – One Plus One Equals Three18:16 – Are You Ready to Partner?21:35 – Eight Suitors and What Comes NextListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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 backRecognize 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 closeChoose 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 lookLearn 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 fixListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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 oneOwn 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 workBuild 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 actionSet 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 mostChapters:00:00 – Introduction02:20 – From CXO to CEO in Five Years06:15 – Why the CXO Program11:50 – The Least Experienced in the Room13:55 – What Makes a Good CXO18:15 – Do You Hate Losing or Love Winning More?21:25 – Advice for Future CXOsListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou’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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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:00:00 – Introduction02:25 – From the Bay Area Back to St. Louis08:45 – One Customer, One Product at a Time12:18 – Telling Stories Through Bread17:16 – Why Partner, and Why Shore24:43 – Building the PlatformListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou'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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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:00:00 – Introduction05:41 – The Cohort and the Operator Path17:00 – An Engineer's Mindset22:20 – Playing the Libero30:02 – Urgency vs. ImportanceListen to our podcasts at:https://www.shorecp.university/podcastsYou’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/blogShore University: https://www.shorecp.university/Shore Capital Partners: https://www.shorecp.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shore-universityThis 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.