Misfit Entrepreneur September 2023 - 368: Playing the Long Game and Using M&A for Exponential Growth with Orrin Klopper

Subscribe and Listen Today!

Inspiring and Actionable Content Weekly from Misfit Entpreneurs

Subscribe on Itunes

Subscribe on Stitcher

Subscribe on RSS

Dave Lukas Chats with Orrin Klopper

368: Playing the Long Game and Using M&A for Exponential Growth with Orrin Klopper

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Orrin Klopper. Orrin is the CEO of Netsurit, a company he co-founded 24 years ago during the lead-up to Y2K that provides managed IT services. In that time, he has grown the business to over $40 million in revenue through acquisitions and organic growth.

He is also very active in the EO and YPO organizations and has a master’s in Entrepreneurship from MIT which is interesting considered he was expelled from 3 schools as a kid.

Orrin has built an incredible enterprise and played the long-game in doing so and those are just some of the topics I want to cover with him in this episode.

Connect with Orrin Klopper on LinkedIn

Don't Miss Even More Resources to Help You Each Week. Click Here and Subscribe to the Misfit Minute!

Show Notes

Orrin learned early that if he was really focused and disciplined that over time he would succeed. He went to university and found that it didn’t help him learn to think. He got several majors and one was in information systems. In 1995, he was invited to sell computers and after a year he was hooked. He has been offering IT services ever since. In 1998/99 he realized the growing need for small and mid-sized business to outsource their IT needs and that is when his business was born.

What are some of the key principles you’ve used to succeed and to stay successful for all this time?

He began with a long-term view in mind.
He learned a concept called the balance scorecard that was a performance measurement system that can scale.
He also learned that he needed to let go more to grow.
They made a lot of mistakes, but just kept going.

What are some of the best mistakes you’ve made?

Orrin didn’t know terms like IRR and others when it came to the business and when he took on debt he found it was costing him more than he thought – especially when he went to pay it off.
In 2016, the bought a business and made just about every mistake but going out of business. There is one team member left today from the original business.

Why did you lose the employees in the business you bought? What did you do wrong?

First, one of the principles from the original business that was going to stay on, left just before they closed on the business.
There was two-week lag before they could get someone into the key leader’s role, but the damage was done in that the employees saw the key leader leave.
They were too aggressive in implementing some of their processes.
They should have let go of people that were dead set on not working to become part of the new culture and were poisoning it.

What have your figured on how to build a good culture?

Read Peter Blocks book “Community.”
There is something about culture that is different than raw strategy and measuring the success of a business.
Culture is all about community building and a community building exercise.
Giving people the ability to innovate and be curious and grow is critical.
The most important thing is not to break and ruin the soul of a person on their journey.
Understand what people treasure and figure out how to work that into treasure.
Having cultural values, purpose, and a vision that tie everyone together is important too.
Giving people the freedom and autonomy to figure it out and make a better solution must be fostered.

Talk to us about how you’ve used acquisitions to scale and grow. What should we know?

It is a strategy on its own.
At the 26 min mark, Orrin does a good job explaining and it is best to listen.
Orrin has a VP of corporate development that focuses on finding acquisition targets.

What should a seller do to maximize the sale of their business?

First is being ready to take care of the people in your business.
You must also make sure that you customers will be taken care of.
Is there additional products and services that are complimentary with the buyers?
Are the economics solid and fair for the deal? Work for the win-win.
Get good tax advice.

How should a seller find the right acquirer?

Look for peer groups of entrepreneurs.
Ask in that community who has sold their business and learn from them.
You could also find opportunities in those group.
Make a list of potential partners you could work with and start building a relationship with them.

What is something that you wish you knew sooner as an entrepreneur that would have made a difference for you in your journey?

How to leverage M&A effectively for growth.

Best Quote

There is something about culture that is different than raw strategy and measuring the success of a business. Culture is all about community building and a community building exercise.

Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the thinkers and believers, but most of all surround yourself with those that see greatness within you, even when you don’t see it in yourself.

Dream no small dreams as they stir not the hearts of men. Think really big!

There is incredible power in gratitude.

Show Sponsors

Misfits, I want to ask you a question. When you think of your “universal inbox”, what do you think of? And by that I mean, what’s the most reliable and convenient way for someone to get in touch with you? Most people would say, “Here’s my phone number, text or call me,” right?

The reality is, people want to text. That’s why 70.7% of consumers have subscribed to receive texts from at least one business in the past year. It gives them the freedom to reply when it’s convenient for them, it reduces the amount of time playing phone tag, and you can count on the message being seen since people tend to stay on top of it more than their social media or their emails.

That’s where SimpleTexting comes in – I am customer and love this solution. Myself and thousands of other businesses use the Simple Texting platform to connect with customers, leads and staff and much more.

They’re an all-in-one texting platform that makes it easy, fast and affordable to reach lists of customers, have 2-way conversations and set up automated texts. Which are great for appointment reminders, text-for-info programs, generating reviews, and pretty much anything you can think of.

I use it almost daily across my businesses to connect and help customers.

Plans start at just $29 per month but as a Misfit listener, you can try SimpleTexting free for 14-days. And if you go to simpletexting.com/misfit you can get $100 worth of free credits when you sign up.

Put the power of Simple Texting to work for you in your business with this incredible offer!

Misfits,

If you are looking for one of the best tools to help you focus and center yourself daily, the 5 Minute Journal is the best one out there.

This short 5-10 minute daily routine will help you in all aspects of your life and success.

It is one of the simplest and easiest ways I have found to consistently improve myself and my well-being as well as ensure better results and success.

Check it out and get your copy today!

Check it out at www.MisfitEntrepreneur.com/Journal