He Exited More than 3 Companies

Welcome to another CEO Wisdom Pod. We have Troy Geyer with us today. Troy's a co-founder at Big Hat Spirits. Troy is an interesting guy, has an intriguing background. So he's still the owner at 220 Logistics and Automated Energy Solutions. So serial entrepreneur, had a couple of exits as well. And now, I mean, Big Hat Spirits is in the mocktail space, which is pretty interesting. But yeah, previously ATX, Medicals sells with a was an exit, Gayer Ventures and so forth. Spent time in Mexico, so really intriguing guy altogether. Troy, welcome to Bon. Tell us a bit more about yourself and what you've been up to.

Thank you, Charles. Really in back into the creation and founder mode, working with a couple companies in the CPG world. on consulting and creating some products. And my creative passion is kind of mixology and making products and the founding of things. So working with a couple companies doing what I love to do in that space and then scaling and figuring out how to get them from point A to point B and in the market.

And you started at Drexel Burnham Lambert. That was a pretty intriguing start. Uh, what did you get from that?

Man, yeah, that was my beginning of my career. I started interning at Drexel in college, and it was a very, uh, exciting time to be in the financial market world. I was an analyst, um, intern and then became the analyst while I was in college, and and worked with them, was hired to go work in the M&A department on Wall Street when the market crashed in 1990, but got a lot of great experience working in the analyst position. I was in Dallas working for the fixed income sales, but worked closely with the New York analysts and the group in LA that was doing most of the high yield market and creation of high-yield junk bonds back then. So it was a great education to go along with my end of my schooling to move into the business world. Ended up not going to New York and working in manufacturing.

Was that like a good start for you to start in finance? Do you feel that's a solid base for any serial entrepreneur, or at least any successful serial entrepreneur?

Yes, I really do. And I was led that direction by my father who did not have a 4-year degree, was in the military, flew airplanes, and but founded an aviation underwriting insurance company that grew to be very large. And one thing he told me was, hey, learn to run the business by the numbers first, learn the finance, the accounting. He had to really get up to speed and work on that when he founded his company with his partner. And so he gave me that advice to get a finance degree and learn how to run the business and operate from the numbers first. And that base was very good to have that background. Yes.

And which one was your first entrepreneurial venture? Because you spent some time as a sales rep after that, right? I guess was your first one ATX Medical Sales? Which one was your first?

No, my first was a granite import. It was called Global Granite. It was under my Geyer Ventures company. So my first one was importing granite slabs. I was a, yeah, I was, I worked for big, bigger companies as a, in the finance, accounting, and systems department building financial systems for the first 10 years. And I saved up money to start my own business. And I started importing granite slabs for granite countertops in 1999 in Austin. So that was my first venture, Global Granite.

How successful was it?

Very successful. The market in Austin at that time was a monopoly. There was one importer here in Austin, and a lot of the granite countertop manufacturers were did not want to buy from them because they also fabricated and installed, whereas in Dallas and Houston there were just importers who just sold the slabs and they didn't— they weren't buying from their competitor. Um, so I, uh, I was able to take a big chunk of the market here in Austin and San Antonio as, uh, there was really only a couple importers, but they were also competitors. And then I I added some service levels that they, they weren't providing. It was, uh, I, I rolled into the market with same amount of inventory as they did within 2 weeks, uh, and I had 2 delivery trucks. I would deliver for free, uh, at first, and that was, that was huge for them in that they were paying for delivery from Houston or Dallas or paying premium prices from their competitor and had to go pick it up with their own trucks. So I came in and it was a very quick ramp-up into profitability, fortunately, and went really well. And I ended up buying into a stone factory in Mexico during that time period. So I had 2 businesses going on. We imported travertine and I had that and then sold that. I exited that after 6 years. part in 2005 and worked with them for a couple years with the group that bought it from me. The group that bought the— I had opened up in Houston and in Tulsa with the group who helped me start. They were kind of my mentors and helped me start. They were my customers at Dow Tile. So yeah, there was a good partnership in that they ended up just buying me out and I ended up focusing on my factory in Mexico at that point.

And ultimately, was that a trend with every business you started? Because of your financial background, you would go and exit most?

Yes. And then that's, that's kind of how it segued into the, into the ATX Medical, was a friend of mine in California works with Stanford, um, orthopedic surgeons and other type of surgeons as well. And he, he designs products. He's a bioengineer. He designs medical products and their model was to get it up, get it FDA approved, and then start selling it themselves to make it profitable and show the big players in the market that it could be billed for Medicare and insurance would accept it. And so I was a partner, investor and partner in some of those products. Then ATX Medical was born to sell those products with them. I sold shoulder braces and knee braces that my friend had invented with these. They were just better braces, better, you know, better, more cost-effective. He had a lot of experience in building those and getting them produced in China and other— in Mexico and other markets. And so I helped a little bit with the operations and scaling of that, and we'd scale it up and then we'd sell it.

And how does one go from this to selling medical equipment?

Mainly just through friends, you know, the friend network. My brother's also a doctor, so I had a lot of network here in Austin. He's a family practice doctor, and so I had a lot of ability to leverage his network to sell that and They want to— first of all, is a good investment because you could get in, you could invest early on in the friends and family, and they always had a quick— they have a quick ramp-up. He's still doing that. I consult with him on occasion. He is in about product number 20 of that and has been very extremely successful. So really just, you know, when you feel you can sell and you know the product and you're invested in it, you go sell what what makes you money and helps your investment. And that's kind of what I leveraged, my network and my ability to create sales and help my investment grow at the same time.

Is that your strength in business? Sales, financial acumen, like getting everything on the books, calculating everything, and running a business financially as it should be?

I would say I have a knowledge, I have a good expertise and ability to do that. I do not like to do the day-to-day and that's of the finance. I think I'm good at overseeing it and building it and getting it going. I do not like to be the CFO on a day-to-day basis, even though I did that for 10 years and it is not what I prefer. I think my time is more is better spent in building relationships, selling and operations and solving problems to scale, to grow the companies.

And why not stick to one specific field, right? You've gone like in logistics after that, in HVAC, right? Is it like you're juicing out one space that is trendy at the moment, exiting and then finding the next big thing? What's your mentality when it comes to that?

And I think it's just, it's opportunity. The control space with HVAC controls is the same deal as another friend of mine. He had a lot of experience in Houston. He'd left his company, was starting a new company. I helped him build his business plans and strategy for growing, starting at zero again after working for another company for 20 years in the same industry. And there was an opportunity to open up the Austin-San Antonio market with him and with a, you know, with a team that he had built in Houston over 20, 25 years that was very talented and knowledgeable. It was easy to jump in with them and help them start up here in Austin and San Antonio and grow with that. And then my plan with that was, as I was an owner of the Austin location and then sold it back to them, it was a plan to kind of grow it. If we get— if I do my job and grow the business here and get going, I sell it, you know, they buy me out. And so they have one big entity in running their deals. It was a plan kind of short-term. growth deal. But it's really about opportunity and, you know, what you can help with. And in my network, it's, that's how my— even the logistics, my friend, his wife worked for 3M and she got transferred to China. And he was trying to sell his logistics packing and crating business. And I was still doing my medical device, and I had the medical and controls company at the time. I was using his warehouse to store my controls equipment and products, paying him, and he couldn't sell it. So when he was leaving for China, I just bought his assets and took over the business. It kind of fell into my lap, and I grew it into a bigger operation than just packing and creating. His business was just really packing and creating. We added 3PL. moved from a 4,000-square-foot warehouse to a 12,000-square-foot warehouse with 12 acres and more space and took it from there. So it was— it's all about opportunity. What is— what do you have in front of you? What are your— what is your network doing? And that's— and you jump in and analyze it. And if there's a space to be helpful and make yourself some profit and improve your lifestyle and financial status, then, then go after it.

Yeah. And which ones out of that portfolio of yours are cash flowing and which one are cash consuming? Is Big Hats taking all of that money right now since you need to invest a lot in the brand and the marketing? And 220 is like profitable, is just cash cowing, and Automated Energy Solution as well as cash cowing?

I sold off, uh, so Automated Energy Solutions, um, I sold off all of that. I'm no longer operating of that. Yeah, we, uh, yeah, we sold off and, and, uh, shut that down a year and a half ago. Um, and but it, it had been cash flowing from month 3 and doing well. Um, and, and, and had converted into a service business after we sold the product part of the business, the new construction, sold that early and then we moved into service and my partner in that was doing most of the work. So I just handed it over to him and that went fine. 220 Logistics is a profitable ongoing operation, and that's been paying the bills. Yes, we spend a lot of time and money in Big Hat, and we've raised— this is the first one that I've been involved where we've raised a significant amount of money to pay for the launch into the market and pays for advertising expenses. And so yes, it's taking up the cash. It is not cash flowing at this point.

Okay, interesting. With all that cash, what do you do? Do you invest in stocks or do you just park it in your own companies?

Mostly in my own companies. Yeah, I've got a retirement. I put it into retirement portfolios and fairly conservative investments. I have a little bit of items of investment here in crypto that I've done over the years and I've kind of done well and then lost some and then how you go with the higher risk portfolios. But yes, most of that has just been put in.

Because I'm looking at big hats, right? It's a competitive niche as you know and also anything in DTC is terribly hard, but if anyone would be good to launch these companies, that would be you, right? Because one, it's not your first quote unquote DTC. You have experience in scaling and selling these companies, and also you have experience in logistics, right? And logistics and shipping is super important in that business. What is this, like 20, 30% of your total cost is shipping and getting these heavy items to from point A to point B, right? So why start that company right now? And how hard is it on a scale of 10?

To start a cocktail, mocktail can, mocktail brand?

Yes.

I mean, the space is very competitive. It is not easy. It takes a lot of money. And yes, its production is, you know, is an interesting game and that you, you've got to build either your own facility or take over a facility. We took over a brewery that was kind of going out of business and it was very cost-effective to build that out with a brewery. But there's a lot of options. You can use co-packers and grow with that where you don't have to invest in a lot of your own capital equipment. Or you can grow from there. But the marketing is the big number. The marketing and the promotions and the advertising is where you're spending a lot of your money. And then, of course, my background in logistics and operations and manufacturing was significant in helping get all that figured out and getting us from concept to on the market.

So how successful is it so far, right? Like, uh, my first company was also DTC and I ran it down to the ground. Um, I mean, you have different experience than I do and quite, uh, way better at many operational fields in running DTC. Like, what's the scale you've achieved so far and what are the, the goals for the, the next couple of months till we close out the years?

Uh, the— just to be clear, I've, I've moved away from the day-to-day, uh, COO duties at Big Hat. We're in 250 H-E-Bs. We're in all— H-E-B, the grocery store chain in Texas. We're doing very well in H-E-B. We're in Whole Foods, Central Market, Total Wine, which are all retailers. So all of our sales are to wholesale distributor and our distributor is selling to the grocery store to the chains to retail. And so we're letting that run and the co-founder and president Mike Apple is running that and moving forward with it. I'm on to creating a few other brands and doing some consulting and working with some other CPG companies on scaling. But yeah, there's a lot of growth potential. It's got to get out of the state and get into other channels. We just got into walmart.com, and hopefully that's a good segue into the rest of the United States. But the plan is to grow to 3 to 5 states and add grocery stores over the next couple of years. And that's when you become a better target with more— You know, interesting. And yeah, go ahead. For acquisition.

Okay. Um, what are you doing on that day-to-day then if you're out of that CEO role? What does that day in your CEO life look like?

I am, uh, consulting with another CPG brand on their scaling. I'm looking and working with them and building, uh, their, uh, their production facility and then creating another brand in another market. It's creating a cologne, a line of colognes and perfumes that I've been working on, you know, had in my brain for the last 5 or 6 years. Again, it's a product that I had developed for myself and for friends and family. And so I'm working on producing that and launching that in the next 4 to 6 months as well.

And what's next for you after that? You know, like, is it like consulting with more brands? You have such a rich experience behind you. Where do you see yourself in a couple years from now?

Yeah, it's continuing to to consult, fractional work, and depending on how my other startups go, working on growing them and getting them out, you know, out into the market, growth strategies with what I'm working on with them and exits. Yeah, I'm personally, I am a new empty nester. I have Raised 2 boys here in Austin and have not wanted to travel to be here for their school and athletics. So now I am in a new world where I'm able to travel and work with companies around the United States or the world or wherever any opportunities take me. So really just kind of open book, looking to open myself up to any opportunities that I can take that would grow into anything else, into new opportunities, new ventures.

I'll refer you to a couple of CEOs and founders friends in Austin, right? Like, I think you'd have a good time talking to them. Austin is like burgeoning on the, not only on the lifestyle stage of things, but like on the business stage of things. It's probably one of the most Interesting cities in the US. Have you found that?

Absolutely. Uh, yeah, going to starting up Big Hat, my, my founder, co-founder, and I had zero experience in this industry. Um, like you had already pointed out, I'm not afraid to change industries and move from one to the other. The, the great thing about CPG in Austin is there's such a wealth of experience and people who've done it before, we found people across the board who were willing to help us or work with us in developing the brand, the marketing, the strategy, getting into the retail outlets, the construction of the facility, the proof of concept to the market, there's just an immense amount of support and people in this town that helped us figure that out since we had zero experience in this arena going into it. And so yes, it's a great market to launch a product. And really the rest of the United States looks to Austin for innovative new products. And so it's a It's a good arena to be launching a product in and that people see it and notice, oh, it's from Austin, it's doing well in Austin, it's gonna do well somewhere else. You kind of, you can win Texas. If you can do well in Austin and do well in Texas, you can do well in the rest of the United States usually.

Right. Where can people find out more about you, Troy?

Where?

Yeah. Online, LinkedIn? Yeah.

Online on Instagram, Facebook. I've got TFG Instaman on Instagram and then my LinkedIn profile.