Full transcript
0:00I don't think doing great business,
0:01which is mission number one for us, and
0:03mission number two for us is helping our
0:05shareholders achieve their investment
0:06goals.
0:07By the way, those aren't prioritized one
0:09above the other. They're equal for you
0:10and I. But they're not in conflict if we
0:13have the right partnership. They become
0:14in conflict when you've got investors
0:16who truly don't understand proper
0:18business growth.
0:19>> [music]
0:19>> And they start trying to push a business
0:21to grow too fast. Operators make bad
0:23decisions. You might get short-term
0:25gains out of that, but you're going to
0:26build a culture that crumbles
0:28>> [music]
0:29>> when it comes into real stress.
0:35>> [music]
0:35>> All right, everybody. Welcome back to
0:36the long game. Today is a special
0:39episode for me, I would say,
0:41because I have the
0:43the man that I hired to take over and
0:46run, the guy who I entrusted
0:49with my business, the business that I
0:51started with my wife some 25 years ago.
0:55He's an incredible man, has an
0:56incredible family.
0:58The [music] interview process, which
1:00maybe we could talk about a little bit,
1:02was intense, to say the least, but he
1:04made it through it. And I'm very glad he
1:06did. Everything that he showed up in
1:08that
1:08>> [music]
1:09>> interview
1:10has showed up here in real life, and I'm
1:11really excited to have him today. And I
1:13want to share with all of you Jay
1:15[music]
1:16Teresi, the guy who again I entrusted to
1:18run this business. And so excited to
1:20have you here, Jay.
1:21>> Josh, so great to be here. Appreciate
1:23the kind words at the open, and really
1:26looking forward to this discussion.
1:28>> Wonderful. Well, Jay,
1:31why don't you take me back a little bit?
1:34You have had you have a had a storied
1:36career, and I think it's would be
1:39helpful for some of the audience to
1:41understand that career.
1:43>> Yeah, it started on accident. So, you
1:46know, when I was younger, I was working
1:47in hospitality.
1:50You're working as a bartender, a waiter,
1:52janitor. Wasn't sure what I wanted to do
1:54with my life, as a lot of young people
1:56aren't. I thought I wanted to be a pro
1:57golfer. Turns out wasn't very good.
1:59Played some pretty bad junior college
2:01golf and realized wow, good golfers are
2:04a whole 'nother level. And my my
2:06girlfriend at the time, who's my wife
2:08now, said, you know, maybe while you're
2:09pursuing this golf dream, you should get
2:10a summer job. So, I wandered into The
2:13Home Depot, started there part-time
2:15watering plants, and found a whole new
2:18home. And my career began to grow there
2:21in the retail business. You know,
2:23department supervisor, assistant
2:24manager, store manager. Turns out I had
2:26a a pretty good natural ability in the
2:29retail space. Loved home improvement.
2:32Loved Home Depot. Just kept growing. And
2:34then at at one point, I was moving
2:36around the country running stores.
2:38I had a chance to go to our corporate
2:40office.
2:41And I just started saying yes to every
2:42weird job that got thrown at me, which a
2:44lot of people told me, "Don't do that.
2:46Protect your career. Stay close to a
2:48P&L." But the way I was raised was if
2:50the boss asks you to do something, you
2:52go do it. And so, I just kept saying
2:54yes. I got into some jobs I didn't love.
2:57I got into some jobs that stretched me.
2:59And career-wise, what I realized after
3:01about 25 years was it positioned me well
3:05to lead organizations. I spent about the
3:07last 15 years at Home Depot in the home
3:09services space,
3:10which, you know, we're a part of. And
3:13that's what that's what led me here.
3:15>> You know, when you first uh came here,
3:16you introduced me to a phrase uh we
3:18talked about your career. You often say,
3:20"I was the the break-the-glass kind of
3:21guy."
3:22Um which I thought was interesting um
3:25for a couple reasons. One,
3:28uh I hadn't heard that term before. Um
3:31and and two, what I would love to know
3:33from you is how and maybe when did you
3:36develop that reputation?
3:38>> Yeah, it's a great question. So, I was
3:40very blessed to start at Home Depot in a
3:42part of the country that had some
3:44phenomenal retailers. And back then,
3:46nothing was centralized. Nothing was
3:47unified. If you saw one Home Depot, you
3:50saw one Home Depot. So, they ran kind of
3:52as their own little businesses. What
3:54that meant was
3:55they could get off the reservation. If
3:56you had a bad store manager, your store
3:58could really go really go bad. And I
4:00ended up working for a guy who was an
4:02original break glass guy, and he moved
4:04from store to store. He figured out I
4:05was a hustler. He's like, "You're coming
4:06with me."
4:07And so, I learned from him, and and we
4:09started turning stores around together.
4:10And then eventually, he's like, "Well,
4:11you're good enough." He told the
4:13district team, "This guy can go do it on
4:15his own." And and I just started fixing
4:17stores that had gone off the
4:18reservation. That went from fixing
4:20stores to fixing regions.
4:22And then when I when I wound up in the
4:24corporate office, what was interesting
4:25was the skill set they were really
4:27looking for. The skill set that is is is
4:29really what they want when they say
4:30break glass, isn't necessarily your
4:32technical skills, which is helpful in
4:34whatever it is you're doing. But can you
4:36rally people? Can you organize people?
4:38Can you cut through the noise? Can you
4:40make tough people decisions?
4:42And that was the skill that I had really
4:44developed. I didn't know that. I thought
4:46it was about my retail skills.
4:48Once they started saying, "Well, you're
4:49going to go run contact center." So, I'm
4:50like, "I don't know anything about
4:51contact centers." They said, "Yeah, but
4:53it's a disaster. The people are out of
4:54control. The business isn't running
4:55well. You're going to go run a
4:56technology office." Hey, I don't know if
4:58you guys checked, but I'm a retailer.
4:59Like, I don't do technology. Yeah,
5:01that's fine. It's a mess. And so, what
5:03ended up happening is I was dropped into
5:05these things for my organizational
5:08skill set.
5:10And as a byproduct, I got to learn all
5:12this other cool stuff. And after
5:13decades, I looked up, and I was like,
5:15"Wow, I've done marketing. I've done
5:16technology. I've done all these
5:18different things." Which now that I'm
5:20sitting in the C-suite, I'm like, "Thank
5:22god, because these businesses are
5:24complex."
5:25>> I love the fact that you just had the,
5:26you know, say yes and kind of
5:28you know, go wherever the boss tells you
5:29to go.
5:31Um
5:32I imagine not every one of those moves
5:33was was good for you. Um
5:37you know, what what I mean, any
5:39any lessons learned? Or which one was
5:40maybe the hardest role for you to take
5:41on and and uh succeed at?
5:44>> Oh, it's a good great question. And no,
5:46they weren't all good. And you know, if
5:48you were trying to quote unquote
5:49architect your career, you definitely
5:51would have said no to about half of
5:52those. Now, if I had done that in
5:54retrospect, I would not be a CEO today,
5:56for sure. But, the two hardest that I
5:58ran into, first was marketing. Because
6:01when I was asked to take over marketing,
6:03it was digital marketing, it was
6:04ownership of parts of homedepot.com. I
6:07didn't know anything about I didn't know
6:08SEO, SEM. I I didn't know any of these
6:11terms. I didn't know any of this stuff.
6:13And I got dropped into a pretty
6:14significant budget with a big team who
6:16expected that their boss knew what the
6:18heck he was talking about. And so, I had
6:20to figure it out. And that the other one
6:22was technology. I got dropped into
6:24Silicon Valley, into the heart of where
6:26the best technologists are in the world.
6:27And they said, "Hey, you're going to run
6:28this office." That's engineers, that's
6:30product managers, that's UX. Uh okay,
6:33now I'm a marketer and a retailer and a
6:34home services guy. What do I know about
6:36developing custom software? Absolutely
6:38nothing. And what do I know about people
6:40that ride around in offices on
6:41skateboards to get to drink beer while
6:43they're at work? Absolutely nothing,
6:44right? I'm from Home Depot. Like, what?
6:46What is this happy crap? Like, what are
6:47you guys doing? So, I you know, those
6:49were the two most challenging to me that
6:52interestingly enough are the two I most
6:55lean on. And I would say the third one
6:57right behind that was mergers and
6:58acquisitions. So, when I got dropped in
7:00there, what did I know about buying a
7:02company? Absolutely nothing. And I had
7:04to lead a deal. And so, those three
7:06things are now the three skill sets I
7:08rely on most in my job.
7:10>> You know, I um I read a book uh
7:13its name is uh
7:14the Captain David Marquet Turn the Ship
7:17Around. Have you have you read that book
7:18before?
7:19>> Interestingly enough, Home Depot hired
7:20that guy to come speak to the store
7:22managers one year. So, I got to hear him
7:23speak live, and it's an incredible book.
7:25He's an incredible leader.
7:27>> Yeah, well, it's incredible about that
7:28story was that he was kind of a a a very
7:31strong had very high acumen, but a
7:33micromanager. He knew every part about
7:35that nuclear sub. And when he was when
7:38he was charged with leading, I think it
7:39was was Nimitz-class sub or whatever sub
7:41it was, he knew everything about it and
7:43he was about to take this take his duty
7:45and then he got pivoted to one of the
7:47worst performing subs in the fleet in
7:48which he knew nothing about and now he
7:50had to go in there and he teaches this
7:52leader leader um type mentality which
7:54is, you know, he didn't have all the
7:56technical skill sets to run that sub but
7:58he had to rely on the people and
7:59actually utilize a different set of
8:01skills I would say. So, when you walked
8:03into these divisions if you will, these
8:06massive divisions with big budgets and
8:07had no idea what was going on or nothing
8:10about it. Like how how do you approach
8:11that differently?
8:13>> Yeah, it is such a great question. So, I
8:14learned this this trick early on in my
8:16career. Uh when I got my first store as
8:18a store manager, I had only ever run the
8:20merchandising offices and then they're
8:21like, "Oh, we're going to promote you to
8:22turn around your own store."
8:24And I got in there, I'd never run
8:25operations, you know,
8:27which is pretty significant. So, I get
8:29in there and the store is an operational
8:30disaster. I don't know anything about
8:32it. So, I go back to my mentor and I'm
8:34like, I don't know what to do. I don't
8:35know anything about operations. And he
8:36said, "Here's what I want you to do. I
8:37want you to walk into the room and I
8:39want you to sit down and go explain to
8:41me why you guys are doing this the way
8:42you're doing it. I don't know if I'm
8:43aligned here."
8:45And you just kind of went in and fake it
8:47till you make it and then I would take
8:48furious notes and that little tip is
8:50every time I walked into a new
8:51assignment where call centers,
8:52marketing, IT, I would just sit down
8:54with the leaders and I go, "Hey, walk me
8:56through your processes. I want to
8:57understand why you're doing things the
8:58way you're doing it." And it was the
8:59posture you did it as a leader. You
9:01didn't say you knew, you didn't say you
9:02didn't knew. You just asked. So, I did
9:05that and then at night when I was off
9:06work, I would read everything I could
9:08read, you know, about that subject. I
9:10would go find mentors about that. Those
9:13three things helped me. I will tell you
9:14every time I went into a new thing, I
9:16had to spend that first six months sort
9:18of becoming as much of an expert as I
9:20could as fast as I could while applying
9:22good organizational structure to say,
9:25"We're going to work together as a
9:25team." Replacing the cancers, you know,
9:28going after the toxic cultures.
9:30The good news about that stuff is that
9:32translates from discipline to discipline
9:33to discipline. People are people are
9:35people.
9:36Structures are structures are
9:37structures, but but it is critical that
9:40you get in and learn the technical
9:41stuff. And I'll tell you what that's
9:42made me, Josh. Ridiculously curious,
9:44number one. And number two, it's given
9:46me a great appreciation for if you don't
9:48understand how a business works from the
9:50bottom up, you cannot effectively lead
9:52it from the top down. I I just
9:53fundamentally believe that.
9:54>> I Yeah, I agree I do agree with you
9:56wholeheartedly.
9:58Um
9:59When you when you think about so it's a
10:01different leadership uh
10:03positions that you've had, some you've
10:04had very intimate skills, understood
10:06what to do, others you haven't. Um
10:09I but I've heard the the kind of
10:13I hear this from PE guys, but I also
10:14hear this from other folks is that
10:15there's different types of CEOs. There's
10:17CEOs that are turnaround specialists,
10:19there's CEOs that are status quo,
10:20there's growth CEOs. Do you think
10:22there's any weight to that or tell me
10:25about it?
10:25>> Yeah, I
10:27If for me it's difficult to to
10:29necessarily agree with that, but
10:31I don't necessarily disagree with it.
10:33Here's what I can tell you, because I
10:34grew up in Home Depot, none of those
10:35things were optional. You had to do all
10:37of those things together. So, yeah, I
10:39might be turning around a business, but
10:40my bosses were never like, "And by the
10:42way, you don't have to grow for 2 years
10:43while you're doing that." No, no, no.
10:44You're going to grow and you're going to
10:46fix it, and ownership is immediate. So,
10:48for me
10:50it's hard to differentiate those things.
10:52Are there some people that are better at
10:54running a good organization that's
10:55already running well? Absolutely. And
10:57are there people that enjoy that and
10:59they're routine driven, but if you
11:00dropped them into a turnaround, not
11:02everyone can do a turnaround.
11:04Every turnaround guy or or gal could run
11:07a well-running business in my mind. So,
11:09I do think there's this turnaround
11:10skillset that is a unique thing, but if
11:12you're a great leader, I think all of us
11:14could do those other things. Now,
11:15whether or not that bores you, like I I
11:17I know a lot of people who are like,
11:18once they fix it, they're like, "Ah, I
11:20need to go do something else." For me,
11:22I'm I'm here to stay at Infinity, so I'm
11:24like
11:25Well, first of all, Infinity's not a
11:26turnaround, so that's beautiful, right?
11:27I inherited a lot of gifts from you, and
11:29so I'm looking forward to being in an
11:31organization that already had a ton of
11:33great stuff happening, has an incredible
11:35future, and I think in the new world, I
11:38don't think steady state exists anymore.
11:40I think as we go into the AI world and
11:42all this this this day and age of like,
11:44"Ooh, I'm going to set the business up
11:45and I'm just going to put my feet up and
11:46run it." I think that's gone. Leaders
11:48are going to be hustling, and the the
11:50ground under us is going to be I keep
11:53thinking of like um, you know, uh
11:55that Star Wars movie where they get out
11:57of the boat, you know, the the ship and
11:59they're on like they don't realize
12:00they're inside the belly of a beast
12:02until they get on the ground and they're
12:03like, "What's going on with the ground
12:04here?" And that to me is our job now.
12:07>> Yeah, and it's plus you're in home
12:08services, Jay. And home services is
12:10going to have its own set
12:11>> Right. [laughter]
12:12>> No matter how big you get, no matter how
12:14how how well that flywheel is greased,
12:17there's always going to be there's
12:18always going to be things to improve.
12:21So, early career, you know, you you
12:22followed orders, you went where you were
12:24told, you learned a lot of stuff, you
12:26broke some stuff, you fixed a lot of
12:27stuff.
12:28Would it be fair to say that if you were
12:30telling somebody who's earlier in their
12:32career trying to grow, just just go on
12:34and keep keep taking on new tasks, keep
12:36keep doing?
12:36>> To me, that's the advice I gave. It was
12:38interesting, but about 7 years ago I
12:40started getting a lot of people dropping
12:41by my office to ask me, "How did you
12:43architect this?"
12:45And they hated the answer, Josh. I said,
12:46"Oh, I just said yes." "No, that can't
12:48be how you did it." I go, "That's how I
12:49did it. I made myself available. I said
12:52yes, and I did the work." To me, that's
12:55still the answer. And and maybe it's the
12:56generation we come from, Josh. You know,
12:58I know I know it's things are changing,
13:00but to me it's
13:01Hey, the way I was raised, my dad's an
13:03old school Italian guy, and it was like,
13:06"The boss needs help? You say yes."
13:08What's interesting to me is I'm a
13:09naturally curious guy, so I I like a
13:12good challenge. So, I loved the idea of
13:14like, "Oh, okay, I'll go figure that
13:15out." One of the things I love about
13:17Infinity
13:18is this is a massive challenge. We've
13:20we've built an incredibly large business
13:22here really fast. We have an incredible
13:25culture, but this is going to require us
13:27pulling a lot of things off correctly
13:29over the next few years to really see
13:31our vision come to the fruition we want
13:33it to come to. And and I love that
13:36challenge. So, I think if you're someone
13:37who
13:39kind of doesn't like change, like you
13:41know that about yourself,
13:43then you should stay in your swim lane
13:44and be careful about saying yes to
13:45everything that comes along. If you like
13:47change and you want to grow your career,
13:49say yes. If you want to be a C-suite
13:51leader in the 21st century, you better
13:53take on as many
13:55challenging verticals as you can because
13:58you have got to be a cross-functional
13:59athlete at this level.
14:00>> That's very well said. You know, I teach
14:02my I teach my kids
14:04um [snorts]
14:05I guess it's simply put, you know, do
14:07hard things. Marcus Aurelius said it
14:09more eloquently, the impediment to
14:10action advances action, what stands in
14:12the way becomes the way.
14:14And um so so do hard things, chase hard
14:17goals, get yourself out of your comfort
14:18zone. That's You're right. I think you
14:20have to be a very dynamic person to be a
14:22C-suite a leader these days and and the
14:24only way you do that is by doing hard
14:26things. So,
14:28Uh talking a little bit little bit about
14:30leadership philosophy and leadership at
14:31scale. This is a is a big business as
14:33you mentioned, Jay, and you've actually
14:34ran a larger businesses than this one.
14:37But you've had this philosophy I heard
14:38I've heard you say before, um bullets
14:40not cannonballs, uh wing me wound me, uh
14:43kill me.
14:44Uh talk a little bit about
14:45experimentation, how you think about,
14:47you know, growing the business but doing
14:49it the right way without disrupting any
14:50of the fundamental processes.
14:52>> Yeah, I I love people number one.
14:54And
14:55I think if you're going to be an
14:56effective leader in a large,
14:58geographically diverse, service line
15:01diverse business like Home Services and
15:03our you know, we're not a single trick
15:05pony, one trick pony here. We're not
15:07just doing this or that. We we've got a
15:09lot of service lines, we've got
15:10residential, we've got commercial.
15:13You have to be very comfortable
15:15delegating not only authority, but
15:18trust. Like you've got to let people run
15:21their businesses and you've got to be a
15:22systems person behind the scenes
15:24figuring out how can I help them do
15:26their job better. So, the first thing I
15:28start with is well, what is my job as
15:30CEO? I don't run the business. That
15:32might be a surprise to a lot of people
15:33listening to this podcast, but here's
15:36the dirty little secret. CEOs don't run
15:37the business. There's There's a a team I
15:40have that runs the operators,
15:42and certainly giving direction and
15:43strategy, but a CEO's job is what? Well,
15:45turns out I'm the chief culture officer.
15:47Can't delegate that. Right? The leader
15:49sets the weather. So, I got to spend a
15:51lot of time thinking about that. I'm the
15:53chief strategist. Theoretically, I got
15:55all these different things I've done.
15:56I've seen a lot of different movies. I
15:58should be wandering around the company
16:00helping my leaders. Hey, what problem
16:02are you dealing with? I've probably
16:04encountered it. How can I help consult
16:05you? And I'm the chief boulder remover.
16:07Like, how do I get things out of your
16:09way? So, I start with
16:12that frame of reference. Now,
16:14leaders want to do big bold things. I'm
16:16a fan of big bold things, but you got to
16:17be careful when you start disrupting the
16:19business that you disrupt your operating
16:21business. Right? This is a complex
16:23business. So, and you got to respect
16:25things like seasonality. So, if if if I
16:27want to do a bunch of things, Josh, you
16:28and I have a list
16:30multi years long at this point of
16:32improvements we want to make to this
16:33company from the chair and CEO
16:36position. Okay, great. If we launched
16:38all of that on the business at one time,
16:40we would blow this place up. Jeff Bezos
16:42famously tells the story about how he
16:44had enough good ideas to absolutely
16:45destroy the business, right? And
16:46certainly you and I qualify for that you
16:48between the two of us. So, so what do we
16:50do? We got to take a step back. We got
16:52to prioritize. And then,
16:54we still have to be careful. So, the
16:55fire bullets and cannonballs comes from
16:57Jim Collins, Good to Great, Great by
16:59Choice. And it says, "Okay, we got a
17:00great idea.
17:02Let's go take a couple of brands. Let's
17:04try it out. Let's invest some money. Not
17:06so much money that we've risked the
17:08balance sheet. Right? Let's see what
17:10happens. Oh, it worked. Awesome. Let's
17:12do it on a couple more brands. Brands.
17:14Couple more bullets. Oh, it worked
17:15again. Boom. Let's shoot a cannonball.
17:17Roll it out. Let's go on. This is
17:19literally my entire modus operandi. It
17:22doesn't matter if we're in technology or
17:24process, sales, production, right?
17:28Sub-management. If I'm trying to make
17:30something better, first ideate, proof of
17:32concept, pilot. That's your bullet. Can
17:36them.
17:36Boom, that's your rollout. If we do that
17:38and we start stacking things one on
17:40another, you look back over a series of
17:42years and you have fundamentally altered
17:44the business. I think a lot of the
17:45mistakes leaders get into is one, trying
17:48to do too much at one time. I've
17:50certainly been guilty of that.
17:51And then two, feeling like
17:55the clock is working against them.
17:57Oh, I got to get it all done in this
17:58calendar year or the business isn't
17:59going to grow. Hey, that's not true.
18:01Like, you can grow the business while
18:03still altering the business, but what
18:05you can't do is radically transform the
18:07business in a short period of time
18:08without disrupting your operating
18:10business. I know lots of people talk
18:11about that. Oh, we can grow 100%.
18:13Businesses that grow 100% are going to
18:14have big problems.
18:16>> Yeah, yeah, generally unless you're
18:18Anthropic and you're growing it, you
18:19know, 1,000% because they have they have
18:22the the human capital to do it. Um,
18:24actually you mentioned Jeff Bezos, you
18:26sent that article to the leadership team
18:27not too long ago, the day one and day
18:28two thinking, which I thought was which
18:30is an which is incredible. Maybe you
18:32could touch on that quick because I've
18:33always had that mindset
18:36uh and probably never quite articulated
18:38quite as well as as Bezos did.
18:41>> Yeah, you know, you and I talk about the
18:42founder's mentality a lot, right? And
18:44really I think Jeff Bezos' day one, day
18:46two philosophy is the founder's
18:47mentality. Like, the moment you stop
18:50getting curious, you're not hungry,
18:51you're not pushing, like the one thing I
18:53do like is hustling and urgency that I
18:56like paranoia. Somebody's coming for us.
18:58Like, we got to hustle. The business is
18:59going to get taken away from us. To me,
19:01that's the essence of day one thinking.
19:02How can we be doing this better? How can
19:04we be serving our customer better? What
19:05can we do different? How can we get more
19:07efficient? That's that founder's
19:09mentality. Day two thinking is when we
19:11start pushing paper at each other and
19:13you get that bureaucracy, right? Even
19:14though we're a big company, you know,
19:15Josh, you and I are always trying to cut
19:17through the bureaucracy. One of the
19:18reasons I go out in the field, when I
19:20say cheap boulder remover,
19:22I always tell my people, I just had this
19:24great introduction with one of our our
19:25new call center folks and I was talking
19:26to him yesterday
19:28and I and I told him, "Look, I really
19:29need you to understand this. If you're
19:30ever sitting here and you're typing
19:31something or we're asking you to do
19:33something and you think to yourself,
19:34this is so stupid."
19:37Okay, stop. I got to know, right? Like,
19:39I got to know because that is day two
19:40has entered the building, right? That is
19:42TPS forms, right? Like, the moment
19:46somebody sitting at their desk and they
19:47think to themselves, "This is so lame. I
19:49can't believe I'm being asked to do
19:50this, but whatever, that's the job." No,
19:52no, no, we got to stop. That's day two
19:53thinking and Bezos was always on the
19:55hunt to keep it hungry. Now, we got to
19:57have the right people to do that and
19:59that's something you and I talk a lot
20:00about, right? Talent matters. Everything
20:02starts with human capital. I don't even
20:03care about in the AI world. All AI is
20:06going to do is amplify poor performers
20:08to make more mistakes faster or it's
20:10going to make better people
20:1110x and we we still got to have the
20:13right people or we're going to or we're
20:15going to struggle.
20:16>> 100% agree.
20:18Uh you know, when when you um so you
20:20again, you had a long career at Home
20:21Depot and then you decided to to part
20:24ways and and go out under the private
20:26equity uh umbrella as a CEO. What was
20:28the maybe driving um
20:31decision-making there and um
20:33and what have you found different,
20:34maybe?
20:35>> Yeah, uh
20:36I love Home Depot. I could have worked
20:38at Home Depot forever and and it's an
20:39incredible culture. But, one of the
20:41things that I respected about the
20:42culture is they had taught me so much.
20:45I felt like I had an opportunity, a
20:46responsibility to go out into the
20:48marketplace and say, "Could I create
20:49another culture like this?" And help
20:52permeate great cultures across the
20:54American landscape. I love America. I
20:55love American business and I love home
20:58services. And so, in my way of thinking,
21:00I thought, "Well, what a great
21:01opportunity if I want to go out and help
21:04create a culture like what I got to grow
21:06up in at Home Depot and establish a
21:08company where people can build their
21:10careers. They can build wealth for their
21:11families. They can have multiple
21:13different jobs. They can move around the
21:14country and they never have to leave the
21:16business.
21:17That was very enticing to me.
21:19And private equity presented that
21:21opportunity. Right, you can get into
21:22these mid-size businesses, get into the
21:24C-suite, and you can you can establish
21:26and set the tone and the culture and and
21:28create something like that. So, that was
21:30really why I did it. And it's been an
21:32exciting journey. Uh what are some of
21:34the things that I miss? Well, one, um
21:36it's a little bit like getting kicked
21:37out of the nest. Uh Home Depot is very
21:39safe. I built my entire family there, my
21:41career. They were wonderful to me.
21:44I never thought about cash a day in my
21:45life when I worked at Home Depot. I
21:47think about cash every day being out,
21:50you know, in the private equity world.
21:52You know, you leave the security of the
21:53cocoon,
21:54but I'm glad that I did it. One, because
21:57I can carry these these things Home
21:59Depot taught me out into the broader
22:00business world. I can line up with a guy
22:01like you, Josh,
22:03where we're culturally aligned, we're
22:04philosophically aligned. We both want to
22:06build an enduring great business. We
22:08care about our people. It's not about
22:09money for us. It's not about any of
22:10that.
22:12That's a tremendous opportunity. And I
22:14can go fast. You know, one of the things
22:15about being inside of a Home Depot is at
22:16some point, just by the virtue of its
22:18scale, things start to slow down.
22:20And and you're not able to be as
22:22effective and move as fast as maybe you
22:24once were. And that's the other reason
22:26is I thought if I can get out into
22:27private equity, we we can we can move
22:29fast, we can break glass fast, we can
22:31scale fast. And I'm finding that to be
22:33true. It's very difficult, but all
22:35business is difficult. Again, I don't
22:37think it's easy anywhere. I think 21st
22:38century business, doesn't matter where
22:40you are, things are hard, things are
22:41confusing, things are moving fast.
22:44And I want to be in an organization
22:45where I can help create an umbrella
22:47where people can do that and aren't
22:49looking over their shoulder every day
22:51for what's going to happen to their job.
22:53>> Very compelling.
22:54How would you say you balance,
22:58you know, kind of
23:00investor expectations with what you say
23:02is what I used to say as well, you know,
23:04building an enduring great company
23:06under a private equity where you have
23:07shareholders and investors.
23:08>> Yeah, what a great question. Well, I
23:10think first you have got to pick the
23:12right partners.
23:13And we we are very blessed with our
23:15partners here at Infinity. And and I
23:18think that's step number one. And you
23:20know, if you can find the right
23:22investors who want to scale something
23:24great. And they're not in it for just a
23:26quick flip. I think that's step one.
23:29Um, you know, my first foray into
23:30private equity, that wasn't the case and
23:32so I learned some lessons there, which
23:34I've carried on. I'm I'm super glad to
23:36have found found the team we're with
23:37now.
23:38So we have that that that has got to be,
23:40you know, step number one. If you're an
23:41operating executive, if you're a team,
23:44if you're selling your company, you need
23:45to think very carefully about the people
23:47you're investing with. Get to know them,
23:48spend time with them, understand their
23:50basic philosophy around life and around
23:52business, because that's going to be
23:54very revealing. So that's step number
23:55one. Then step number two, align
23:57yourself with great business partners.
24:00So like Josh, you're a tremendous
24:01chairman for me. You understand the
24:02business. You built the business. You're
24:03passionate about the business.
24:05You also understand the investor
24:07management side of it. I try to be very
24:09honest with my investors. Let's let's
24:11not be Excel-rich. Let's talk honestly
24:13what's happening in the marketplace. How
24:14fast can we really grow? What what do we
24:16really need to invest? So I try to be
24:18radically transparent. Find partners who
24:20appreciate that and aren't showing up
24:23going, "Doesn't matter, Jay. None of
24:24that matters. You can grow 25% this year
24:26anyway." You know, that's you got to try
24:28to avoid that. That's a big part of the
24:29private equity world and a lot of CEOs
24:30are frustrated. You do have to
24:32understand though,
24:33if you're going to be an operator at
24:34this level, we do have investors. They
24:36have invested their money for a purpose.
24:37So I don't think building an enduring
24:40enduring great business, which is
24:42mission number one for us, and mission
24:43number two for us is helping our
24:45shareholders achieve, you know, their
24:47their investment goals. By the way,
24:49those aren't prioritized one above the
24:50other. They're equal for you and I. But
24:52they're not in conflict if we have the
24:54right partnership. They become in
24:55conflict when you've got investors who
24:58truly don't understand proper business
25:00growth. And they start trying to push a
25:02business to grow too fast. Operators
25:04make bad decisions. You might get
25:06short-term gains out of that, but you're
25:07going to build a culture that crumbles
25:10when it comes into real stress.
25:11>> Well, they sacrifice long-term
25:13durability of the business for
25:14short-term financial gains.
25:15>> 100%.
25:16>> You know, you know, triple the marketing
25:17price, you know, expense or you know,
25:19outlay, you know, double the double the
25:21price to the consumer, you get a bump in
25:23short-term EBITDA, but then you get this
25:25long tail of no referrals and and bad
25:28>> Well, you just kill your brand in the
25:30marketplace.
25:30>> And you kill your brand, yeah.
25:32>> your brand. And I think that's that's
25:33what we're really selling here. So, I
25:34think getting investors that understand,
25:36"Hey, we got to protect our brand at all
25:37costs. This is the intellectual property
25:40of the business. Our brand repute in
25:42home services this is not We're not
25:44doing anything innovative. We're all
25:46installing roofs and installing
25:47windows." Like your your IP you're I I
25:50learned this from a board member of my
25:51last company who's like, "Your Your
25:52intellectual property is your brand,
25:54Jed. Do you understand that?" I was
25:55like, "No, I don't think I did, but I
25:57absolutely do now." So, you know, it's
25:59important to understand
26:00>> Tell me, Jed, where where
26:02you come from this massive Home Depot,
26:04you know, the the orange apron, very
26:06well respected, and you get this inbound
26:08inquiry from our team about this Resi
26:11roofing company, this kind of schmuck
26:12Resi roofing company. What what what got
26:14you excited about about
26:17about maybe looking under the hood?
26:19>> Well, number one, I love the categories.
26:21I love these categories a lot. Number
26:23two, I listened to the long game.
26:25Actually, I would my first piece of
26:27research is researched you, Josh. And I
26:29was like, you know, cuz the recruiter
26:30called the first couple times I was
26:32like, "Yeah, you know, I'm not looking.
26:33I'm I'm I'm I'm, you know, doing what
26:35I'm doing and pretty focused on that."
26:37You know, the scale of the business that
26:39you had built, I was like, "That's very
26:41interesting." I mean, there was not a
26:42lot of businesses this size floating
26:44around home services space. And when you
26:46have a business of this size, it gives
26:48you more opportunity to do things. The
26:50geographic
26:51layout of the business was very
26:52intriguing to me.
26:54But then what really blew my mind was
26:55the quality of the brands. So once I
26:57started looking around at what you had
26:59built, I listened to what you had to say
27:00on the podcast, I met with you guys a
27:01couple of times.
27:03I was like, "Whoa, this is the real
27:05deal. These folks are a lot like Bernie
27:07and Arthur, you know, those are the two
27:08founders of Home Depot. They're
27:10mission-minded. They're not This isn't a
27:12financial exercise for them. Josh is
27:13trying to do something." And And the
27:15thing that really pushed me over the
27:17edge, Josh, was when I saw your purpose
27:19statement, right? You know, "Saving our
27:21communities from unscrupulous
27:22contractors." And then I heard you talk
27:24about it. And like you really meant it.
27:26And it reminded me of all those stories
27:29I heard as a kid growing up at Home
27:30Depot, you know, about why we were so
27:33focused on what we were doing. Like we
27:34we called it being orange-blooded and
27:36drinking the orange Kool-Aid. Like we
27:38bled Home Depot. And hearing you talk
27:40about it, I was like, "Okay, that's a
27:41culture I want to be a part of. This is
27:43not a private equity roll-up. This is a
27:45mission-minded set of folks who are
27:47trying to do something unique in the
27:48space. I want to be part of that."
27:50>> I love it. You know, I I'm just
27:51finishing up my book right now, and I
27:53write quite a bit about that experience
27:55with Betty and and what really turned
27:57me from being just a small roofing
27:59contractor who was trying to support a
28:01family to really mission-driven and
28:04going, "Man, this is a pretty unscathing
28:06industry that we're in. There's so many
28:08people Heck, I don't know anybody who
28:10hasn't or doesn't know somebody who's
28:12been taken advantage of by a contractor.
28:13And it's just it's just pretty wild that
28:15in these times it still happens. And so
28:18um
28:19coming down the line soon.
28:21When um
28:23So you you you you come in, Jay. So
28:24you've been what, 4 months now?
28:25>> Yeah, I've been here 4 months. Almost 4
28:27months.
28:27>> Yeah. I I feel like you've been here for
28:29a decade.
28:29>> and I have been hanging out for over 6
28:31now, so
28:32>> Yeah. Yeah. You have this analogy, so we
28:35talk about integration. It's a big part
28:36of the, you know, um these um the buy
28:39and build that we're kind of doing.
28:40We're trying to We're trying to create
28:41an enduring business. And part of that
28:43is getting 25 different brands to
28:45operate some uh, you know, the same
28:46under the hood. and you have this
28:48analogy this cake and frosting analogy.
28:49Maybe let me talk a little bit about
28:51that and and how you think about
28:53integration and what really matters.
28:55>> Yeah. Well, it starts with first, I have
28:57tremendous respect for every one of our
29:00companies and for every one of the
29:01founding groups in those companies and
29:03the people working in them. These are
29:04all individual businesses on their own.
29:07You know, they're they're they're part
29:08of a collective, but they're also a
29:10stand-alone individual business and
29:12they've got history and they've got
29:14culture and and they've got stories.
29:16I think the first thing you have to you
29:18have to do is you have to really respect
29:19that.
29:20You got to really really respect that.
29:21At the same time,
29:23if we're going to win in this business
29:25environment where pricing's only going
29:27to get more difficult, things are going
29:29to get more transparent, AI is going to
29:31make everybody better at how they
29:33contact and communicate with our
29:34customers, what is truly going to be,
29:36you know, your competitive advantage, we
29:38have to do some unification on the back
29:40end. We've got to do things to reduce
29:42our operating costs. We've got to get
29:44similarities in how we go to market with
29:45certain processes. Both those things can
29:48be true and the cake and frosting thing
29:49comes in that says,
29:51what are the things that as an owner
29:54you really hated spending time on? Like,
29:56they don't drive the business, but
29:57they're a necessary part of the evil.
29:59Managing my fleet, you know, accounting,
30:01AP, lots of parts of marketing that are
30:03can be done at a higher level.
30:06Hey, can we help you with those things?
30:07Can we can we can we create systems
30:09where I could take a small group of
30:11people and do all of that for a massive
30:14amount of brands versus every brand
30:16having to do it on their own.
30:17That's one point of synergy and then we
30:20can spend all our time thinking about
30:21how to make those things better
30:23than you do brand. You can spend your
30:24time on the things I can't replicate
30:26from any kind of corporate or regional
30:28office. I can't replicate your culture.
30:30I can't help you take care of the
30:31customer.
30:32Right? That's that's a local thing. I I
30:34can't go in the house and sell for you.
30:35I can't move the job. I can't install
30:37the job. I can't do service work. I
30:38can't manage your stock. I can't collect
30:40the cash.
30:41These are the things I want you to focus
30:42on at the brand level in the way that's
30:45showing up in your community makes
30:46sense. So, we say, "Hey, we're going to
30:47give you some cake ingredients
30:49on these certain things. We'd like you
30:51to bake the cake that way."
30:52Everything else is ask the follow. How
30:55you want to do it, where you want to
30:56show up, you know, don't violate the
30:58law, don't violate our values.
31:00Right? Let's all stay connected on that
31:02stuff. But, go out there and kick ass.
31:04Like, you're still the play. A local
31:06brand president
31:07is the most critical role in our in our
31:10company. Like, they are going to make or
31:12break how our brand shows up in the
31:14community. So, yes, we want IHS values
31:16to shine through at Henderson. And we
31:18want Henderson's values to shine
31:20through. We want Henderson to show up in
31:22their community as Henderson, the way
31:23Henderson has always been. We just want
31:25to accelerate them. So, that's the way I
31:26think about that.
31:28And I tell my corporate team all the
31:29time, you know, we're we're we're
31:31currently transitioning the name of our
31:32central office to the brand support.
31:34And I tell them all, like, we got a
31:35customer, too. Right? Our customer is
31:38the brand. So, if something happens, you
31:40better stop, drop, and roll if a brand
31:42calls. The whole world stops. It could
31:43because on the other end of that brand
31:45is a paying customer that they're taking
31:47care of. So, my brands take care of the
31:49customers, our homeowners, and my
31:51corporate team and my regional teams
31:53take care of the brand. That's that's
31:54the culture you were building, Josh,
31:56that we're that we're accelerating. And
31:58we got to make it clear to everybody.
31:59That's cake and frosting. So, our
32:00regional teams aren't here to be the
32:02boss of our brands. They're here to be
32:04their partners that help them accelerate
32:06their business while still respecting
32:08what they've built and the and the brand
32:11that is in that local community.
32:12>> How are we How are we using AI in the
32:14business right now? You know, obviously,
32:16this is um
32:18it's a the next industrial revolution.
32:21It's a step function change in the way
32:23every single business and every
32:24department within every business
32:26operates. There's been
32:28billions, if not trillions of dollars
32:30now invested from, you know, Meta and
32:34Anthropic and and Open AI and these data
32:38centers and I think for a while people
32:40weren't quite sure how they were going
32:42to monetize these and they're putting
32:44these massive cap backs on their balance
32:45sheets and not sure, but if you look at
32:47Anthropic's run rate in the last 3
32:49months, I think they had did a billion
32:50dollars in revenue in January, 7 billion
32:53in February.
32:54Uh I think their annual run rate is
32:56projected to be 30 billion or they
32:58thought it's probably going to be closer
32:59to 100 billion.
33:01Um
33:02how how how are we utilizing AI today
33:05and and what do you what do you think
33:07about that um in the future?
33:09>> Yeah, it first I think it's breathtaking
33:11moment. I think it's a breathtaking
33:13moment. I keep finding myself when I'm
33:15talking to different groups saying
33:17we're we're about to live through one of
33:18the most transformative periods in human
33:20history. And when you say that out loud,
33:22it sounds kind of stupid. Like you think
33:23about all of human history, Jay? Like
33:25that's a pretty long time.
33:27Yeah, I mean, I think that's what's
33:28happening. And so it's really exciting
33:30and terrifying time to be leading a
33:32company, let alone just being a human
33:34being experiencing it in real time. And
33:37so, you know, you and I, Josh, we spend
33:39a lot of time talking about this, the
33:40ELT does. We have made the decision here
33:42at Infinity at IHS that we are going to
33:45be an AI first company. Now, do we
33:47totally know what that means yet? No,
33:49but we know that's what we're going to
33:50do.
33:51We're spending a lot of time doing it.
33:52Where is it showing up in the business
33:53today? Well, first, it's it's it's
33:56incredible how fast you can do ideation
33:59now. And so, we're we're transforming,
34:02you know, one of the most important
34:03things if you're trying to drive a
34:05profitable business is data. You and I
34:07are data junkies, Josh, right? We want
34:08to understand what's going on, what's
34:09going on with every aspect of the job.
34:11And we've struggled, everybody in home
34:13services that hears my voice has
34:14struggled with data at one time or
34:16another. How do we get all the data and
34:18put it together?
34:19And you know, we're using we're creating
34:21our own custom BI tool with with with
34:24with AI. That's the way it's showing up
34:25in the business right now. It's
34:27incredible. We can iterate on it so
34:29fast. I'm looking at data, I'm looking
34:31at a BI tool today that we have built
34:33over the last month. Josh, you you built
34:35you literally built the first version uh
34:37for us. You were out learning you're
34:38like, "Hey, I'm going to go experiment
34:39with this AI stuff."
34:40>> incredible is I had the Yeah, we had a
34:42team working on it for a year and they
34:44just you know, they they couldn't quite
34:46get it across the finish line where we
34:47needed it to be and when when Quad Code
34:50really launched and and it became use I
34:52mean, I'm not an
34:53a coder um but Quad Code is as as you
34:57know, is a natural language uh vibe
34:59coding um product that's downloadable on
35:01a desktop and it allows you to basically
35:03just articulate what you want it to
35:05build and then it builds it. I built in
35:074 days a fully interactive BI dashboard
35:10that looks at every piece of our
35:12business across all of our brands and uh
35:15it's something that you you you couldn't
35:17do before was quite incredible. Now, our
35:18developing team has taken that and and
35:20put more legs to it which is which is
35:22great, but that yeah, that's obviously
35:23important. You talked about ideation um
35:26using it as a thought partner, I think
35:28is big. You can you can go from planning
35:29stage to execution stage much much
35:31quicker.
35:32>> Yeah, I mean, Josh, and the part you
35:33left out there is not only did you build
35:35that tool, it's a better BI interface
35:38than I've ever used before. I've used
35:39Power BI, I've used I've used all the
35:41ones on the marketplace.
35:43We built something I'm like, "Yeah,
35:44that's better. That's awesome. It's
35:46exactly what we want." And to me, that's
35:48the most important way we're using AI
35:50which is as we think about our job
35:51movement stack
35:52it's now, you know, one of the big
35:54struggles in these businesses has always
35:55been, "Well, I buy a tool to help me get
35:57more efficient, but then I have to
35:58conform parts of my businesses in ways I
36:00don't want to to make the tool work and
36:03I don't like that."
36:05You know, what I think is going to be
36:06very cool about AI and we're already
36:07experiencing it is I'm not sure I have
36:09to make that choice anymore. So, you
36:12know, we're we're going to build custom
36:14stacks and flows in the way we move
36:15jobs. We're going to use some
36:16off-the-shelf stuff for sure and where
36:18we don't want to make changes, we're
36:20going to build our own stuff and I think
36:22that's another way to show makeup of the
36:23business. We're using it in finance to
36:25get better insights, help our teams move
36:27more productively. So, it's early
36:29stages. I'm fortunate to have a chairman
36:31who cares about AI and is super
36:33interested in it. That's helpful, Josh.
36:34Thank you. The team is now interested. I
36:36think you and I created enough
36:37excitement. And then really the you
36:39know, you and I were together and
36:40spending a lot of time together in
36:41January and February cuz we were
36:43transitioning.
36:44And we were both watching, you know,
36:46somewhere around the first or second
36:47week of January, AI shifted. We both saw
36:50it at the same time. We were both
36:51talking about it to each other and we
36:52just went
36:53Yeah, we're both we're going in.
36:56>> I'd say it's it's pretty incredible. I
36:58uh
36:59I'm also a fan of Openclaw, which
37:01obviously, you know, was that that
37:03interactive tool. I've got my my
37:05lobster, my Mac mini sitting right here.
37:07And I was showing I was sharing with
37:08somebody the other day
37:10how useful it is and it's only getting
37:12more useful. So, I've got an I've got an
37:14annual golf trip that I do with a bunch
37:15of the Infinity guys. Actually, we've
37:17got I've got Paul and uh Paul coming
37:19from overhead and a few folks, but I've
37:20got eight guys. And I just
37:23via Telegram, I said, "Hey, I've got
37:24this Go on my calendar, I've got this
37:26golf event coming up from Sun Valley. I
37:29need you to pull a full agenda, all the
37:31rules of the golf course, the directions
37:33to the golf course. Go get everybody's
37:35handicap and again, and make sure you
37:37have the handicaps listed in there. And
37:39then send email to everybody."
37:41One command, done. And everybody gets
37:44the message. It's just pretty wild, you
37:46know? So, it's it's it's so useful. I
37:48think we're using it now. I think we've
37:49got some AI voice agents that we're
37:51messing around with and then content
37:52marketing is obviously big big.
37:54>> Yeah, one of the things that um you
37:56know, you encouraged us to do, Josh, and
37:57and we're running with it is we've set
37:59up what we call our iLab. So, every area
38:02of our business, we're asking the
38:03question now, how does AI integrate into
38:05this and how can I make it better? And
38:07we're starting to fire bullets in
38:09different places to your point. Um we're
38:11trying to be mindful of the cost. Like
38:13one of the reasons Anthropic is growing
38:14is this stuff is addictive and it's
38:16expensive. Um so, right now, you know,
38:18we're we're trying to understand how
38:19does it show up as a cost? You know,
38:20then one of the ways uh Chris, our CFO,
38:23and I are thinking about it is, "Hey,
38:24this is a new labor line. Like, tokens
38:26are the a new labor line." And so, okay,
38:29let's put that in the budget. We want
38:30our people to use this. We It can make
38:32them more efficient. Patty, our Chief
38:34Transformation Officer, is trying to
38:35help us chart out, "How do we know it's
38:37making us more efficient?" So, we're
38:39we're going through all the gyrations
38:40that, you know, properly functioning
38:42business needs to do. I have investors,
38:43to your point, Josh. I've got to say,
38:45"OJ, you went and spent all this money
38:47on AI. What did you get out of it?" So,
38:48I need to be able to answer that
38:49question. But, there's no doubt in my
38:51mind that if you're not trying to think
38:53about how to do this, you're going to
38:54get left behind. And And Josh, you and I
38:56talked about this all the time. The the
38:57the the
38:59the competitor that scares me right now
39:01is the 25-year-old kid is going to
39:02figure out how to start a roofing
39:03company and have no labor other than
39:05people installing it. He's going to sell
39:07it. He's going to do this. He's going to
39:08do that. And how's that going to show up
39:09for me? He's going to go in the house
39:10and he's going to offer it at half the
39:11price I can.
39:13He's
39:14I'm thinking about that every day. So,
39:15now I'm like, "Okay, how do I disrupt my
39:16own business? How do I become that
39:18person before that person hits me?" Cuz
39:20it's coming. So, my So, I think the most
39:23interesting thing the team is doing is
39:25challenging itself to say, "How the heck
39:27are we going to disrupt ourselves?" Cuz
39:28the one thing I think we did a good job
39:30of, Josh, is we've gotten everybody in
39:31the company's attention. This is
39:32happening. Let's not Let's not
39:35>> Yeah, you know, it's going to spawn a
39:36bunch of new industry and new businesses
39:38as well. You know, what I was actually
39:39talking to Chris, our CFO, this morning
39:40and and just about, you know, he's using
39:43Claude and 4.6 Opus, which is the
39:46frontier model for Anthropic, and it's
39:48an incredible model, but it's very
39:49expensive. And I say, "You know, there's
39:50there's other drop-down models which are
39:531/10 the price, 1/100 of the price that
39:55can do a lot of that compute for you
39:57if it's not, you know, the the highest
39:58level reasoning you need." There's
39:59actually companies right now that are
40:01creating application layers which will
40:02restructure how what models it pulls
40:05from, so you're not spending all these
40:06dollars and tokens. It's I mean, they're
40:08talking about the token cost is going to
40:09be reduced by 1,000 here soon. But,
40:11yeah, but it's going to spawn whole new
40:12industries and um I I we're safe, Jay. I
40:15mean, I I mean, I don't I'm obviously I
40:17have got that healthy paranoia that you
40:18do.
40:19But, homeowners is this is a roof. They
40:21want somebody to come out. They want
40:22somebody to point out the problems. It's
40:24a little bit of a feel and touch, and I
40:25don't want to I don't want to overstep.
40:27I remember my old chairman Stagner,
40:29who was the CEO of Mattress Firm, once
40:30told me that he stood at he stood at the
40:32pulpit and said, you know, "No more than
40:345% of mattresses will ever be sold
40:36online. You got to lay in the bed. You
40:38got to do this." And of course, he was
40:40uh
40:40you know, proven wrong some very short
40:42years later. So, [laughter] I think like
40:4430% of all mattresses are sold online or
40:4640%. So, um so, what will happen? So, we
40:49got to stay on So, thinking about that,
40:50Jay, thinking about the future,
40:52you know, where do you see IHS in in 5
40:55years?
40:56And
40:57maybe even a little bit deeper than
40:58that, what has to be true for us to for
41:00us to achieve our our goals?
41:02>> Yeah, well, the big hairy audacious goal
41:04we've set for ourselves is we want to go
41:05border to border, coast to coast, and
41:07book the countries we serve, US and
41:08Canada.
41:09So, we we have a very We are in a
41:11growth-minded part of our history,
41:13right? So, the next 10
41:15to 12 years, we believe is is going to
41:17be a an extreme growth portion of our
41:19history. And then at some point, we'll
41:20achieve scales, and to your point, you
41:22look for other ways to grow the
41:23business, right? So, we're still
41:24early-stage growth. We still build very
41:26much like a startup. And we're pretty
41:28excited about that. What has to be true
41:30for that to happen? We have to get the
41:31back-end unification of our business
41:33right. We absolutely have to get that
41:35right. We need to be a service to the
41:37brands. It has to be easier to be a
41:39brand in our network than be on your own
41:41because of the tools and systems we're
41:42providing you that allow you to focus on
41:44the things we talked about earlier. That
41:45has to be true. We have to build an
41:47incredible talent pipeline for that to
41:49be true. So, this year we're launching,
41:51you know, we haven't named it yet, but
41:52for all intents and purposes, the
41:53Infinity Academy. We're going to start
41:55doing a lot of internal leadership and
41:57development training. We've got to
41:58create the brand presidents of the
42:00future and and and all of those sorts of
42:02things. That's got to be true. And then
42:04the third thing that really has to be
42:05true is we have to have real discipline
42:06about how we use our capital, right? We
42:09are a privately funded business that is
42:11scaling fast. We have to be very smart
42:14about where we place our bets. The one
42:15thing about the AI world is I think a
42:17lot of people are going to place bets in
42:18the wrong way and they're going to spend
42:20a lot of money fast. So, part of what we
42:22have to do is be very
42:23disciplined. I think a lot about Warren
42:25Buffett. He's a very disciplined
42:26investor, right? So disciplined. And I
42:29want What's the business context for
42:31that? Well, that's why we're going to
42:32fire bullets and cannonballs. I don't
42:33want to go all in and go, "Hey, we're
42:35just going to roll this thing out
42:36because given our scale, anything we
42:38roll out is a significant investment in
42:41capital and time and energy. And so, we
42:44we need to be very smart about how we do
42:45that and how we use our investors' funds
42:47to scale this business.
42:48>> That's very well said. I'm not even sure
42:51there's a there's a there's a follow-up
42:52to that, Jay.
42:53>> [laughter]
42:57>> Um
42:59I could probably end there, but I do
43:00have a question for you. Um and I've
43:02talked about this a bit in the past, but
43:05there was this big rush in early 2000s
43:09when private equity got attached to uh
43:12the home services space in general. It
43:13started with HVAC, or I think it started
43:15commercial landscaping and went to HVAC.
43:17And there was this massive wave of
43:19everybody getting acquired and then
43:21multiple shot up and then it came back
43:22down again. It's kind of been on an ebb
43:24and flow since then.
43:26And roofing, you know, IHS was one of
43:28the first big transactions that actually
43:29came about and then some
43:31everybody who had two nickels under the
43:33mattress went out and started trying to
43:35buy roofing companies.
43:36>> [sighs]
43:37>> How How would you say that our business,
43:40even though we're privately backed, is
43:41different than other PE kind of
43:43strategies right now and and why is it
43:46more beneficial to be partnered with us?
43:47>> Yeah, I think that's a great question.
43:49Well, number one, I think our brand
43:51centricity matters.
43:53We are all about building an enduring
43:54great business. None of my leadership
43:56team is here to cobble these things
43:58together, spin it off, and ride off into
43:59the sunset. We've got a vision for what
44:02we're trying to do for the American
44:03homeowner, for laborers in America who
44:06dedicate their lives to the trades. You
44:08know, so I I think if you want to be
44:09part of a business that is trying to do
44:11big things beyond just hey, you know,
44:14we're trying to make some money. No, we
44:15want to be doing big things in our
44:17communities. We want to be investing in
44:20charitable foundations. We want to be
44:22protecting jobs for the future. You
44:24know, I think that's unique about IHS. I
44:26think our presidents, our regional team,
44:28our our executive team, we all share
44:29that that sense of vision, Josh. That's
44:31something that comes from you. You You
44:33established the core culture of this
44:35business. It wasn't It's There's not an
44:37end game here for us. Right? We're
44:39trying to build an enduring great
44:41business that has significant impact.
44:44So, I think that's very different.
44:46And then I think I think our our very
44:48disciplined approach to making sure that
44:50we're we're providing support but not
44:52being disruptive
44:54to our brands. And I think my biggest
44:55nightmare is, you know, a brand
44:57president getting up in the middle of
44:58the night saying, "Oh,
45:00that corporate team and regional team
45:01are such a burden. I have to do things
45:03to satisfy them." No, that you know,
45:05will that happen occasionally? I'm sure.
45:06It's a big organization. We have to
45:08constantly be fighting that. So, if you
45:10want to join an organization where we're
45:12going to care a lot about talent, we're
45:14going to have a day one founder's
45:15mentality, and we like to have a lot of
45:18fun,
45:19this is a really good place for us. Like
45:21we
45:21we
45:22we take ourselves just seriously enough
45:24but not that seriously. And I think that
45:26I think that's really important. And And
45:28And if you don't believe me, just swing
45:30by our annual awards trip some some year
45:32and you will see people that work hard,
45:34play hard, and are very very authentic.
45:36And that's the last thing I would say.
45:37I've spent a lot of time traveling this
45:39country, and you have you have very
45:41carefully selected who you let into the
45:43party here.
45:45Josh, that is something you've done very
45:46well that we continue to do, and I have
45:49never worked with such an authentic
45:51group of people. Every brand I meet, I
45:53leave going, "Man, what a great What a
45:55great group of people."
45:56>> Well, Jay, I am I'm happy you finally
45:59picked up the phone and took the call
46:00from the recruiter. I'm happy you
46:02endured the very laborious interview
46:05process and made it to the end. I
46:07couldn't be more pleased with your
46:09performance here in the first four
46:10months and
46:11both from a
46:13a cultural officer as you say,
46:15but also for performance of the business
46:17and quickly becoming a a good friend. So
46:20thank you so much Jay for everything
46:21you're doing for for IGS and for sharing
46:23your story here on the pod. I think it's
46:25I think it's going to be helpful for
46:26people.
46:26>> Yeah, let's keep kicking ass.
46:29>> [music]