Work with Zach

He took a nearly bankrupt roofing company and sold it to private equity for over $10 million.

If you own a business and you are trying to grow it, fix it, or get out of it, that is the conversation. And if you are still in a job trying to work out how to build something of your own, that is the same conversation, because it is exactly the story that got us here. Victoria left her nine to five because of it, and she still takes his advice every day while we run this together.

Book an hour, $350

The short version

I did not build it from nothing. I inherited a mess and fixed it while it was running.

I came into Colony Roofers as an employee, became an owner-investor, and took over as president in 2019 when the business was close to bankrupt. Six years later we sold to a private equity buyer for more than ten million dollars, and my personal share of that was over five.

I am not going to tell you I started it in a garage, because I did not. What I did was take something broken, work out what was actually wrong with it, and turn it around while it still had to operate every day. That is a different skill from starting something, and it is the one most owners actually need.

Before that I spent four years at Deloitte working with private equity and investment management clients. I am a CPA. I have passed Level I and Level II of the CFA exam, both on the first attempt, and I have not had time to sit for Level III.

Why Victoria sends people to him

She runs the operations. He runs the numbers.

Everything on the rest of this site exists because Zach taught me how to underwrite a deal, how to negotiate one, and how to tell a real return from a story someone is telling me. He is the reason I take risk at all, and he is the one who said we should rent our own house when we traveled, which I said no to and have never lived down.

He is still the person I take the hard questions to. Not because I cannot run the numbers, but because he has been on the other side of a real deal, with real money and a real buyer across the table.

If your question is a short term rental, that is me. If your question is a business, an exit, or how to build something you can eventually leave, that is him.

Background
  • President of Colony Roofers, 2019 through the sale
  • Near bankrupt to a private equity exit above $10 million
  • Four years at Deloitte, private equity and investment management clients
  • CPA
  • Passed CFA Levels I and II, both first attempt

What people bring him

Almost all of it is one of six things.

You already own it
  • The business is growing and the operations are breaking
  • You are the bottleneck and cannot see how to stop being one
  • Margins are wrong and you cannot work out where the money is going
  • You are hiring for a role you have never held and do not know what good looks like
You want out, or in
  • You want to sell in the next few years and have no idea what a buyer looks for
  • You have an offer on the table and no idea whether it is a good one
  • You are still in a job and trying to build the thing that replaces it
  • You have an idea and want someone to tell you honestly whether it is a business
Zach knows the investing and trading side well, and he runs our own portfolio and brokerage. He does not give investment, securities or trading advice, and these sessions are not that. The way he thinks about capital and risk shows up in the business conversation, which is where it belongs.

How it works

$350 an hour, and the hour is spent on your problem.

01

Send it ahead

Your situation, your numbers, your own read on it, and what you actually want to work on. The more honest that is, the better the hour goes.

02

He comes with questions

He reads it before you meet, so the hour starts at your problem instead of at background.

03

One hour, or more if it warrants it

Most things get further in an hour than people expect. If it is bigger than that, there is a bundled package for ongoing work at a better rate than booking one at a time.

Fit check

Be honest about which column you are in.

This is for you if
  • You own a business, or you are seriously trying to start one
  • You want someone who has actually sold a company, not read about it
  • You will send your real numbers rather than a tidied version
  • You want to be told when the answer is no
This is not for you if
  • You want a course or a framework, because he does not have one
  • You want investment, securities or trading advice
  • You want someone to run your business for you
  • Your question is a short term rental deal, which is Victoria

Send it over

Tell him what you are working on.

He reads every one himself and comes back with whether he can help and what the hour would cover.

I read every one of these myself. You'll hear back within two business days.

The fine print

What this is, and what it is not.

These sessions are business consulting. They are educational and they are Zach's own experience and opinion. They are not investment, securities, legal, tax or accounting advice, and nothing here creates a CPA client relationship or an advisory relationship.

You make your own decisions and carry your own risk. Have your own attorney, CPA and advisors review anything that matters before you act on it.

Looking for the real estate side?