Executive Summary
A good April 2026 podcast featuring an Australian holding company builder - Simon Plummer - on “Buyers and Builders”. Another good example of what’s possible when you stick with the basics.
Plummer previously acquired BT Engineering, a niche manufacturer serving bricklayers. Over approximately three years, he grew revenue from A$2 million to A$3.5 million, a 75% increase, before hiring a CEO and shifting his focus toward Arbor. The growth included expansion into the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.
Public reporting also indicated that Arbor’s first institutional acquisition was valued at approximately A$25 million–A$30 million, although the exact transaction terms were not publicly confirmed.
Most actionable takeaways
Stabilize before you transform. Reduce uncertainty for employees. Listen to customers and employees. Create simple and achievable milestones. Take time if need be.
Replace the charismatic founder with a real sales system. Many SMBs grow through personal referrals or relationships the prior owner maintained. So when you buy an SMB, start up the basics: track leads and conversion rates, re-engage dormant relationships, clarify account ownership, and build systems.
Use price as a lever. Simon found price often lags the market because personal relationships were the basis of the prior owner’s sales model. Find areas to pull pricing as a lever .
Actionable insights:
A repeated pattern: win trust FIRST, THEN create change; improve the sales model FIRST, THEN scale it.
Win trust before demanding change
Spend the first months learning where the business is genuinely strong. Preserve the founder’s best practices while fixing obvious bottlenecks.
Improve the commercial system first
Before pursuing acquisitions or major technology investments, make sure the existing company consistently follows up on leads, retains customers and prices its work properly.
Invest after proving the bottleneck
Do not add people, equipment or capacity merely because growth is desirable. Identify the constraint, validate demand and then fund the specific resource that releases it.
The Big Idea
Hold Cos can work. But start small and simple. Then scale.
“Buyers and Builders” is the podcast, from April 2026. Find the full episode:
https://youtu.be/XwKctu4L3yg?si=xWeI5yyPlgfPPm_t
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Until next time,
Compounder
