My partner and I began our HoldCo journey in 2011. I would call this HoldCo 1.0. We acquired 3 businesses earning between $350,000 and $800,000 each plus 3 bolt-on acquisitions which added $100,000 to $200,000 each. We bootstrapped this company using our capital, debt, and cash flows from our businesses. We learned a lot. We made a ton of mistakes. We honed our investment thesis. We lost key employees, faced embezzlement and fraud, and lost customers, contracts, and brands; through it all, we persisted. We began to believe in what we were building. To gain confidence that these companies were not as easy to kill as some may think. We learned what to look for in a CEO, how to work with them, and how not to micro-manage. We learned to focus on cash flow. To laser in on it. We built our criteria for what we look for in an acquisition. We learned patience and to stick to our plan.
Then we entered the US. This is HoldCo 2.0. We raised money from investors. We have purchased three businesses earning between $1m and $2.5m each. We have left CEOs in place and learned a new tax system. Our due diligence has become more sophisticated. We have added a full-time CFO and COO. We continue to focus on cash. We continue to delegate management. We continue to be patient. We will keep buying these SMBs as long as the market offers attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Does that mean we will follow this model forever? Maybe. Maybe not. I know we are learning. I know we are compounding at a strong rate of return and building a cash-flowing machine. Those cash flows will serve us regardless of where the market moves. Where the opportunities arise. We will continue building our company wherever it takes us. At heart we are investors, we go where the fish are.
Maybe we will stay at HoldCo 2.0 or maybe at some point we will pivot into HoldCo 3.0. Only time will tell.