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Every page and article on Rand Larsen in one place, organized by topic.

Best Posts

These are the posts I would point you to first: acquiring Scalepath, the ventures and people that shaped me, and what I have learned building peer groups for small business owners.

HoldCo Builders Podcast: A Lesson From Talking to 2,000 Business Owners : Owning a small business can be an isolating experience. I’ve spent years helping entrepreneurs fight that loneliness by building tight-knit peer groups…
Scalepath: I Just Acquired My First Company! : Big news! I just acquired a majority of Scalepath . This is Michael Girdley’s small business owner community. This milestone represents the culmination…
I'm On The Front Page of Forbes! : When Forbes first reached out about featuring my story on their front page, I couldn’t believe it. I’m incredibly humbled by this experience, and if you…
How and Why I Started My Business : For all of you wondering how I make money, this is how: In early 2022, I met an acquisition entrepreneur who had lost close to $2,000,000 after buying…
Why I Started DocuFamily : In 2019, I had an idea to make documentaries about senior citizens. It was rooted in my own family history. My grandparents died before I was able to…

Business

I write about business ownership, acquisitions, and the things I have learned from actually doing this work. Posts like "From Well Drilling to Success" and "The Difference Between Inexperienced and Experienced Business Owners" cover the practical side of running and buying companies. "From Well Drilling to Success" is about one of my favorite entrepreneurs I have never met: Randy Holt. His story stuck with me because it shows what happens when someone just keeps going.

Key Man Risk: The Revenue Hostage Problem in SMB Acquisitions : I've had a bunch of these conversations in our peer groups. I see the same setup again and again. You acquire a business where one person, usually a…
Key Man Risk: The Revenue Hostage Problem in SMB Acquisitions : I've had a bunch of these conversations in our peer groups. I see the same setup again and again. You acquire a business where one person, usually a…
Why Business Owners Need Real AI Examples (Not Theory) : I believe business owners need to see real examples of how other owners are actually using AI in their business. Not theory. Not hype. Real, practical…
What Real Business Owners Are Actually Building with AI : Here's what real business owners in our peer groups are building with AI. These aren't theoretical use cases or Silicon Valley experiments. They're…
We're Printing Entrepreneur Trading Cards and You Can Collect Them : We are printing more entrepreneur trading cards. Our next editions are our " Scalepath Member" deck and our "Acquisition Class of 2025" deck. We're…
From Well Drilling to Success : One of my favorite entrepreneurs I have never met is this guy Randy Holt. Trades guy. No college education. No family money. The Beginning In 1979, he…
The Difference Between Inexperienced and Experienced Business Owners : The difference between inexperienced and experienced business owners often shows up in one key area: how quickly they make tough personnel decisions. The…
Scalepath: I Just Acquired My First Company! : Big news! I just acquired a majority of Scalepath . This is Michael Girdley’s small business owner community. This milestone represents the culmination…
I'm Starting A New Business: Business Coach List : Finding the right business coach can be a frustrating experience. After watching my friend Chase Murdock struggle through several coaches before finally…
US Manufacturing: Inside CLN of South Florida : Last week, I met up with McKenzie Reed who manufactures some bad ass machines and sells them to wholesale sign manufacturers. I had the opportunity to…
Event Decor Industry with Jacob Becker : You know him, you love him. And I got the chance to sit down with him, 60-minutes style, and get the “Here’s what the fuck you need to know about the…
How and Why I Started My Business : For all of you wondering how I make money, this is how: In early 2022, I met an acquisition entrepreneur who had lost close to $2,000,000 after buying…
Cold Email to Garden Empire : When I visited South Pleasantburg Nursery, I found Rory Tyer doing what he does best – running a thriving garden center that’s been a Greenville…
Shane’s $10.5M Trailer Dealership: 10 Key Tactics : I recently spent time with Shane , known as “The Texas Trailer King,” who has grown his trailer dealership to an impressive $10.5 million in annual…

Community

I care a lot about community, and these posts cover the meetups, peer groups, and connections I have built with other business owners. From "Join Me for No-Pitch Business Owner Meetups" to "How I Built Connections Through Meetups in Atlanta," this is the relational side of business. "Join Me for No-Pitch Business Owner Meetups" announced a series of business owner meetups across five major Midwest cities over three weeks. No sales pitches. Just real conversations between people who run things.

Join Me for No-Pitch Business Owner Meetups : I am excited to announce a series of exclusive business owner meetups happening across five major Midwest cities over the next three weeks. These…
How I Built Connections Through Meetups in Atlanta : Running a business can feel isolating at times. That’s why a group of us in Atlanta met to create a space for something different. Here’s the full story.…
Peer Group Conversations: Business Owner Anxiety : Over the last 2 months, I’ve noticed a bit of a tonal shift in our average business owner peer group conversation . It seems something is different than…
1,083 Event Attendees Later : I had 1,083 people attend my events this year. Pretty wild when I think about it. Taking a Break I’m taking a break from events for a bit to rethink my…

Marketing

Marketing posts, mostly from experiments I have actually run. Posts like "My $25,000 Marketing Experiment" and "Why Your Old Customers Beat Any Ad Campaign" come from putting real money and real time into figuring out what works. "My $25,000 Marketing Experiment" is about investing $25,000 into a marketing test that was either going to make me look like a genius or a complete idiot. I wrote about it before I knew which one it would be.

My $25,000 Marketing Experiment : I invested $25,000 into a marketing experiment that is either going to make me look like a genius or a complete idiot. Let me explain what I did. The…
Why Your Old Customers Beat Any Ad Campaign : A business owner in our plumbing and HVAC group noticed something was off when business suddenly slowed down. He looked into it and discovered his Google…
Van Life: A $42K Marketing Machine : Sometimes the best marketing strategies aren’t planned: they’re born from last-minute decisions and a willingness to try something different. Here’s how…

Media

Podcast appearances, press features, and interviews. These posts document the conversations I have had with other people about business, entrepreneurship, and what I have learned along the way. "HoldCo Builders Podcast: A Lesson From Talking to 2,000 Business Owners" gets at something I believe: owning a small business can be an isolating experience. Talking to 2,000 owners taught me patterns that are hard to see from inside your own company.

HoldCo Builders Podcast: A Lesson From Talking to 2,000 Business Owners : Owning a small business can be an isolating experience. I’ve spent years helping entrepreneurs fight that loneliness by building tight-knit peer groups…
I'm On The Front Page of Forbes! : When Forbes first reached out about featuring my story on their front page, I couldn’t believe it. I’m incredibly humbled by this experience, and if you…
What I Learned From 256 Entrepreneurs With Matthias Smith : In this podcast episode, I was interviewed by Matthias Smith . We discuss my journey into entrepreneurship, my retirement industry ventures, and my…

Personal

Personal posts. The stuff that does not fit neatly into business, community, or marketing but still matters to me. AI, diary entries, book writing, and the traps we set for ourselves. "Critical Thinking and Decision Making in the Age of AI" came from thinking about which human skills will matter more as we race toward an AI-powered future. My answer surprised even me.

Critical Thinking and Decision Making in the Age of AI : As we race toward an AI-powered future, I have been thinking deeply about which human skills will become even more crucial . While artificial…
Business Owner's Diary: 5 Months of Uncensored Updates : Most acquisition stories are polished fairy tales . This isn’t one of them. What you’re about to read are the real entries from a business owner’s…
I'm Writing A Book : The other day I was at a small business conference in Sundance Utah called HoldcoConference.com – a conference for people who own multiple businesses. I…
The Talent Trap : Have you ever heard of “The Talent Trap?” We’re all familiar with the liquidity trap — where the only way out of a growth plateau is money, but you don’t…
Working in Coffee Shops : No one asked for this, but as I travel around the country I work in coffee shops a lot. Here’s my rating/scoring system for what I value in coffee shops:…
My Camper Van Origin Story : ANNOUNCEMENT: I just bought this camper van to travel the country and host small business meetups everywhere I go . Earlier this year I took an impromptu…
Uber Misadventure : It’s funny how a routine airport run can turn into an episode worthy of an adventure reality show. What started as a simple pre-dawn ride to catch my…
Inside a Van-Life Manufacturing Plant : The van-life industry struggles with quality. Most builds lose value fast. Remote Vans thinks they’ve cracked the code. I toured Remote Vans’ Cincinnati…
RANDom Van Life Adventures : I was going through my camera roll and found these pictures I wanted to share. Here's my RANDom van life adventures so far. Cardboard Plant Saw a…
Why I Started DocuFamily : In 2019, I had an idea to make documentaries about senior citizens. It was rooted in my own family history. My grandparents died before I was able to…