Introduction
In this insightful interview, Bruce Van shares his remarkable journey of escaping a career rut by acquiring Luxout Stage Curtains, a manufacturing business that produces stage curtains for theaters, churches, and schools. After losing three jobs in four years, Bruce discovered the path of entrepreneurship through business acquisition, ultimately finding success in a niche industry he knew little about just months before. His story demonstrates how buying a business can be a powerful strategy for overcoming career stagnation and achieving financial independence.
Founder Success Story QnA
Can you share your background that led to buying a business?
I went to business school but prior to business school I got a degree in economics and worked for GEICO in a product management role. I liked that role but I wasn’t going to make much money there. I wanted to go find something else even though I loved my experiences. I went to business school at Darden, loved it, and got exposure to a bunch of things. That was where I learned that just like you can go and buy a house with a note, you can go and buy a business with a note. The thought started and sort of ended there. I went to work for an oil and gas company in a role that was sort of like a CFO role of a small division, but the culture didn’t really work for me. I held my breath, saved my money, invested it over time. They had a nice 401k match and that capital became useful later when I bought my business.
What was your headspace during that career rut?
Post business school, you don’t really understand this when you’re in business school, but when you come out, you can basically do anything in the business world. Once you pick that thing that you’re going to do, you’re kind of pigeonholed to that thing. I got pigeonholed into just doing accounting work and I’m not a great fit for accounting. I don’t really care about controls, I’m not a corporate policeman. It was a bad fit for me. When I lost my second job, that one really hit me home and I was actually suicidal at one point because I thought man, I did all this stuff the right way, went to the right school. Especially as a black man in this country, you don’t want any strikes against you because you basically have to be perfect in order to get anywhere close to what you’re warranted. It was rough, but fortunately the grace of God, I pulled through with the support of my family.
Was buying a business always your plan or a path out of the rut?
It was both. In my Darden essays, I said I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I just didn’t think it was going to be possible. At that time, I only knew about starting something from scratch and changing the world like making the next Facebook. It was always in my heart to do that, I just didn’t know how I was going to get back there. When I was in high school, instead of going to get a job, I sold candy and drinks and made a little profit every day. Once I had a taste of it back then, it was just a matter of figuring out how to get back to it in my adult life.
Who told you about search funds?
I beat the bushes of the Darden network and talked to a gentleman who knew the CEO of Buzz Franchise Brands. He said, “Why don’t you reach out to Kevin?” While I was in Kevin’s office, we were just talking because I was looking for work. At the end of the conversation, he said, “I might be able to put you in contact with somebody,” and that sort of just began the whole thing for me.
What constraints did you have in your search for a business?
I didn’t care about the industry, I didn’t really care that much about where it was. I just cared that I could find something one that I knew I could scale and wrap my head around. I wanted something that I felt like I couldn’t mess up with my highfalutin MBA ideas. I wanted something that I could get at an acceptable multiple – I didn’t want to overpay. Those three things were very important to me in my search.
What were the mechanics of your search process?
I didn’t have a CRM system like some searchers have. I put everything into a Google spreadsheet because I was that cheap. I would wake up every morning, check the listings, inquire about things. Brokers sent me things in my inbox, but I feel like if you want a really good deal, you have to search it out and beat everybody else to it. I looked at BizBuySell and anything that looked interesting, I would introduce myself and stay up with brokers. Fortune favors the bold, and one thing that I have is that I can be bold enough to really knock on doors everywhere and beat everybody else to the chase.
Can you share about businesses you pursued that didn’t work out?
One was a concrete company. It had an acceptable asking multiple from my perspective. I tried to put an offer on it, the broker just ghosted me and then came back months later and said, “Oh yeah, we raised the price. We went after somebody else who could do blah blah blah for the financing.” That one stung really bad. Another one that stands out was a landscaping company. I didn’t want to pay more than 1.275 for the business based on the math. They were trying to sell it for 1.5 or something like that. The seller called me a nuisance because I was trying to ask him a question about the add-backs. A year later, that broker contacted me and said, “Oh yeah Bruce, that business is for sale now for 850,000.” I was like, “Man, I dodged a bullet with that one.”
How was your headspace during the search process?
My headspace got better during the search. The headspace was the worst after the second job loss. After the third one, I was like, “Okay, these people are idiots, and I just don’t fit in anybody else’s company.” I knew there was something out there for me, I just didn’t know what or where it was. When I first started to consider doing a search fund, I had a dream one night that I was pulling my car into a parking space, and whatever business I had bought was in the middle of the hood somewhere. The business that I bought is kind of in the middle of the hood of Richmond, so I felt like I was on the right path. Once I got up there, I was like, “Okay, this is where I need to be.” Doing this is just like taking a full-court shot – it’s a numbers game. You put up as many shots as you can in a certain amount of time, and eventually something goes in.
How long did your search take?
I officially started my search in January of 2019. I found Luxout in July of 2019, and I didn’t close on Luxout until February of 2020. So about six months of searching, and then another six or seven months before close. It took a long time to negotiate. I had my signed LOI around Thanksgiving of 2019, and then I presented that to the bank. It took a long time for them to get all their ducks in a row so that we could close on the business.
Can you tell us about Luxout and its size?
Luxout has been around since the 40s in some form. It started out as a company called Tuckahoe Drapery Cleaners that used to clean curtains, but now is in the business of manufacturing stage curtains for theaters. Our industry is very geographically segmented. The nearest competitor to the north is in Pittsburgh, the nearest to the south are in North and South Carolina, one in Georgia, and several in Florida. We have a pretty good foothold on the mid-Atlantic. The bulk of the business is the stage curtain business – we do it for new construction and for replacements. We have key differentiators: we have an online quote tool that to my knowledge no one else in our industry has, and we make our curtains in a way that makes them safer and look better. We also make window shades under the brand Luxout Shades. In terms of revenues, they’re in the seven figures.
Why did you like the long sales cycle of this business?
There are pros and cons to it, but one thing I did like about it was that it basically insulated me when the world shut down and nobody was in any theaters anywhere. I didn’t have to lay anybody off. We had some lean times, but I didn’t have to do that. If I had a shorter sales cycle at that point, it wouldn’t have worked. It just wouldn’t work.
What’s your growth strategy for the business?
There’s not a bunch of new stages going up, but if you think about it, a school district builds a school that’s probably going to be around 75 years. In that 75-year time, their curtains are going to last maybe 15 years tops, so that’s five times where they have to replace their curtains per school. Multiply that by all the schools in a given area, and there’s quite a bit of opportunity for the replacement market. In terms of how we grow, we have a culture of being significantly more aggressive at pursuing the business. We don’t wait for the business to come to us – we go after every lead. Most other companies will wait for the business to come to them. We don’t wait; we go after it. That’s an element of organic growth that has worked before. The other thing is if I’m able to acquire something that already exists, I’m more than happy to do that.
How has the business been compared to your expectations?
These two years have been the best of times and the worst of times simultaneously. They’ve been the best of times because the money I made my first year made up for all the crap that happened in the other years of my life. It blew my mind. To be able to preserve the business – not just preserved but preserved and thriving during that time – was way more than what I thought it was going to be. It’s been the worst of times because the orders fell substantially during 2020, even while we were doing very well. The second quarter of 2020, it was nothing – we were like a ship without a paddle. Then it kind of came back and came back full force.
What were the specific effects of COVID on your business?
The profits were up in 2020 from 2019 by about a third, and then down in 2021 by about half. This is after paying myself my salary. In 2020, there was that time period where the SBA was covering the bank notes, so there was an extra boon to it. In 2021, that went away completely. The business just moves in ebbs and flows in that way.
Can you tell us about your staff and manufacturing process?
We have about 25 folks. We make the curtains right here in Richmond. We have four sewers, two shade makers, two sales people, two customer service people, two installers, and then we have staff in Texas and North Carolina also. We try to cover and dominate the South as much as possible.
Why hasn’t this industry been outsourced to China?
It’s next to impossible to do that. The lead time is so long, and every stage is different. To do our business, you have to have someone who not only pursued the lead but actually went out to the stage. Usually you want a professional out there who says, “We need this kind of fabric, this is the structure, this is how it’s laid out.” If the workroom was in China, that would be a nightmare scenario. If they made the curtains three inches too long, that has to go all the way back to China and come back. Because we’re closer to our customers and every stage is different, that’s why I have a business. It’s pretty hard for Amazon to come in and do my business because of the nature of it – it’s so custom and there’s so much back and forth.
What does a typical stage curtain project cost?
It varies. For an elementary school to replace their curtains, it’s probably going to be four grand. Middle schools will be $7,500 to $8,000. High schools are probably going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $17,000 depending on the size. Larger auditoriums can become very expensive. We just did a job at the Main Street Station in Richmond which was significantly more expensive than the most expensive high school we’ve ever done.
How do you approach working on vs. in the business?
I definitely had to work in the business at first. I actually went out and did some installs of stage curtains myself because during the labor shortage, we couldn’t get guys to come to work to save our life. That part is the worst of it is done now, and we have a good team. But at least one day a week, I need time to sit by myself in quietness and think, maybe play a video game or something, to think about the problem, do something else, come back to it, and try to have some solution for it. It’s critically important to take a step back.
Did you have management experience before buying the business?
Yes, I had managed people before, but they were always accountants. I had never had to manage a sales team before, never had to manage an operations team before. That all is different, but it’s not prohibitively different. I feel like Darden prepared me pretty well for it. Rolling in day one looking at 25 faces was challenging because everybody was on edge. Multiple folks crying, people blowing up at each other – in the first week, it was challenging. I wasn’t prepared emotionally for what that was going to be like.
Can you describe the financial transformation this business brought?
It’s hella cool. I’m living a dream of previous seasons of my life. I went from an unemployed guy to a guy who not only has a healthy salary, managing 25 people, but is also the owner of a business generating six figures a year in profit. When I would go home and complain to my wife about having to babysit, she would remind me, “This is exactly what you asked for in another season of your life.” It’s great so far; I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Do you feel acquisition entrepreneurship was your destined path?
I think I should have done this a long time ago, but I did it at the right time for my journey. If I had done it prior, I probably would have been more arrogant. I didn’t understand how realistically doable it was. To me, it was always like, “That’s what the kids at HBS and Stanford do.” Coming from Darden, I was probably one of the least wealthy folks among my classmates, so I wouldn’t have thought I was going to be able to do something like that. But it all worked out pretty beautifully. The returns you get – if you do this the right way, you may get a four or five hundred percent return and have to pay six percent on the capital. That difference you keep. If you find something that’s relatively stable, just go for it.
As an African American business owner in Richmond, what does that mean to you?
I’m from Hampton, Virginia, where Point Comfort is – where the first black folks came to this continent in 1619. The place that I have my business is in the capital of the Confederacy. These people made an entire country to keep people like me from doing what I’m doing right now. I feel elated that I’m able to do that and realize the dream. If my family has their own wealth basis, we don’t have to worry about that. When myself and my wife have children, they won’t have to go work for someone else if they don’t want to. They won’t have to go beg somebody not to fire them three times when they know they’re qualified to do work.
Did you face unique challenges as an African American during your search?
I think the guy with the landscaping company when he called me a nuisance – he just wasn’t used to black people asking him questions that he didn’t want to answer. You’re going to run into that in this world if you’re anything other than a white male. You just take it in stride, keep it going, and don’t let it make you bitter. Hopefully it makes you better when it’s all said and done. If anybody wants to lament about their woes of going through that experience, I’m more than happy to be an ear to encourage somebody through that rough patch.
Bruce Van Business Stats
Bruce Van successfully acquired Luxout Stage Curtains in February 2020, transforming his career trajectory through business acquisition. The business has shown resilience through challenging times and continues to grow under his leadership. Here are the key statistics of his manufacturing business:
- Business established in the 1940s, originally as Tuckahoe Drapery Cleaners
- Currently generates seven-figure annual revenue
- Employs 25 people across Richmond, Texas, and North Carolina
- Specializes in custom stage curtains for theaters, churches, and schools
- Also operates Luxout Shades, a high-end window shades line
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Year Acquired | 2020 |
| Purchase Multiple | 2x EBITDA |
| Number of Employees | 25 |
| Primary Service Area | Mid-Atlantic region |
| Key Differentiator | Online quote tool |
Bruce Van Method
Bruce’s approach to acquiring and growing a business demonstrates strategic thinking and persistence. His method combines traditional search fund principles with practical adjustments for his personal situation. Here’s how Bruce successfully acquired and grew his business:
- Conducted thorough self-funded search without outside capital
- Persisted through hundreds of business evaluations over 6 months
- Focused on businesses with acceptable multiples and growth potential
- Looked for opportunities others overlooked due to geography or industry
- Negotiated creatively to include working capital in the deal
Bruce Van Tools
Bruce utilized simple but effective tools during his business search and acquisition process. His approach demonstrates that sophisticated systems aren’t always necessary for success. Here are the key tools and methods Bruce employed:
- Google Sheets for tracking business opportunities and deal flow
- BizBuySell as primary source for business listings
- Networking through Darden alumni connections
- SBA loan financing for business acquisition
- Persistence and boldness in approaching brokers and sellers
Key Notes
Bruce’s journey offers valuable insights for anyone considering buying a business to escape career stagnation. His experience highlights both the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship through acquisition. Here are the key takeaways from his story:
- Business acquisition can be a viable path out of career frustration
- Traditional search fund models can be adapted to self-funded approaches
- Geographic flexibility increases deal opportunities
- Long sales cycles can provide stability during economic disruptions
- Cultural fit with the business is crucial for successful acquisition
Get Started in Just 5 Steps
If you’re inspired by Bruce’s story and want to pursue buying a business to escape your own career rut, here are five practical steps to get started on your acquisition journey:
- Assess your financial situation and determine your budget for acquisition
- Begin researching businesses for sale on platforms like BizBuySell
- Build relationships with business brokers in your target industries
- Develop a simple tracking system to manage deal flow and opportunities
- Connect with lenders to understand SBA loan requirements and process
Conclusion
Bruce Van’s journey from career frustration to successful business ownership demonstrates the transformative power of entrepreneurship through acquisition. By purchasing Luxout Stage Curtains, he not only escaped a professional rut but also built a thriving business that provides value to customers and employment to 25 people. His story shows that with persistence, creativity, and strategic thinking, buying a business can be an accessible path to financial independence and professional fulfillment, even for those who haven’t followed the traditional entrepreneurship route.