In his amazing portrayal of Johnny Cash in the movie Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix says with his drawl that sounded scooped from a vinegar jug, “…I’d seen a thing or two, you know?” Now I say that to myself every time I learn something. I want to share some of the things I’ve learned this year.
• Car washes are a lot more important than food sales for the vast majority of convenience stores which have a car wash. That realization has increased Radiant’s focus on solutions that improve the car wash experience. It was a great lesson about building what’s important to your customers instead of focusing on what you have already built.
• When meeting with companies interested in Radiant’s solutions, it is important they understand all of the different types of businesses we serve and not just the most recognizable and successful brands. Many companies want to know our solutions make sense for the typical revenue and infrastructure profile of companies in retail and hospitality.
• To me, it is a lot more fun running a company in a turbulent economic environment than it is in a normal environment. Yes, it is hectic, but it is more enjoyable to succeed when it is most difficult and many of the historical investments we made are paying off more now than during times of market expansion.
• I am pleasantly surprised that 54 people now work at Radiant who had previously left the company. That tells me we’re doing some good things that others have noticed.
• Mark Haidet, Chief Financial Operator at Radiant, taught me how to value a company a lot better than I knew in the past. My old spreadsheets ran through some period of time (say — 5 years). It excluded what would happen in the 6th year and beyond. Mark showed me the power of the “terminal value,” which is what happens over the long-term that a lot of models don’t cover. It can account for as much as 50% of the value of a company.
Are there things you’ve learned this year you would like to share?
