Rebuilding Systems Without Burning the House Down
Bought The Biz
Episode 10 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks New owners walk into a maze of legacy tools, habits, and hidden dependencies. Garth and Christi unpack how to triage urgent vs important, when to keep a “weird” CRM config, why email deliverability and payments can sink you, and how to pace org and process changes without breaking morale. Practical tactics include deep-slice audits, choosing platforms vs. custom builds, EOS and OKRs, and lessons from hiring workflows that looked smart but hurt outcomes.
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Leading in Harmony: How Two Co-Owners Made a Smooth Transition at Custom Channels
Bought The Biz
Episode 8 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks with guests Joe Comer & Kurt Oleson What happens when one leader steps in from the outside and another grows from within—then they become co-owners? In this episode, the CEO and COO of Custom Channels share how they navigated that transition, set priorities, and made meaningful change without losing momentum. It’s a story about collaboration, clarity, and what good leadership really looks like.
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How to Run a Small Business While Raising a Family
Bought The Biz
Episode 8 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks Garth and Christi get candid about blending parenthood with small business ownership. Christi shares the timing whiplash of buying a company, doing IVF, and having Wyatt one year to the day after close, plus what it means to add baby number two while her husband is running his own mountain operations business. Garth opens up about long hours, raising a seed round as Kit arrived, and why work-life balance turns into work-life integration. Together they cover the real tradeoffs, the spouse agreements that actually work, and the simple systems that...
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Keeping the Key Employee: On Trust, Surprises, and Transforming Top Dog Into Raynmaker
Bought The Biz
Episode 7 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks with guest, Jason Trinka Garth and Christi sit down with Jason Trinka, the longtime operator and GM of Top Dog, before and after the acquisition. They unpack the messy middle of a surprise transition where Jason learned about the sale after close and chose to lean in rather than walk away. The conversation traces how trust was built through autonomy, authenticity, and shared vision work, from hiking with a 3-5-10 year planning worksheet to small family-first gestures that mattered more than emails and meetings. They revisit early org changes, the...
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The Reality of Being an SMB CEO
Bought The Biz
Episode 6 | Garth Fasano & Christi Loucks Everyone dreams of being the CEO — setting strategy, driving vision, and leading from the top. But for small business owners and ETA operators, the reality looks very different. In this episode, Garth and Christi pull back the curtain on what it really means to run a business day-to-day: rebuilding CRMs, managing payroll surprises, rewriting comp plans, and getting pulled deep into the weeds while still trying to think strategically. They share their unfiltered experiences on: • Why the first 90 days are almost all execution, not strategy •...
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Looking Down the Barrel: Quintin Graves on Scout Security, Cash Flow Crises, and Comebacks
Bought The Biz
Episode 5 | Garth Fasano with guest Quintin Graves What happens when your dream acquisition suddenly bleeds $50K a month? In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth talks with Quintin Graves, owner of Scout Security in Denver, about the rollercoaster ride of buying and running a business. From hustling his way into an off-market deal to hiring (and losing) a GM, facing down terrifying negative cash flow, and clawing back to double the customer base, Quintin shares the unfiltered reality of ETA ownership. This is the story of resilience, hard lessons, and why sticking it out through the darkest...
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The Dream vs. The Grind: The Emotional Toll of ETA
Bought The Biz
Episode 4 | Garth Fasano and Christi Loucks In this episode of Bought the Biz, Garth and Christi pull back the curtain on the emotional roller coaster of running a small business after acquisition. From the thrill of landing a marquee billion-dollar client to the gut-punch of losing customers in the same hour, they dive into the highs and lows that define entrepreneurship through acquisition. Christi shares moments of doubt—times she thought about shutting the doors—and what keeps her pushing forward despite the weight of family, investors, and an unforgiving market. Together, Garth and...
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How to Win Over a Team That Didn’t Choose You
Bought The Biz
Episode 3 | Garth Fasano and Christi Loucks Buying a business means you inherit more than revenue—you inherit people, culture, and relationships that didn’t choose you. In this episode, Garth and Christi dive into the messy, rewarding process of building trust with an existing team after acquisition. From navigating cultural differences across continents to rethinking compensation, shifting company culture, and avoiding fear-based decisions, they share what worked, what didn’t, and what every new operator should know when stepping into a business that’s already in motion. Listen in!...
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The First 90 Days — How Not to Wreck Your New Business
Bought The Biz
Episode 2 | Garth Fasano and Christi Loucks You finally own it. Now the record scratches. Garth and Christi unpack the real first weeks after close. How to plan your internal comms, announce to a leadership team before the all hands, pace one on ones, coordinate with the seller, and choose the right timing for customer announcements. Virtual setup choices, culture signals, and why transparency beats the “nothing will change” script.
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Why We Started Bought the Biz
Bought The Biz
Episode 1 | Garth Fasano and Christi Loucks In this episode, we set the stage for Bought the Biz by exploring the real leap from searcher to operator. Yes, there are the highs of meeting customers and shaping strategy — but there are also the surprises, like spending weeks just figuring out payroll and compliance across 20 states. This show is about those lessons. The goal is to help new owners anticipate what’s coming, avoid the early stumbles that slow momentum, and build a peer group where no one has to figure it out alone. Because buying the business is only the beginning — the...
info_outlineEpisode 3 | Garth Fasano and Christi Loucks
Buying a business means you inherit more than revenue—you inherit people, culture, and relationships that didn’t choose you. In this episode, Garth and Christi dive into the messy, rewarding process of building trust with an existing team after acquisition.
From navigating cultural differences across continents to rethinking compensation, shifting company culture, and avoiding fear-based decisions, they share what worked, what didn’t, and what every new operator should know when stepping into a business that’s already in motion.
Listen in!