Shepherd's Triple Growth

Shaan Puri shares how he helped his college friend Dan buy and grow a business that sells bags to major retailers.

"I had this buddy Dan from college. We started our first business together straight out of college, but then we split paths when I went to Australia for an opportunity. I felt bad about that for like a decade because I couldn't bring him along.

Dan ended up doing great though - he went to Facebook, taught himself to code, and eventually became CTO of a startup. When that startup fizzled out, he reached out looking for opportunities. I introduced him to the concept of buying businesses.

I helped Dan through the search process, and after 6-9 months he bought this bag sales company that sells to big retailers like Ulta. The previous owner had no contracts with these companies and ran it off pen and paper, so Dan got it at a great price.

He texted me yesterday saying that in just the first 5 months of owning the business, after paying all the debt used to buy it, he's already making more than his highest paying CTO job. He loves that he owns his own business now and sees a path to grow it. He calls himself 'Dan the Bag Man' and realizes he could eventually sell the business for a life-changing sum.

The business has tripled in 6-9 months and added about $35 million in value just based on the growth. It feels great that I got to sit shotgun while he went on this ride."