Alright, time to address the elephant in the room. Now that I have time to write a novel... Brace yourselves, its a long one.
I recently changed the name change of this thread to Trash Panda Capital.
Why? Well, I am going headfirst into PE.
First, a bit of a backstory:
I’ve been on the company side of M&A in the past, from another company acquiring a consultancy I worked at, to a port-co owned by a large PE firm in Austin, and another owned by a smaller one in Chicago.
So after working for companies owned by PE firms in the past, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth.
I can go on a whole rant about why I have a bad taste, but I’ll save that for another post.
I’ve sat with this bad taste until I encountered someone that built a PE firm through micro acquisitions, to the point where they are able to raise funds/get loans to buy larger businesses. This is the first fast lane model that made sense to me in a while, as I am more of an operations guy that loves to help streamline/grow things over starting them from scratch (even though I do both).
So I took an existing biz I had, changed the name, and right now I am working on a logo and website in preparation for more of an official launch.
And thus, Trash Panda Capital was born.
The focus of Trash Panda Capital is simple:
Buying & investing in boring businesses & projects others don’t want, that have a high potential for being fully or mostly Automated (especially through AI and other means).
I’m starting with small projects, primarially digital ones. My long term (5 year) goal is to get into $1-10million dollar businesses, especially what I call the “boomer businesses” -> businesses being sold by people that are retiring. I love businesses with large operational problems over sales and marketing issues.
That‘s what inspired the name, as Raccoons (Trash Panda’s) usually pick trash, sit in the dark, and make everything as easy as possible.
Now, an update about where I am right now.
In-case you are reading this and missed previous posts -> I got fired from my Salesforce Consultant position, in an extremely cowardly way by the founder. I ended up getting a small Golden Parachute out of it, but that’s about it. I took a gamble taking the role as a 1099 worker, and got let go right before a transition to W-2 (this company was not really operating in the scope of the law with employment), so unemployment is not an option, which is ok. Honestly, I am relieved to be out of there, it was a stressful time with some questionable characters.
That leaves me relying on myself to survive and make a living. Scary as heck, but now the cards are falling into place. I am not tied to someone else’s company, I have mental and physically stability, and the means to support myself during this time, and potentially replace some failing computer equipment (yay!)
I have about a year to make this work, based on the amount of runway I saved up over the past two years, and excluding the money I have set aside for acquisitions.
My initial goal is to get
$1k MRR across multiple products/revenue streams. This will cover my personal monthly expenses , allowing me make myself cash flow positive, instead of burning $800-900 a month from savings.
So now, here are the following products I have under Trash Panda Capital right now. Future updates will also be broken down by each product, with a brief summary of the main company also:
- Roviki Solutions - Salesforce & Revenue Operations consulting. This was the previous legal name of the company, and I have one customer at $175 a month or so that has been paying for a while (And will be staying). I’m aiming to use this as a funnel for other freelancing/contracting roles that may pop up. To be honest, this “product” is not a priority, I am burnt out from consulting in general, and the market has been flooded with cheap labor due to the downturn. On top of that, I have put a hard stop on applying to full time roles, as I don’t want to go through that cycle of sucking up to someone again. I still keep an eye out for things, but this is more of a “if something pops up” kind of product.
- TameTheForce - The product that kicked this thread off. Bascially specific Salesforce/ Revenue Operations training in a bite sized set of courses. Right now, I am focusing on condensing the material down, and recording/editing to launch in two week sprints via Skillshare/my own site. This is my #1 product right now.
There are two other products/revenue streams that I am exploring right now:
- Waterproof/compartmentalizations Marijuana storage container - My girlfriend’s idea. With this one, its basically testing the market via pre-orders, we already have found a supplier, but want to gauge interest before ordering. Trying to avoid drop shipping as much as I can. She has no time to pursue this due to her budding real estate career, so I am willing to give it a shot and see where it goes.
- Marketing Support for my Father In Law’s business - Basically, this is getting revenue sharing from sales. Something worth trying as all that needs to be done is to scrape a database, create an email, send it, and measure the results. <2 hrs worth of work.
- AI Tool for my PE deal flow -> In the idea stages right now.
On top of all of these streams, I’ve also been looking to acquire a internet based product/biz. Right now, its been falling apart during Due Dilligence as I have uncovered some major red flags, but I am confident that an honest person‘s product will appear.
Now, the best for last.
About a week ago, I reached out to a connection about if he had knowledge about PE.
Well, it seems I hit the jackpot. He has sold startups to PE firms in the past, and has been extremely involved in VC.
We have known each other for a bit, we are both a bit squirrely and very similar, and we have hit it off.
So now, we are looking at opening a VC fund and then expanding into a larger PE fund In the future. He is also based out of NYC and has a wide range of contacts.
We are working through some of the legality behind this (as I am not accredited, but he is), and it looks like a recent SEC rule change would make it easier to make it work. Staying on the right side of the law is always a priority in my eyes.
This is most likely going to be something outside of my own business, but since it’s still related, I’ll include updates on it.
Phew. What a novel!
Tl;dr -> I’ve decide to open a PE firm called Trash Panda Capital, to hold my own projects, and also acquire some more. Also working with a partner on a separate finance related project. 
