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Episode Summary
You spent two decades building it. Two open-heart surgeries before age 50 tell you that’s enough. Now what? That’s where Conrad Braun was sitting. Conrad bought Badger Electric on a MasterCard and a four-year promissory note, after walking in as a software salesman, discovering 90 days into a job that the company was technically bankrupt, and being told “God has answered my prayers, you are now in charge.” He grew it from $5M to $15M, sold to Viking Electric (a company ten times his size), and three weeks later was so bored he was calling his buddies asking what time they could grab a beer. I met Conrad through a business group and a misbooked ski trip to Colorado, and the story he tells in this one is the wildest origin story I’ve heard yet. We got into how he structured the original buyout with no money, why he took 10% of the sale proceeds and turned it into stay-pay packages for his key people, why he didn’t chase the last dollar on price, and the part nobody warns you about: the intersection of ability and opportunity stops being obvious the moment you sell.
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## Top 10 Takeaways- Cash flow management starts with knowing which checks to bounce and which vendors to call before they hit the mail.
- Time is the first asset to buy when you walk into a mess. Everything else comes after.
- A simple one-page financial model in your wallet beats a complex spreadsheet you never open.
- In distribution, expense control relative to volume matters more than the volume itself.
- Owe the bank $100K and you’re in trouble. Owe them a million and they’re in trouble.
- Income is the greatest indicator of what your business is worth. The blue sky might just be you.
- The right time to sell is when sales are up, profits are up, and your leverage is going down.
- Don’t tell a buyer which formula to use. Tell them their offer isn’t enough and let them work it out.
- Maximizing the last dollar isn’t always the goal. Cultural fit and employee protection are real currency.
- Three weeks of retirement is about all you’ll get before the real question shows up: now what?
Sound Bites
“God has answered my prayers, you are now in charge.” (@TBD) — Conrad Braun
“Pressure is when you got a big bet and no money in your pocket. That’s pressure. When you’re playing for a million dollar purse, that’s not pressure.” (@TBD) — Conrad Braun
“It’s simple when you want to sell a business. It’s when sales are going up, when profits are going up, when your leverage is going down.” (@TBD) — Conrad Braun
“You better be careful when you go sell your business, because somehow or other I thought because I’ve been successful running a business, somebody’s gonna swoop in and they’re gonna give me something else to go turn around.” (@TBD) — Conrad Braun
About This Episode
Conrad Braun is the former owner and president of Badger Electric, an electrical distributor based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He bought the business in the early 1980s after walking in as a Xerox software salesman and being asked to run it when the company turned out to be technically bankrupt. He grew Badger from $5M to $15M in revenue over two decades before selling to Viking Electric in 1999 (now part of Sonepar, a $25B global distribution company operating in 65 countries). Conrad has a financial background, a GE financial management school education, and the rare distinction of having survived two open-heart surgeries and a three-week retirement. Ryan met Conrad through a business group and a misbooked ski trip to Colorado.
Resources Mentioned
- Iacocca: An Autobiography by Lee Iacocca — Conrad referenced the chapter on Chrysler’s bank turnaround as the playbook he used walking into his own bank.
- Badger Electric — Conrad’s company, sold in 1999.
- Viking Electric — The Minneapolis-based acquirer, ten times Badger’s size at the time.
- Sonepar — The European distribution group that acquired Viking a year after Conrad’s sale; today a $25B global company.
Connections
Phase + Module:
- Module 1 — Ownership Goals — Conrad’s number one objective was taking care of his family if something happened to him. That goal drove the exit timing.
- Module 9 — Operator Transition — The full arc, from buyout to sale to coming back to run a division for the acquirer.
Milestones:
- Milestone 21 — Leadership Development — Conrad put 10% of his sale price into stay-pay packages for his key people. Nobody lost their job.
Concepts referenced:
- Three-Statement Model — The one-page financial model Conrad built and carried in his wallet for years.
- The Owner-Operator Trap™ — Living paycheck to paycheck as the owner because every dollar was in the business.