Build a Business That Can Grow Beyond You

From a Board of Advisors event in Dallas, host George Wright III revisits a conversation with operator-investor Anthony Pereira, who scaled Air Pros USA from one HVAC truck to over $200 million and now acquires founder-led companies through Exuma Capital Partners. Pereira explains Exuma’s strategy of buying smaller businesses (about $2–10M EBITDA), building a “private equity starter kit” with leadership, KPIs, and infrastructure (ERP/CRM), and using real-time visibility to manage by leading indicators rather than month-end results. He discusses opportunities in fragmented, AI-resistant home-related industries, developing COOs into CEOs, and quick operational wins like implementing CRMs and modern marketing. Pereira outlines practical AI uses across service businesses—speed-to-lead, compliance, customer engagement, and automating processes—and shares the pivot-heavy growth story of inspected.com, later acquired by a Boston PE firm.

00:00 Investor Readiness Check

00:49 Why Revisit Anthony

02:29 AI Automation Teaser

03:03 Meet Anthony Pereira

04:33 From Operator to Investor

05:50 Exuma Investment Thesis

07:19 Visibility and KPIs First

08:46 Fragmented Industry Plays

12:01 Operators Beat Financiers

13:43 Grooming COOs to CEOs

15:27 Quick Wins After Acquisition