Joe Dunaway 0:02

Welcome to the Vichy Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory. One story at a time. What is up? Thank you for joining us today as we explore our latest purpose-driven journey, the legacy algorithm, where we learn about scaling with honor, how to apply military-level inventory discipline to business acquisitions, the role of AI and 3PL growth, and why protecting a seller's culture is the most profitable algorithm in a consolidation strategy. In the US Navy, our guest managed $320 million in inventory and boosted aircraft readiness by 20%. Today, he applies that same high-stakes rigor to help founders exit their businesses with their legacies intact. He isn't just buying companies, he's preserving the stories of the people who built them. Our guest, none other than Pete Vera, a UC Berkeley grad and former naval officer who is now consolidating the 3PL in transportation space through Green Rock Logistics. Pete and I connected through some friends, through Facebook, through LinkedIn. He is an operational specialist who has successfully translated military grade precision into the world of middle market logistics. As a managing partner at Green Rock Logistics and the voice behind Exit Algorithms Podcast, he sits at the unique intersection of data and duty. His approach to MA is a masterclass and purpose-driven leadership. We are exploring operational integrity. How do you scale a national platform while keeping your word to the employees and the founders you buy from? As always, we filter Pete's journey through the five pillars, through the four pillars: faith, family, fitness, and finance. Pete, it's been a couple months, man. You got a little less hair on your face since we were on your show. Welcome to the VC Code.

Peter Vera 2:16

Joe, thank you for having me. I appreciate the intro as well. Yeah, the the stash it uh it's taking a break for a while.

Joe Dunaway 2:24

You got it, sir. We're jumping straight in. We want to go right into our first question, which is you move from managing a team of 60 in the Navy to managing a national logistics holding company. In the military, readiness is life or death. How do you define business readiness for a founder who is looking to exit? And what is the biggest inventory leak you see in mid-market firms today?

Peter Vera 2:48

Yeah, great question to start it off. Um yeah, I think a lot of the business owners I talk to, you know, small businesses under say 2 million in EBITDA profit, uh, they haven't really considered a sale. And what all is involved in that process, right? Uh there's a few things that they just don't have in place for their business, and they're not exit ready. Um, some of those things we we find common are, you know, their financials are kind of in shambles. Um, they you know, their tax return will say one thing and their PL says another. They have all these personal expenses they're they're using uh the business for. Um another, you know, is is owner dependence. That's another common thing. Like if the if the business is completely dependent on the owner, when they go to try to sell their business, they're you know the the buyer's gonna have to replace them and potentially lose a bunch of their customers. Um so those are some of the things, you know, the the businesses we talk to, uh, those are some of the gaps, right? But at Green Rock, we like to partner with businesses a lot. A lot of the time, you know, something that makes us unique is we like to leave the existing management team in place as much as possible, um, including the all the employees, right? There's a lot of buyers that'll come in and and fire a bunch of people. That's definitely not our MO. Uh, and you talked about legacy, right? We view legacy as taking their business to the next level. So that means keeping as many employees on as possible and just building on the awesome company that they've already built.

Joe Dunaway 4:41

Uh, I think that did I answer your question? Yeah, no, that's great. And I mean, you you let off with, you know, the things that make me cringe right off the bat as just like, you know, messy books. I mean, how can you make decisions without that type of clarity? I just don't understand how uh businesses uh are successful. Obviously, if you have a great product and a great service, you know, sales, sales solves a lot of problems. Um, but you know, without without proper, you know, I don't want to put myself on this, you know, pedestal like bookkeeping and and and and accounting is all that important. It is though. I it is. How do you make decisions um with so much on the line without having you know financial clarity uh with you know what are these numbers based off of? You know, so and and yeah, we we I see it. Um and I believe everyone deserves a second chance. So, you know, I like working with with clients that you know want to get back on the better side of things. And I'm sure you work together closely with, you know, partners, accountants, uh, to clean things up so that you know you're you're buying a company. What are you really buying? And uh how can we how can you improve on you know the legacy that you're you're you're you're you're receiving? So yeah, that all hits, man. Um you're very vocal about not being a private equity asset stripper. In the finance pillar, most people only look at EBITDA. Why is preserving a seller's culture and employee legacy actually a better long-term financial play than the typical PE gut and flip model?

Peter Vera 6:18

Yeah, another great question. Uh, appreciate all the all the uh you know time you spent putting these questions together.

Joe Dunaway 6:25

Yeah, man.

Peter Vera 6:26

Uh I think the the biggest answer to that is you know the the brand that they've built. A lot of these businesses, that's the business owner's baby. They they founded the business. They've been putting, you know, up to 80, even more than that, hours per week. They probably spent more time in their business than with their family, unfortunately. Um those relationships that they've built with their customers and that brand, that name of their company, that has value. And to, you know, we want to keep that moving forward. We want to keep that brand and that that those relationships uh versus you know, if you come in and take that away and put in a new new company's name and and new people, uh, those customers that you they could have had for 15, 20 years, they're they're like, who are we who are we dealing with now? So I I think at least in the small business world, that is uh that's a value add. That's how we view it, anyways.

Joe Dunaway 7:32

Yeah, I mean, not to you know, happy wife, happy life, they say, right? I don't really believe in that, but like that's essentially what we're saying, right? You know, a happy employee is a productive employee, and it's a it's it's a it's a well-oiled machine when you treat people right and you keep those key people in place when you're in transition. So it makes sense. What was the breakthrough moment where you realized that the human algorithm of a company was just as important as the logistics tech?

Peter Vera 8:02

Yeah, no, I I think the the people in the business are the most important things that you know, assets of the business that you're you're buying. If you're you have a team of people that are gonna you know stick with you during the hard times, um, you know, they believe in the company, they they're they're really uh family, um, but they're all you know, and then individually they're like a players, right? Those are the assets of the business that you want to keep that that corporate knowledge. Um and you know, it of course having tech, you know, it's being tech enabled, uh, using AI automation, um, having a solid foundation and tech stack to uh to transfers a nice uh bonus and it uh something that you can look for, but that's also something you can you can add post-close. So you it's harder to find good talent, especially that's knows the business really well and the customers. Um I do think the the people are the most important thing.

Joe Dunaway 9:12

And then you know, you mentioned AI on your podcast exit algorithms. You talk about AI and technology scaling. For a 3PL or warehouse owner who is still using analog methods, how can they use technology to increase their exit value without losing the personal touch their clients love?

Peter Vera 9:31

Yeah, uh, and that's a that's a common uh issue, right? With all these AI tools available now, um, dispatching software, you know, voice uh AI agents that can answer the phone, and and really they they could handle much of the process. Uh there's a balance between how much of that do you want to automate and how much of it do you want to keep that personal touch, that relationship, and you know, human-to-human contact. That's where the logistics industry right now I think is uh is struggling. The is struggling to evolve um in a way, and it's probably gonna take a long time, right? Most people are still getting comfortable talking to an AI agent uh versus a person. Um, and that that's a that's the main, you know, a really good example. There's other eight automation softwares out there. Um and they, you know, they're being rolled out and being more and more affordable uh uh for smaller businesses. It's no longer just you know the Amazons of the world that are using automation and even robotics, uh, and all of these technologies that were previously unavailable to small businesses, say under 10 million revenue, are becoming you know more and more uh likely to be you know feasible to implement.

Joe Dunaway 11:03

Yeah, what's taking place technology-wise and AI-wise over the last couple of years is fascinating. And where we're gonna be, you know, every day, every month, it's just it's just wild. Like the the leaps and bounds that that's happening. It's it's leveling the leveling the playing field for for some of us, right? Like you just said, it's not it's not just for these mammoth companies uh to take advantage of. You know, AI's really made it if you if you're if you're practicing with it and you're using it, you know, you there is you know a way to you know even the playing field. Um I want to talk a little about shared services. Uh how does Green Rock use shared services to modernize these businesses after the acquisition?

Peter Vera 11:45

Yeah, and that's that's a huge value add as well. It's it's the reason the you know the roll-up model of acquiring multiple businesses works, is you can you can uh use one, you know, for example, at admin service. You can have one company's admin service start to take over and and do the perform the admin function for multiple companies. So that reduces costs. Uh another common thing they do is uh you know cross-pollination of best practices. So say one company is killing it, their margins, they do the exact same thing, but for whatever reason that one's margins are better. Well, you can look at that company, what exactly their process, and then start to slowly implement that in the other the other businesses and create more value that way. Uh the the other thing is, you know, if it's if the business offers services that the other business uh businesses' customers can use, then you create cross-selling synergies. So those are all those are all factors that we we look at when we uh look at a potential target for for acquisition.

Joe Dunaway 13:01

Yeah.

Peter Vera 13:02

And that's why, yeah, that's why we will will buy you know warehousing businesses and you know trucking businesses, for example. So that way, you know, we're storing product, we have the option to also provide delivery service. So things like that.

Joe Dunaway 13:18

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And for our for our uh economy geeks at home, that's called economies of scale. All right. You know, you have you you you pull things together where there's a lot of tangential uh you know ideas going on, and you know, you've got one company that is already doing it well, it's do it well for everyone else, too, right? And it's just saves money, and then um it you just the impact's better. You see somebody doing it better in in one area, you know, you copy and paste and repeat, you know, in other areas. I love it. Um no reason to recreate the wheel, Pete. All right, so let's get into uh some of the other pillars, right? Fitness. Um, in the fitness pillar, the military sets a high bar. Well, maybe not the army. Sorry, I had to say that you've been out for a while, but the discipline clearly stuck. How do you maintain your physical and mental edge to manage the complexity of military acquisitions simultaneously?

Peter Vera 14:19

Yeah, I think that's a huge, huge piece, right? You have to you have to find a way to remain calm and keep yourself going and energized throughout the day. Um fitness has been a huge part of my life for for years and years. Um I've been actually on quite a journey. Uh I was overdoing it for many years. Um, started back in the Navy on the ship. I was doing two a day's weights in the morning and then four to five minutes cardio uh six days a week. And then um, you know, eventually I injured myself, right? Like I hurt my shoulder and my back. And then so I started running a lot, and I I ran a lot, a lot, like marathons, um, a couple marathons, half marathons, and then I injured myself again on my my toe and my shin. So lately, this is the last few months, I've transitioned more and more to breath work, actually. Nice. Um, yeah, like just this morning I did a you know a three-minute and 30-second breath hold. Um, it's a you know, you do like a 20-minute uh session, and it it for me, it just it accomplishes a similar thing to me and like bring makes me really calm and centered and um in the right headspace to be able to to conquer the day. So I I think having one of the a tool in your belt uh to use and and implement and and be able to yeah, to you know achieve at a high level, I think that's that you it's vital.

Joe Dunaway 16:01

Yeah, breath work is so important. I mean, we we learned that in the mill in the Marine Corps, you know, if you didn't learn it before getting into boot camp, you learn it, you know, at the at the rifle range, right? It's all about breath, it's all about being calm and you know, breathing in and breathing out and then pulling the trigger. So um at that's when I found out how important breathing can be. And then even, you know, in you know, some of the the work I've done on a personal end of things of just you know trying to figure things out in in in uh therapy, right? Just breathing exercises are so important to kind of you know help you, you know, step away from that fight or flight, you know, ledge. Um, and all the way to just you know dealing with stress at home. Uh breathing is uh definitely something. I forget it's like the 831, 83, I forget what that breathing technique is, but um I love it. I feel it. I actually feel yeah, yeah. I 387, I actually feel the difference um when I get done doing that exercise. So um if I'm having a tough day, I definitely step away, do some breathing, and yeah, it's a good way to start your day too.

Peter Vera 17:14

Yeah, 100%.

Joe Dunaway 17:17

Now, in the family pillar, the founders you buy from are often trying to retire to spend time with their grandkids, maybe. When you promise a founder that you'll take care of their life's work, how does your own perspective on family and legacy influence that promise?

Peter Vera 17:35

Yeah. You know, it comes back to the legacy that they build. Um they they sacrifice so much to build their business to where they they got it, you know, say they're 60 now and they they started their business, you know, in their 30s or whatever. That's a common story I see. Um they've sacrificed, unfortunately, family time. And you I think it's the uh duty of the of the buyer to recognize that you're buying what represents a a lifetime of work for that person. Um and I think having that level of you know responsibility in in that acquisition, that transaction, uh, and that transition is important to convey. You know, um we're it's not just a financial uh transaction where we're we're just you know it's we're looking at the numbers and you know cold calculated moves here. We're we're dealing with someone's legacy.

Joe Dunaway 18:48

Does it make the deal more personal for you?

Peter Vera 18:52

Yeah. Yeah. Um I think it has to. I I think you know it the buyer the seller's gonna see that right away um if if it's not a personal thing, right? If you don't if you don't care.

Joe Dunaway 19:09

Yeah. Um MA can be a dirty business. In terms of faith and personal values, what is the true north that keeps you honest during a negotiation when millions are on the line?

Peter Vera 19:25

Yeah. That's a great question. Um, faith is a big part of my life, spirituality. I just got confirmed Catholic, actually. Uh so it's been another journey for me as well. Congrats. Um Thank you. Yeah, but uh I I think you know, when you make a decision, you just have to I always do a gut check, right? Is this the right thing, right thing to do? Like you you uh you definitely want to give them a fair price, right? You're not you're not just out there to get the you know best bargain deal. Uh that's not where the money is made, in my opinion. Um, and there's two there's different uh camps of thought on on the investing, right? One is right, um one is let's get the best bargain rate on that sale, and that's how we're gonna make the money. Uh, versus others will look at the investment as you know a little a longer term play, and they'll look at project how much you can make off of this investment in the years coming and be okay with paying a bit higher price. Uh, and that's where we at Green Rock, you know, that's what we do. We may not offer the highest price, we're not a private equity group with these deep pockets that can just throw out cash, but we're you know, we're gonna give you a fair price. I think that's one of the you know responsibilities of of a uh you know a uh a faith-based, you know, ethical buyer.

Joe Dunaway 21:00

Yeah. And then do you ensure that you know on the podcast, Exit Algorithm, that you know, your your audience is walking away with a moral component?

Peter Vera 21:13

You know, the Exit Algorithms Podcast is, I will say it's its focus is how to grow and and scale um your business and and implement AI. That's the the primary uh purpose is to show listeners how to add value to their business. Um, I I personally think business and you know spirituality and life are interconnected and related. And I have gone on that tangent with a few of my my guests. I wouldn't say it's a primary yeah, the focus though.

Joe Dunaway 21:49

Yeah. Got it. All right, so we're at this. I started this new thing called rapid fire. Um, it's fun. So whatever comes to mind, you know. gunsling it right so we got three three rapid fire questions for you Pete um and then we'll close things out uh what's one mistake founders make when preparing to sell when preparing to sell the the mistake a lot make is not knowing what they're gonna do after not having a plan for the the afterlife yeah um it's a massive life decision and if you don't really um have a dream for what you're gonna do after you lose your your day job uh that's a that's a big mistake right there yeah all in to all out I mean even on a on a on a mental health level that's just such a massive change in your life hopefully you got something lined up to keep you busy you know people that build these businesses are you know good hardworking people it's you know you're you're you you're you have this purpose you have this uh this why this this uh who you are your identity you what are you after right I think that's really good advice to you know figure out how you continue to have a life full of purpose uh when you step away um how about one navy principle every CEO needs to adopt today lead by example you know if you're if you're not um there when your your people are there they're not gonna want to do it their best their best work you know that's one of the principles I saw um the good CEOs or the good department heads would be the first ones there and the last ones to leave uh and and you know work they probably work the hardest and and be willing to do any of the the jobs that were required um I've heard you talk about the you know I'll pick up a broom I I love that that attitude but I I think that's a that's a key tenant right there. Definitely I mean do as I do right and uh I think that that goes a long way and you know yeah I'm just gonna leave at that so this last one is um we at Vici we have uh the VC path to victory's uh methodology it's how we attack um each client's challenges with a combination of uh technology and the way we build our teams um what does uh victory look like for Pete Vera in 2026 yeah victory looks like uh deals are closing and I'm all in on my podcast and work but I I'm at the same time I maintain my my relationship with my fiance and my family I I know I I still call my parents uh once a week at if I I I really try to stick to that and and those things that that keep me you know a well-rounded person. Yeah you know I think having having a great relationship with your family and extended family is just so important to staying stable and keeping your head in the game uh by pulling your head out of the game sometimes and and spending time with them so yeah that's that's that's a good that's a good uh uh picture of victory Pete um quick recap for our audience true success isn't just the exit it's the legacy left behind and you know what discipline from the Navy translates perfectly into the boardroom when applied with heart I know the military changed my life Pete I can tell you're a military man and it's done you well um to our audience if you're a 3PL uh warehouse BPL or a warehouse owner thinking about your next chapter visit bisexitgrow.com or tune into the exit algorithms podcast to hear Pete dive deeper into the tech of transition um what do you got for our for our for our audience Pete oh thank you so much for having me on the show today Joe I really enjoyed the conversation uh yeah if they want to uh learn more I'm I'm most active on on LinkedIn I post just about every day uh sometimes twice a day on there uh good solid quick quick clips about uh best practices in business to create more value so yeah if you can follow me on LinkedIn Pete Vera um yeah love to connect there and yeah so for our audience all those links are in the show notes Instagram linkedin the the algorithm exit algorithms podcast link the biz exit grow that's all gonna be in the show notes and this doesn't air for a little while Pete so what I'll do is I'll make sure we give you a shout out right after this um Pete thank you so much uh to our audience protect the legacy optimize the algorithm and lead with honor we'll see you on the next episode of the Vici Code thanks for tuning in to the Vici Code where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home share it and remember faith fuels a fight and your comeback is already in progress