25. The Next Warren Buffett?

“People support what they help create,” said Michael Arrietta, Founder, and CEO of Garden City. 

Michael lives this every day. He started a holding company with the goal to be the next Berkshire Hathaway. His model is focused on acquiring service companies with between $2-4mm in free cash flow. These businesses are all over America and most of them are owned by baby boomers. Every 57 seconds a baby boomer owner reaches retirement age. 

To achieve his goal, Michael has a war chest of $50mm in committed capital from a who’s who in technology and business internationally. These leaders invested in a fund that promises NO exit. 

They are buying into what they hope will be a continuous cash income stream. In addition, these leaders pledge to help the portfolio companies with a caring culture, tech enablement, and a modern sales approach. In this interview, Michael tells his story. 

At 16 years old he was selling Cutco and making over $100k/year. He almost doubled this while attending the University of Alabama. Then, as he told me, “I took two steps back to then take five steps forward.” He headed to Silicon Valley. 

There are amazing lessons to be learned here in selling, serving, and leading.