John Corcoran 5:00
Yeah, you had apartheid going on in Africa, South Africa at the time, and you had been a lawyer, but kind of like me, where you weren’t too crazy about it. You’d work for Arthur Andersen, you’re kind of at the same time, you’re kind of looking for something new. Right?
Anthony Vidergauz 5:14
Absolutely. I studied law. I was glad to have that behind me, but I quickly realized that I didn’t want that to be a career for me. So I was open at least to looking at opportunities even though I have to admit the this idea of going into the home improvement arena was something that was foremost in my mind.
John Corcoran 5:39
And and actually hired you to be like General Counsel of this company that has four employees generally, right. It’s usually much larger company that has a need for a general counsel.
Anthony Vidergauz 5:49
That’s correct, john, but what was different is it had probably and I’m guessing, but only a little bit about 20 franchise. Okay, okay. And Numerous prospective franchisees. So they they were looking for somebody to handle the franchise agreements and the negotiations with prospective franchisees and and the existing franchisees had an outside counsel at a time, very small outside firm, and the CEO wanting to be freed up to do his thing and have somebody in house who understood the law a little bit and could deal with the outside counsel and new franchisees coming into the system.
John Corcoran 6:33
God Ok, so there was an outside counsel that had set up the system because I know that franchise laws highly specialized. And the process of setting up a franchise process is not easy from a legal perspective.
Anthony Vidergauz 6:46
You’re absolutely right. And you know, another another reason why I didn’t think I was suited for the for the position at the time was that my background wasn’t in franchise law and it is special. eyes and I had a unique, unique situation at the time because I came over on a visitor’s visa. I had no legal qualifications in the country at the time.
John Corcoran 7:13
I license to practice law in California.
Anthony Vidergauz 7:16
Yeah, exactly. I stopped I when I came out here I had a life in South Africa still,
John Corcoran 7:22
you even had that you won’t even own your home. You said you had your family members helped you sell your home there?
Anthony Vidergauz 7:28
Yeah, well, we had a, we had an apartment that we owned or a condo as we would call it here in South Africa. And I was not allowed at the time to go back backwards and forwards because I didn’t have a green card yet. I did have the company sponsored me for a working h1 visa. So I did have when I started working for the company, I was I was legally in the country legally working in the country, but it was problematic. go backwards and forwards to South Africa until I have my green card. So I was I remained on in the US for a couple of years before my green card came through.
John Corcoran 8:09
Got it, okay. Okay. So you start working for this company. And it’s a small team, mostly run by the founder or co founders at the time. And tell us about a little bit about the early days and and some of the challenges you experienced.
Anthony Vidergauz 8:26
Well, the early days, were were actually in many ways, wonderful and helped tremendously in me, getting acclimated to the United States because late 80s, the economy was good. We had a lot of people who wanted franchises. We were operating pretty much on a day to day basis. We were sort of making it up to some extent as we went along. The company was franchising in those days because frankly, we didn’t have the money to open our company stores. We felt there was a need A company had a great concept. There were a lot of people who wanted to buy this concept, this idea of, of coming into your of the company going into your house and custom designing a closet system wasn’t anything that that another company was doing. You could always have your closets done by contractor, but there wasn’t a closet company to before California plus, we started a whole industry
John Corcoran 9:26
and how did that become? How did you were? How are you able to make that into a business that was systematic? I mean, isn’t every closet different? You know, how did you make it into this kind of plug and play system that franchisees could use over and over again?
Anthony Vidergauz 9:43
Yeah, that’s, that’s interesting. So it’s not the the product was closets, if one wants to use it in a very broad term, and you’re right, it was custom which is, this is how we we try to differentiate ourselves a little bit. But the The experience I would say is where we even in the early days, and even though we didn’t we were certainly a long way from having that part, right. The idea of a contractor style business offering great customer service was very much part of our thinking even in the early days, for whatever reason, whether you’re a contract or an insurance salesman, or let me say, a lawyer, the general trust of the public in what you say and do maybe a little bit suspect, particularly contractors, and we saw a real opportunity to differentiate ourselves by being a contract that actually delivered WHAT IT products. So what we did with it, this the the in the early days, we weren’t very good at this, but the idea and to answer your question, the what became more standard was the marketing, the marketing that was selling custom closets and as you rightfully pointed out, they were different but though they were closets and they were custom designed at least customizable, I wasn’t custom as you’ve described, but in the true sense of the word were in the true sense of the word, but customizable in that they could be built from wall to wall and, and you could use or effectively use space. And we tried to standardize the marketing we try to standardize and sales presentation, we got the product ordered through the corporate office. So the franchise system, we’re using a common product and again, right by franchise standards, the product does have to conform with the franchise laws, selection of products. So that piece was standard. It’s not I guess, like eating a, you know, going to a fast food place and having a great constant recipe in right was there were differences in that Right, right, right.
John Corcoran 11:56
Yeah, you think like McDonald’s are exactly the same. You go from McDonalds to know, they’re exactly the same. So there’s because of the customization requires a little bit more modification, I guess. But and actually, that leads to another interesting point you managed to develop other revenue streams as well, because you were selling the product to the franchisees who then use the product to deliver to the end consumer.
Anthony Vidergauz 12:22
Yeah, the and when you say other products to me, what are the offerings we we make to the consumer,
John Corcoran 12:28
perhaps that too, but I meant just like the physical hardware that went into the rebuild and the closet.
Anthony Vidergauz 12:35
Yes, that’s absolutely true. We had a corporate buying department, we made in the early days, we made the deals with outside suppliers, both for the raw materials and for the hardware, accessories and everything that it took to to make up the closet system and the franchisees to buy all this product from us, which many of them did or an approved supply. So we didn’t, we didn’t insist that they bought from us. But generally because of volume purchases, we could supply product to the franchisees at a better price and they could get locally. So that, to that extent, to that extent, we were controlling the product supply. And as I suggested, we had to approve product water outside of corporate
John Corcoran 13:23
right now this I want to ask you about culture and values, which you were with the company for a long time. So obviously, I imagine it changed over time. But I know that that is important to culture, having values. Tell us a little bit about your philosophy behind that and some of the ways that you instilled a good culture and put values in place for the company.
Anthony Vidergauz 13:46
Yeah, the that became that was a key component of the company’s success. And I’ll go back just a little bit because the way we differentiated ourselves, we as I mentioned, We started the, the industry, we were fortunate enough to start an industry. But by the by the 1994, the mid 90s. There were a lot of competitors all offering the exact same thing as us, except cheaper in most instances, and we’re losing our way. And that that gave me and it’s maybe the subject of another discussion, but the opportunity in 1994 to buy the company because the company started losing money. So from a very good start, when I when I first joined up till 1990 the company was purchased by William Sonoma, a wonderful company, but by 1994 because of the economic downturn, primarily, the company started losing money and by 1994, it was losing money. The competitors that caught up with us in all respects are offering the exact same thing except that we, as I mentioned, that we’re doing a cheaper and By the time I had an opportunity to become an owner of the company, we were in serious trouble. And we had to change the game. We had to we if we didn’t change the game, without the support of the William Sonoma and us at the time, we probably would have had to shut our doors. So we had to either change the game and turn business around, or we were going to be in serious trouble. So it gets me to your to your question. There were two things we did. And if I’m going too far ahead, john, please. We we go? Sure.
John Corcoran 15:35
No, I do want to ask you about the you purchasing the company in 1984. Because I think that’s a great story, but keep with the culture and values discussion.
Anthony Vidergauz 15:45
So I will so we can come back to that. But in 1994 in addition to the branding of the company, which was a big piece of what we did when when I took over the company decided to differentiate us In the promise we’re making to the consumer, but the promises an empty one, unless you can actually deliver on the promise the promise unless you can be authentic and fulfill the promise you you’ve made to the consumer, the consumer is going to catch you out very quickly and you’re going to have big problems. So, some of tenuously with with coming with with professionalising, how branding, our marketing, our entire advertising and promise to the customer. We realized quickly that we had a franchise system here made up of people that came from the professional world, people who were school teachers and ex professional hockey player, a stockbrokers from all from all parts of the of the working world. And we realized that unless we put together or put in place a set of values core purpose, why we do what we do and and and values that franchisees, no matter where they were situated, could rally around could understand and could passionately believe them. We’re going to have all these people bringing their own values into play, and representing a brand in 100 different ways. And frankly, that’s what was happening. We went to 100 franchises in 1994, but they were 30 or 35. And what was happening at the time is that everybody is running the business the way they thought they should run it, they were, they were using the value say for not that they were bad, but they were different. And we were a franchise, and I remember getting up at a convention in fact, for the probably the second convention I went to, and not that I went to where I went to a CEO of the company, I’d already been to several but and looking around the audience and seeing franchisee a sitting in the left side of the room and franchisees be sitting somewhere else, and looking at some of the others and I quickly realized that the experience that customer had going to each one of these different franchises was very different because I had been to their stores and franchisee a may have been an exceptional franchisee, who practice great values, you hire wonderful people who have very high standards of customer service. And I would look across the franchisee B or C, and know that when you walked into their showroom or you had one of their people come into your home into a very, very private part of your home your closet that you wouldn’t show anyone that the experience of customer God was very different. And I realized that we had to change that piece. Quickly. I also realized that we could make a major difference in this industry if we change that piece, and we were really good at understanding What our values our behavior in front of customers our principles and beliefs having a belief system and not only and not only did we do this at a corporate level, but when before we came up with our values, we we had some franchisees some of our better franchisees involved some of the best people in the field were involved in our values. We had an outside consultant who helped us with us we visited customers, we got the best people in the corporate office around the table and we came up with the values that we could truly believing and so much so that most franchises adopted these values when they ran the weekly or monthly meetings and nothing was more fulfilling for me then going around to the odd franchisee meeting which I did periodically, and hearing their the employees talk about how they applied the values to a situation they had with the customer. A situation they had with a fellow employee. And we at the corporate office, it was it was something we tried to talk about and apply. And there was such a strong belief in it that it became part of the DNA, not something that people had to remember the values were never something that were just hung on the wall. And they look good to outsiders, but nobody even knew what they were. There was a true belief around these values, and I know it made such a big difference to the promise we’re making in some very creative and beautiful marketing that we got out over the years. But we have to perform when we got it in front of the customer.
John Corcoran 20:43
That’s a great story. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I do. I want to. I know we don’t have a ton of time here. I do want to ask you also about you purchasing the company because it’s interesting story. William Sonoma had purchased the company they owned it at the time. You were still with the company, I believe William Sonoma, had fired the original founders. Right. And and the UU had gotten when that William Sonoma wasn’t profitable, and they were thinking of selling it consolidating. And what do you do you call a prior board member? Right?
Anthony Vidergauz 21:16
Yeah, I think and let’s say the previous founder, then let’s say it was a mutual agreement to leave. Okay. He was the founder from the early days, he did a wonderful job with a company, but then, you know, things change was suddenly owned by a big public company. And I’m sorry, john, just if you could repeat your question.
John Corcoran 21:38
So the but then you you got when did that William Sonoma, I think you’d heard somehow that they were maybe we’re going to sell it or they were going to fold the company. And so you’re freaking out a little bit. And yeah, I remember you saying when we got coffee that there was a board member that was a little bit of a mentor to you was no longer a board member, but you reach back out to him. So right
Anthony Vidergauz 22:00
That’s exactly right. JOHN, I was very fortunate to meet this gentleman, who was about 30 years older than me at the time. He was on our board. Prior to William Sonoma, buying the company and after they bought us, we fell under their board. But he and I maintained our relationship. He became my mentor. Almost from the time I met him, we played a lot of golf together at his golf course. And I looked at him, or I looked up to him and he gave me a lot of a lot of very sound advice. It was almost like he took this immigrant under his wing, and, and wanted to make things a little easier and better for me. And one day, in 1994, we were playing golf at his golf course. And I’ll never forget we were on the 11th hole. And we’re about to tee off and he was no longer part of the company. And he said to me how things going with the company and I and we teed off MII turned to him and I said, not very well, I, the company is losing money. And franchisees are quite unhappy with the corporate office. There is there there’s numerous problems and I’ve heard that, that William Sonoma want to sell the company. And he didn’t say anything to me and we drove to the green and I was about to get out the car at the at the green and he suddenly put his arm around me as I was about to get out and he said, Wait a second. He said, Do you did you say that William Sonoma one is sold the company now remember, he knew he knew a good amount about the company he was on our board for for three or four years before William Sonoma bought the company. He said you know I liked this concept a lot. He said, I will. I will make you a deal. And the and I’m just at the golf cart waiting to gun pot. My case I was probably a bunk and gun bunker. And he put his arm around and he said, I’ll make your deal. He said, If you, if you willing to run the company, I’d be willing to put the money up because I think this is a great concept. And I think this company could still make it. And I remember turning it turning to him and saying, you know, his name was Bill, I said, Bill, I heard you’re a very successful businessman, you do realize what you’re saying, I’ve never run a company in my life. And you know, we’ve got a big problem here. And, and he turned to me and he said, No, I think you can do it. I think the company’s got very solid bones. It’s got a strong foundation. And he said, I think between the two of us you don’t run it. I’ll be there as your advisor. And if Williamson ever want to sell it, I you’d let me know and hopefully we can make a deal. So I that’s exactly What happened going I called William Sonoma, the CEO and at the time, we had we had a drink. In the city, we met for for a drink, and I asked him if the company was for sale. He confirmed that it was I told him I had a backer. And within about six weeks, we had we had bought the company. And it was it was as quick as that. And suddenly, I was landed, and I will with with California closet CEO of California closets, and my my mentor was in LA, he had no intention of being involved in the operations of business. He was a much older man as well. So he was strictly an advisor. And, and this suddenly this this incredible opportunity. I didn’t realize it at the time and had landed on my lap and
John Corcoran 25:59
great opportunity you made the most of it. But at the same time, it also was a company that was losing money at the time. So I’m wondering, did family and friends think what are you doing buying this unprofitable company? And also, you know, what did you do in order to turn around and make it profitable?
Anthony Vidergauz 26:15
Yeah, this you know, it’s it was a different time I was. I was young, the we, my wife and I had been married only a few years, we had no kids. The company was already sponsoring me for for my, for my green card. In fact, at that point, I already had a green card. So we had our life in America, we had an opportunity, I believe that the company did have an opportunity much like my, my mentor, I actually did think that there was a great opportunity. And even though they had no experience running a company before, I actually had a few ideas, solid ideas. In my head that I thought could turn the company around, obviously, with a lot of factors working, you know, positively and in my favor, I thought things could be very different with a little bit of luck and a little bit of a change of direction. So two things happen. One, my partner made me a deal at two to acquire a majority stake in the company. So if I could just because they’re good people in this world, and he sat me down and he said, How much have you got to give me and I said, I’ve got the $5,000 approximately use what I had. And he said, Okay, we’ll make a deal. In my view, that’s in his view. He said, I don’t think this company’s worth anything. So for your $5,000, you can have 10% of the company’s how we said, You and I are the board you and I are the shareholders. Yeah. But he said I want you to have a majority stake in this company. So we’ll have a handshake Deal, he was very much an old school guy. And he said, every year if you hit a target that you and I will agree, you will agree at the beginning of the year on the target. If you hit the target, I’ll give you another 10%. If you hit the ball out the park, I’ll give you 20% provided that if you get up to 60%, we stop there, because that’ll mean the companies do really well. And I want to keep 40%. And I said, if you’re going to negotiate like that, I’m going to walk No, I didn’t say
I was really great deal.
John Corcoran 28:38
And I think I remember you saying that you acquired the UN the purchase price of the company was less than the amount of a franchise at the time Is that right?
Anthony Vidergauz 28:48
You know, it wasn’t less than the amount of a franchise it was less than the amount of what most franchises had been selling the individual while in later years. It was A lot less go franchise and said sold for your later years.
John Corcoran 29:06
But clearly William Sonoma wanted to get rid of it.
Anthony Vidergauz 29:08
Yeah, it’s true. William Sonoma wanted to get rid of it. But frankly, the company wasn’t worth anything was losing money, there was an unhappy system, the competition were taking over. So we were we were in trouble. The company wasn’t worth more than we bought it. You know, we were lucky in that reported at the right time, but the value of the come and we didn’t have an established brand. And I’ll just to answer the second part of your question, john, is what do we do? The two pieces I think that that whir, whir whir, foremost in my mind when I took over the company and how we are going to change it. One, we were in an industry where everybody was like a local mom and pop very much contractor style coming into your house with the promising the world often under delivering and all the rest of it. We were 100% But business. So number one was I was desperate to change a company from a home improvement business into a lifestyle brand. And in order to do that, I had to put the right team together. And the one thing that, you know, amongst all the mistakes I made, that I think I did do is I put a really good team in with some very strong one particularly strong branding person and a good marketing team to support this person and a corporate office that got very, very used to the idea that we are going to differentiate ourselves with our brand and our brand promise, we were going to be great not only in how we we in our creative and how we marketed ourselves to the world, but how we delivered a customer experience that was truly second to none. We were going into homes where it was often the woman alone at home and having to go into a very private space. And the way we conducted ourselves during the appointment from the time we knocked on the door to the end of that appointment had to be exceptional. And that’s where the values played a role. That’s where we had a level of learning and development culture. We really try to change the experience for the customer, both on the branding side and on the delivery side. And as we move ahead, the people liked what we did with their causes, it gave us an opportunity to sell, they often asked us Can you can you do my home office, can you do my garage storage? Can you do my pantry, my laundry. So we built on all those product offerings in addition to closet. And of course the closet doors wide scale because you had everything from the from the master bedroom to kids closets, and we try to be so creative in how we presented each room of the house. So all those things combined, bringing you great The standard of the brand automatically meant when we spoke to franchises, they had to raise their game to I had to raise my game by hiring really qualified, preferably professional people. They soon realized they needed to do the same thing at a franchise level because the customer expected this from us. We were marketing this we were telling people, we will often getting good recommendations from people we done business with. So I repeat and referral business was very high. Throughout the system, poor franchises started realizing they would have to improve the way they did business quickly. But also because if they didn’t, it wasn’t that they weren’t as good as next semester. They weren’t as good as the next franchisee, but customers would be very disappointed because they had high expectations of this company. And I think the net result was really separated ourselves from everybody else where we also did one other thing and one other thing that was vital To the company when I say we had this the this superior marketing that I think excellent creative lifestyle marketing, we had to put a national marketing fund together. And I think it was a relationship that I enjoyed with the franchise systems some senior people in our corporate office enjoyed with the franchise system. Because this was something new, we had to ask the franchisees to contribute a piece of their revenue to a national marketing fund, based on a promise that the corporate office would develop this great marketing and we could get ourselves into national magazines, we could be an Architectural Digest and Vanity Fair and home decor, etc, etc. We’re all our franchisees were in very local, very
local newspapers at the time and that kind of stuff. We were suddenly this beautiful brand we’re full page. full color advertising and beautiful marketing. But this was initially a promise we had to make to our franchisees that I would hire great people, we would deliver this. And in fact, the franchisees, I think we have a lot of trust amongst ourselves. They came back to me at the time and said, we willing to give it a shot. But if it doesn’t work in three years, we also wanted the opportunity to vote it out. And they had that that was part of our agreement. Let’s come on board and quite democratic, it was very democratic, and there was it was risky, and a combination of a great marketing team in the office. The market in general getting better. Real Estate Market starting to boom in the mid to late 90s. Technology started becoming a big thing. People started to make a lot of money in the technology and if people had money, they started to be disposable income. And we were suddenly national marketing in national magazines, and we Separated ourselves from everyone, we became the number one. franchisees loved the marketing, they applied all that marketing, into their local advertising to all the beautiful creative, we’re doing at a national side. They were doing locally, they had respect and trust in what we were doing in the messaging, we were getting out understanding that they needed to perform in the field, we each had our responsibility. And, and the franchisees did an incredible job in delivering this brand to the customer. And, you know, one of the things I’m proud of stuff is whatever little contribution I made to to improving their lives and their kids lives, is probably the most fulfilling thing I did in the company. And it wasn’t only me, it was the collective efforts of everybody, but my little contribution to that is something that, you know, it’s probably the thing that I’m most proud of
John Corcoran 36:00
Such a great story. You, I know that it continued to improve. So you start acquiring those, as you mentioned the 10% of the company, and you build up your equity in the company to that 60% point. And then at some point, I think your investor might have sold out or and or the same time or in another time you end up selling to another company and you stay on. So tell us a little bit about that. And then I want to flash forward to 2009 also after we get past that explanation.
Anthony Vidergauz 36:32
Sure. So it was, it was, I suppose quite some we had reached
approximately 1999.
And I was approached by a public company who wanted to buy the cup they wanted a majority stake in the company, but they wanted the team to stay intact and they absolutely wanted me to continue You running the company, I had a big decision to make very big decision. And that was to give up a controlling interest in the company at that time I had the controlling interest in the company, but they they gave me every year assurance and they were good to the word that I could continue to run it largely independently we were doing a great job and basically keep keep up the good work and we’ll all be happy but it was a decision to give up a majority stake. And I remember you know, I I started with nothing I started and this was an opportunity for me to to get some money that could make me financially secure and keep a meaningful interest in the company going forward. Continue to run the company. So I had to weigh it up and and you know, the simple, the simple decision what or what it came down to was, I decided what would make my wife more mad at me. If
John Corcoran 38:00
That’s kind of my decision making matrix to
Anthony Vidergauz 38:03
know we all got lives to lead, decide, is it worth it or not? I, my, my, my goal was, you know, my wife be more upset with me, if I don’t sell the company and the company crashes as it had done in the early night. It’s worth nothing.
John Corcoran 38:24
Right? And this is 99 everything is booming and you You seem to have some a little bit of, you know, foresight towards Well, this can’t go on forever.
Anthony Vidergauz 38:33
Well, exactly. I mean, it’s still very fresh in my mind, you know, when I took over the company, the state the company was it. So my, the alternative was, well, you can cash in now you can stay with a meaningful stake and you can continue to run the company. And and I made the decision to do that. I suppose it was a little more the conservative side, but I remained on in the company for another 10 years running the company and, frankly having the time of my life and,
John Corcoran 39:13
and you did have some downturns. During that time, obviously, we had a one or two kind of the.com boom and bust and you stick through the company net now now, we hit 2008 2009. The real estate market and real estate Home Improvement market kind of starts to go off a cliff. You’ve got a great story about how you end up selling your last bit of the company.
Anthony Vidergauz 39:39
Yeah, I had been in the company at that stage for the good part of 23 years.
The company had Yeah, as you said, you know, with a couple of little hiccups along the way, but by and large we had a steady trend upwards from for just about since 1994. I bought the company.
John Corcoran 40:01
And I forget when you said I know 300 million sticks in my mind was that 2009? Or is that today?
Anthony Vidergauz 40:07
That was 2009 it was a shade under three 300. And now that’s system wide sale. Right?
John Corcoran 40:15
Right. Brand sales franchise. But still that’s a company that went from 1994 nothing like nearly worthless Williamson was about to completely shut it down to 300 million in revenue. That’s phenomenal.
Anthony Vidergauz 40:28
Yeah, it was. It was a great story. It’s a story. You know, I’d like to take all the credit but I frankly it was a story both on the foundation of a wonderful franchise system it does incredible job. Wonderful corporate team that mostly stayed intact all the years. At least I ran the company so we we had it was very, very much part of our values. We have a relationship was was a big piece. We I’m still friendly with several franchises to Stay. And corporate people this morning for breakfast, I met with a guy who was my brand guy all those years ago. And we saw he was one of my best friends to this day. I think it was. It the story was, it was a collective effort where everybody understood what needed to be done. I if there’s I think the piece that I would take some credit for is I think I lead the way in terms of this will be a good idea. This is the vision for the company. This is these are the things I think can make a difference. But I could never do this without the support of the people around me. absolutely critical to this. Right.
John Corcoran 41:48
Right. And so, coming back to your legal training, it turns out that there was a provision in your agreement with the company that owned the company at the time. That was really pertinent to your decision to finally sell the company as the really the economy, the global economy is kind of melting down. Tell us his story.
Anthony Vidergauz 42:10
Yeah, the agreement and it may well have been a very common cause in in agreements of this nature. But when I was left when I when I was left with a minority stake in the company, another reason I actually agreed to sell it is the company that I sold to was a public company. And the agreement was they could buy me out on 30 days notice. And I could sell to them on 39 days notice, based on a pre arranged or pre agreed formula, we were going to agree to our formula, and the formula was a multiple of you but I sort of simple or common formula, but they insisted that the the EVA da That we look at would be the number of the previous financial financial year. So the long and the short of it was going into 2008 2007 was a wonderful year, halfway through 2008 the world was coming to an end. You know, big banks and insurance companies were on the brink of failure and disaster. People were getting laid off all over the place and every newspaper magazine TV was predicting a protracted downturn in the economy. So I you know, I’ve been in the company a long time I had an opportunity to to exercise you know, the the claws I had in the agreement, allowing me to sell my the remainder of my stock back to the company based on the 2007 valuation and that’s, that’s what A long discussion with my wife and you know, it was it was a decision because I knew the way the company worked. The decision would mean that I’d have to leave the company at some point or would be looking for a successor because the way the public company work people running, they individual businesses, all that type of ownership stake. But I’ve been around a long time and I’ve had a wonderful ride, I was ready to go, and
John Corcoran 44:32
so forth. The other fear is that they exercise their option to sell it back to you.
Anthony Vidergauz 44:38
Absolutely, which they could do you know, any time going over the net as it turned out the next three years or four years or whatever it was with terrible years. So I don’t know whether they would have but they could have exercised at any time and the company was not doing well. Right. So we got out we got out and and you know I look to the next phase of my life have a truly wonderful experience in the company.
John Corcoran 45:07
Right, right. Well, we’ve gone way longer than I expected to. So I apologize and I hope we didn’t blow through any appointments for you. But it’s a great story and I loved sharing it. Is there anything that you’re working on now that I know you’ve been involved you and I connected over a couple of different local investments you have that we have connections over? Anything else that you’re excited about? Now, I know you’re advising some companies that are pursuing a similar franchise model. Go ahead.
Anthony Vidergauz 45:37
Yes, I am. I’m evolving. I’m advising two companies who are also franchises in the home improvement sector ones are the kitchen industry or the other one is in the in the bathroom industry. So I’m actually just moving rooms around the house.
Pretty much the same deal.
Yeah, and I’m And I’m involved in a couple of other things outside of franchising, keeping busy
and enjoying life to the
fullest. I hope. That’s great.
John Corcoran 46:12
Well, I want to wrap things up with the question I always ask which is let’s pretend Anthony that we’re an awards banquet, and much like the Oscars of the Emmys, and you, Anthony are about to receive an award for lifetime achievement for everything you’ve done up until this point. And what we all want to know is, who do you think who are the the people the relationships course we mentioned family, but beyond that, who are the colleagues, friends, mentors? Who are the peers that have been instrumental in your career so far, he would acknowledge,
Anthony Vidergauz 46:38
yeah, as you say, family, of course. But I think as I mentioned, I had this gentleman, Bill Irvine who was on on our board and the guy helped me, my mentor who helped me get involved with the business you help me financially, I could never have done it without him. So I’ll be eternally grateful to him. I would be eternally grateful to the people who worked for me and and the great work they did. As I mentioned, I could never have done it without them. I’ll be totally grateful to our franchisees who were were not only business colleagues, but many of them were good friends and so on. And and as I said, I think all these various groups played a major role in in in any small success that I had.
John Corcoran 47:37
That’s great Anthony v there gals, where can people learn more about you?
Anthony Vidergauz 47:43
Well, I have a company called the paradise group.
John Corcoran 47:48
And I know they can go to LinkedIn and congratulate me that’s the best place to connect with you.
Anthony Vidergauz 47:54
Right now. LinkedIn, yeah, LinkedIn.
John Corcoran 47:56
Perfect. So perfect, excellent, Anthony. Thanks so much for sharing your story and look forward to talking again soon.
Anthony Vidergauz 48:04
Thanks very much, john been a pleasure.
Unknown Speaker 48:06
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