Bob Loback is the President and CEO of two companies: Darcoid and Crest Technology, also known as CrestTec. He is an expert in supply chain management and value-added distribution services, and he has acquired four different companies and merged them to create one larger company in the critical seal business. He has also acquired the operating assets of a semiconductor, fab sourcing, and distribution company.
Prior to going into entrepreneurship, Bob worked for DHL for 14 years in various divisions. He holds a business degree from the California State University.
John Corcoran, host of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, is joined by Bob Loback, President and CEO of Darcoid and CrestTec, to talk about what it takes and what it’s like to invest in a $5 million business. Bob also shares his experience working for George Lucas at Lucasfilm Ltd, how he merged four companies into one, and how working for DHL prepared him for entrepreneurship.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- Why Bob Loback decided to start his own company 20 years ago
- Bob shares what it was like to work for George Lucas at Lucasfilm Ltd.
- How working in different divisions at DHL helped Bob in his entrepreneurship journey
- Why Bob decided to merge four different companies, how he managed them from a different State, and the issues he fixed after buying them
- How Bob found financing to acquire a $5 million business and his advice to fellow business owners
- The people Bob acknowledges for his achievements and success
- Where to learn more about Bob Loback
Resources Mentioned:
- Darcoid
- CrestTec
- Bob Loback on LinkedIn
- Alexandra Loback on LinkedIn
- Becky Loback on LinkedIn
- Lucasfilm
- Honey, I Want to Start My Own Business: A Planning Guide for Couples by Azriela Jaffe
Sponsor: Rise25
Today’s episode is sponsored by Rise25 Media, where our mission is to connect you with your best referral partners, clients, and strategic partners. We do this through our done for you business podcast solution and content marketing.
Along with my business partner Dr. Jeremy Weisz, we have over 18 years of experience with B2B podcasting, which is one of the best things you can do for your business and you personally.
If you do it right, a podcast is like a “Swiss Army Knife” – it is a tool that accomplishes many things at once. It can and will lead to great ROI, great clients, referrals, strategic partnerships, and more. It is networking and business development; and it is personal and professional development which doubles as content marketing.
A podcast is the highest and best use of your time and will save you time by connecting you to higher caliber people to uplevel your network.
To learn more, go to Rise25.com or email us at [email protected].
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:10
Welcome to the Revolution, the Smart Business Revolution podcast where we ask today’s most successful entrepreneurs to share the tools and strategies they use to build relationships and connections to grow their revenue. Now, your host for the revolution. John Corcoran.
John Corcoran 0:40
All right. Welcome everyone. John Corcoran here, the host of the Smart Business Revolution podcast. And you know, each week I get to talk to really smart and interesting CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs of companies and organizations like YPO, EO, Activision Blizzard, LendingTree, OpenTable, x software and many more. I’m also the co-founder of Rise25 where we help to connect B2B business owners to their ideal prospects. And first I want to give a quick shout out to Alex Loback, who is the daughter of who I’m interviewing today. I know, Alex through EO here in San Francisco. And you know, her father, Bob Loback, of course is the president and CEO of two companies, Darcoid, and Crest Technology, also known as CrestTec. And he’s an expert in supply chain management value added distribution services. And what’s really interesting is he acquired four different companies and merged them to create one larger company in the critical seal business. And he’s also acquired operating assets of a semiconductor, fab sourcing and distribution company, as well. And it’s been about a 20 year journey of entrepreneurship and also a family owned business. So we’re going to ask him about that as well and some of his strategies for sales because he’s very good at sales. But first before we get into that, this interview In this episode is brought to you by Rise25 Media. Rise25 helps b2b businesses to get clients, referrals and strategic partnerships with done for you podcasts and content marketing. And if you’re listening to this podcast and thinking like should I start a podcast? I’ve been saying yes, for 10 years, it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. And if you want to learn more, you can go to Rise25Media.com where we specialize in helping b2b businesses with high client lifetime value, you can also email us at [email protected]
All right, Bob. So I’m excited to talk to you about your entrepreneurial journey here. And you know, I think what’s interesting about you is that you’d worked in the corporate world for a long time working for DHL and, and other companies. And then about 20 years ago, around the year 2000. You decided to start your own company. So how did that come about? Because that’s, that’s a big undertaking, of course.
Bob Loback 2:56
Oh, that was John. That was sheer luck. I mean, that was verbalizing my dreams. I am talking to people. So you know, I knew at DHL that every year they’d have an annual review structured organization. I started theirs when I was 32. And every year I’d say, Don’t worry about me. I’m eventually going to own my own business. And so what do you want to do? And I said, Give me something challenging, give me something I can sink my teeth in, that I can learn from. So I ended up going from spot to spot the spot and I ended up being the guy that started stuff. You know, they needed an industrial engineering group, they needed a value improvement group, they needed an import export group, they needed a gateway group, they needed a logistics supply chain group. I was the guy that started it also. So I moved on to something and then what I realized, you know, I come from Arthur Andersen and accounting degree
John Corcoran 3:56
is gonna say you have an accounting degree, right?
Bob Loback 4:00
I used to study financial I used to study financial systems
John Corcoran 4:04
in DC. So that must have been helpful because you seem like a very personal guy to you. I would never have guessed you as come from an accounting background. You seem like
Bob Loback 4:13
I wanted to be an accountant. And what I figured out is I’m really a salesman. So I moved out of Arthur Andersen and went to work for Lucasfilm. It studied George Lucas Films, financial systems.
John Corcoran 4:28
Now this is in the early 80s. You’re working
Bob Loback 4:31
at Lucasfilm early 80s. I was an Industrial Light magic in San Rafael and Sandra fell on
John Corcoran 4:37
Cameron county where we both live Okay. What was it like working for George Lucas back then? That must have been a small operation back then.
Bob Loback 4:44
Yeah, it’s very small. For me it was an unbelievable experience. But it was an awakening. They were my clients. They hired me to do an accounting review of their accounting systems. They’re just starting to make a ton of money and they needed structure. So I did that. And then they approached me after about a year saying, Would you be involved in a corporate competition like what do you mean? Then I go well, the general manager of Industrial Light and Magic Tom Smith wants to retire. And so we want to create a corporate Thunder Thunderdome. We want to put two men in one man out and we want a person with a corporate and business background and we want a person with an artistic background and we’re going to put them in the Thunderdome. We’re gonna do a three month evaluation of the two in the winner is going to be the heir apparent to Tom Smith as the general manager of an Iowa
John Corcoran 5:46
how cutter I’ve never heard of that before. Oh,
Bob Loback 5:49
it’s totally cutthroat. I go up. Hey, I’m in I’m, you know, whatever, whatever it takes. What a great opportunity. I love this company. And this is an opportunity and chance of a lifetime. So I jumped in first day I get called into Tom Smith’s office, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, in my car in my competitor in the room, and they’re talking about a movie that they want to do Spielberg wants to do, and he’s just dialoguing with
Unknown Speaker 6:19
the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Bob Loback 6:21
No, no, no. Okay. I can’t disclose it. I don’t remember. I think I think it was Dune or something. Okay, okay. All right. And
Tom Smith after the meeting, we didn’t say much of anything. We’re just taking notes. Warren Franklin and I were taking notes. He was my counterpart, the competition, okay, and wasn’t Warren’s great guy from the artistic side. Tom Smith turns and says, Oh, you guys are dismissed. Go Go come up with a budget for the special effects view of Stephens idea. And I walked away and I liked it. Shit, I have no idea. But anyway, so I had to learn it was a quick, quick learning thing we were. It was awesome. The creative talent at that organization is incredible. I met some great guys. But as a business person, what I realized is that they hate business. They love artistic people. But this is back in 1982. Yeah. So you know, I don’t know the organization since then. Yeah. But I lost. All right, Warren got the job three months, or three months in it you’ve worn didn’t have a job for very long. By the way.
John Corcoran 7:36
What did you learn in that time working from George Lucas working for George Lucas?
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