Just after they bought back ownership, they landed a deal that gave them traction with their new business model. They focused aggressively on their custom product and let the wholesale aspect shrink. The move doubled their business. It also chained them back to it.
People he liked
It was 2011 when they again began to question what they’d do next. They chose to take some money off the table, maybe walk away for good. This time — older, wiser and more experienced — things would be different.
Nelson and Marks used an investment banker, went to market and talked with lots of interested investors. They ultimately chose Alex Schneider and David Choe of Clover Capital Partners. Marks and Nelson liked them. The firm pulled together investors and took a majority share, and Nelson and Marks, co-CEOs, held the rest.
The PE firm helped shore up the company’s systems and infrastructure, add capacity and put in a new ERP system, all in preparation to sell again. Schneider recommended two potential investors — private equity firms, each of which they liked, each for different reasons. They ultimately went with Shore Capital. Shore, which bought in this year, is focused on growth and has processes Nelson is confident will take Main Street to another level … without him.
Subtle approach, unsubtle opinion
When Marks recently went part time, it helped Nelson start to let go, albeit slowly. He says there have been times since then that something would happen with the business, something stressful, and he would start to call Marks, then stop.
“I would leave him out of it because I knew he needed it,” Nelson says. “He was trying to get away.”
Marks, who now sits on the company’s board of directors, has had his responsibilities split among those still in the business. Nelson’s responsibilities, which are being examined by Shore Capital’s chief of staff, are next.
Nelson describes his current situation as a subtle letting-go. He looks at whose hands he’s put the company in, has seen what they’ve done in other companies and feels confident in them. He trusts them to carry on the business, trusts them not to fail.
Still, he’s not ready to mark an exit date on his calendar. He says he’s not driving that decision, but rather letting the process play out and waiting for a sign, like a signal in the market, that says it’s time — everything is taken care of, he can go. While he still has questions about life after work, his wife has offered her very unsubtle opinion on Nelson’s future.
“So, Akron U basketball, this is probably five, six, seven years ago, they made the NCAA tournament,” Nelson says. “They’re playing in Michigan and I go up to Michigan and watch the game. They of course lose.”
He says he got home around lunchtime on a Friday and went to work on the computer.
“My wife’s reading in the other room and the games are on, so I’m watching,” he says. “My wife comes in, and at one point she goes, ‘That’s the third time you yelled the same thing at the TV.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s instant replay. They keep making the same mistake.’
“ And she goes, ‘Get the f*** out of here and go to the cigar shop. You’re never retiring.’”
