How to Build an Indy Sponsor Team Before Chasing Deals
Where many newly established independent sponsors "fake it 'till they make it", Shreveport-native Edward Crawford used his "Mission & Margin" principles to raise working capital for real infrastructure and a team at Coltala Holdings before chasing deals.
Edward Crawford is an Afghanistan veteran, Goldman Sachs alumnus, serial entrepreneur & Texas Governor appointee. With Coltala Holdings, they have closed a series of Texas-based deals in home services, healthcare, aerospace, and other essential services.
Edward has a background in real estate. He laments the lack of a 1031 exchange for private equity assets, and advocates for sponsor fees that resemble those in the real estate sector. He is furthermore a proponent for long-term holdings, saying you can (dividend) recap a great business as often as you want, but you can only sell it once.
We’re a holding company in a private equity skin.
Inspired by Danaher and Toyota, Edward and his team have developed Coltala Enterprise Systems (CES). With CES, they identify core KPIs and determine at the beginning of an investment lifecycle where they need the KPIs to get to in order for the target company to become a stand-out performer in its vertical.
What are the main 8 core operating metrics that really matter in this business. And we layer on about 7 more that are for the industry to get to about 15. And we work with investment banks and the people that really know the industry and say, “OK, seven years from now, we get to end of a rainbow, where we want to be, what's the perfect business in this space,” whether it's aerospace, home health, HVAC, whatever it may be, and what do these metrics look like?
Coltala uses Pipedrive as their CRM. Within it they track both deals and deal sources. Specifically, they maintain a list of their fifty top deal sources, and they tend to these relationships in a structured manner with regular catch-ups and in-person time investments.
This newsletter has nowhere near the reach of Coltala’s, where the recipient list counts 30,000 stakeholders, including business owners, investment bankers, and prospective investors. According to Edward, their monthly newsletter blasts typically generate 14-15 active leads.
Edward is a thoughtful, resourceful, and strategic independent sponsor. Listen for his take on how to build a professionalized investment group from scratch and beyond.
Keep reading
Quadruple EBITDA in 3.5 Years, Then Exit at 14x
Former theater director Cory Sandrock explains how independent sponsorship is just stagecraft in a different suit: cast great people, raise funds for each production, and deliver standout performances. Cory shares how he struck gold in home services, why he avoids herd behavior in crowded sectors, and how leaning in on terms like turning off fees or yielding economics attracts the right partners and builds long-term value.
Buying 9-Figure Deals
Renaud Besançon is the founder of Ceres Industries Capital, one of Europe's leading independent sponsor firms. Free from the constraints of traditional funds, Renaud's team targets "non-vanilla" mid-market acquisitions (€20m-€75m EBITDA), often closing them at 30-40% discounts. After 20 years as a sponsor, with a 30-year WIP investor database, Renaud details how he blends "back-to-basics" PE centered on operational value creation with deal-by-deal pioneership in France.
Pushed Out by Anchor Investor
Neal recounts the moment his anchor investor retraded him at the five-yard line of a $7m EBITDA acquisition. The terms were gutted, leaving only a 2% closing fee. No management fee, no carry, no long-term involvement. The shock was real. But instead of burning the bridge, entering litigation, or walking away empty-handed, Neal took the deal. It gave him a track record, credibility, and sufficient capital to keep searching.
