A Good Business Isn’t Enough: Jamie Cusack on Choosing the Right Partners

Anderson Williams: Welcome, Jamie. Thanks for joining me. To get us started, will you just introduce yourself and say what you do and where you do it? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah, definitely. I’m Jamie Cusack. I am the CEO of Keystone Access Partners, and we are Shore’s foray into the entrance and access control space. So we’re currently comprised of two brands, two companies, Dillard Companies and The Ritchie Group. 

We operate out of Memphis, Tennessee, Tupelo, Mississippi. We have two locations in the Florida Gulf Coast, and then Ritchie Group is Northern Kentucky, and we have three locations in Central and Southern Indiana.

Anderson Williams: And when you say entrance and access, I think we all know what those words mean, but what does that mean when it comes to building a business? 

Jamie Cusack: Yes. So I think if you look at the Dillard website, you’d see Curb to Dock, and basically what that means is we try to help our customers with everything from a security standpoint from the curb of their facility all the way back to the dock. So when you think of at the curb, that’s typically, you know, exterior perimeter security such as a gate or bollards or that type of thing. 

Once you get inside the gate or the bollards, there’s often, you know, automatic doors, pedestrian doors. And then lastly, you know, the dock is the most important kinda endpoint of the supply chain. And throughout that entire kind of area are numerous security and access control systems. So on the perimeter, you may have CCTV, so closed-circuit television security cameras, and then keypads and badging systems that allow, you know, only the right people in. 

Anderson Williams: So this is all business clients and customers. And is it residential too, or is it— 

Jamie Cusack: It is residential as well. And, you know, really we don’t do residential services in Memphis, in Tupelo, but we do everywhere else. So the Panhandle and then Ritchie Group is about 50% residential. And so think about us as from a commercial standpoint, overhead doors, so like rolling steel doors, high-speed doors. 

So think about that as either in a warehouse or even in a parking garage, those really fast doors that are basically controlling access to a given area. And then on the residential side, it’s purely garage doors. In the Gulf Coast region, we do do shutters, so those are hurricane shutters to obviously protect properties from storm damage.

Anderson Williams: So how did you get into this? How did you come– I know your background includes consulting and some other things. How did you come to this industry, to this business opportunity? Tell us a little bit about that. 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah. So I actually started as a board member of a Shore company back in November of 2024, and that company is a facilities maintenance aggregator. It’s called Maintera. And while I was a board member, I helped bring the CEO of that platform to Shore, and I learned a lot about the Shore model. And it was really learning about the Shore model, learning about all the support that Shore provides its platforms and portfolio companies. It was super intriguing to me. 

And so I reached out to different folks within Shore. That company is within the food and beverage space. And then ironically, a friend of mine outside of Shore actually put me back in touch with someone in the business services space, Grant Tworek, who was the person who actually wrote up this thesis on the entrance and access control space. 

So I met with Grant, he explained the thesis. I was already pretty sold on the Shore model because I got to see it in action and how real it was as a board member of a company. But then when I walked through the thesis with Grant, although I don’t have overhead door entrance access control direct experience, I’ve been working in tech-enabled field service businesses for the last 15 years or so. And so what I found was after starting, my experience is directly applicable to what we’re doing. 

Anderson Williams: And you’ve had experience in private equity prior to Shore, so you know other models. And so just for anybody listening who doesn’t know, when you say the Shore model and you have some points of comparison, what do you mean by that? Both, I think sitting in the CEO seat, but also potentially thinking about a founder who might be exploring the idea of a private equity partnership. What do you mean when you say the Shore model? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah. It’s different. It’s a growth-based model. A lot of private equity companies do try to kinda cut their way to the numbers, right? So by slashing and reducing costs, they’re able to achieve EBITDA improvement and things like that. And so I worked with private equity companies as my clients, I should say, throughout my consulting experience, and then I worked for a number of private equity-backed companies as well. 

And the Shore model is focused on growth. It’s focused on investing in the people, investing in the business. And really, I think the largest thing is the portfolio performance group that Shore has is comprised of a number of different centers of excellence in different areas of expertise that Shore provides its platforms and its portfolio companies. 

Things like, you know, data, AI, human capital, finance and accounting. Like, you name it, there’s a center of excellence or a group within Shore that is there to help you either take a look and dig into a certain aspect of your business or, you know, potentially come on as almost like a consultant to help you fix certain things. 

So in that aspect, it’s super different because it’s really focused on growth, but then they also have the bodies there to actually help you enact change. That’s probably the primary piece, but then I’ll say the other big piece is the boards of companies that Shore puts together. So for Keystone Access Partners, our board is comprised of a number of folks. 

Most private equity boards are pretty small, and they’re largely comprised of the investors from the private equity firm. On the Shore side of things, the Shore model plugs in people with really relevant experience, either direct industry experience. So for example, we have someone on our board who’s a former CFO at DuraServ. We have someone who was an executive at Chamberlain Group. And, you know, that’s just to name a couple. And then we have folks that have, you know, technology experience or field-based service business experience, et cetera. 

So surrounding these small microcap companies with all of this experience that is not there to check on you on a quarterly basis, but really there to support you. We have super relationships with all of the folks on our boards. They’re actively involved in whether it’s answering questions or making contacts for us or just advising. They’re, you know, willing and able to help us, and I’ve never seen that from a private equity company previously. 

Anderson Williams: And if somebody’s listening to this and they’re curious about what a partnership might look like, they’re a founder, they’ve built their business, help translate what that means for them from the founder perspective and what you hear when you talk to founders as you go around the market. But when you think about what a founder might be struggling with or what a founder might be sort of feeling limited by, and you think about that Shore model, how do you translate that from what you hear from founders and what they’re struggling with, whatever that might be? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah. So number one, I think founders usually have gotten their business to a certain point, but getting it much further is a bigger challenge and maybe a challenge that they don’t feel like they’re up to themselves. And so, you know, I think what I try to do is just help them understand all of the resources that Shore brings to bear to help them grow the business from, you know, where it is today to where it could be in three to five years. 

A lot of founders are also concerned, really. They don’t understand private equity, and they’re concerned largely for their people. And so for me, it’s very important to help them understand, you know, the difference in the Shore model. This is not, we’re gonna go in and slash and burn. We’re not cutting to the numbers, but we’re going to better support their people, give them better resources or resources they don’t currently have access to, whether that’s, you know, tools or technology, just adding additional sophistication to the business to better support those folks. 

I think you’re aware of this, but, you know, one of the things that I did was work with the Shore team to build a leadership training, and that was something that the people at Dillard and Ritchie Group just did not have access to previously. And so because of the Shore resources, we’re able to offer those types of things that otherwise a lot of founders and owner-operators just would not be able to do. 

Anderson Williams: Well, and I think just to double down on that and to your credit, in that modeling and in that partnership around the leadership training, it was also around a framework that you were familiar with. And just talk about that because I think it’s not just about when you hear training, it can be, you know, getting better at doing my job, but it was really bigger than that. You were doing something bigger based on your own experience for your people that I think sets the stage for what this platform is all about. So will you just talk more about that? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah, certainly. So I’m a big fan of the conscious leadership framework, and it’s a fairly common leadership tool, leadership framework that folks know of. But for me, it’s especially good for field service businesses because what it does is it establishes a common language for anyone in the company, no matter what your role, what your title, what your rank, it doesn’t matter. It gives you a common language. I think everything kinda starts with that baseline of communication. 

And so it’s a framework that, again, I was familiar with. I brought it to the Shore talent development team. I said, “Hey, this is something I would really like to build this leadership training around.” Keep in mind, a lot of these folks haven’t ever been to a leadership training. They definitely are not familiar with the conscious leadership framework. 

And, you know, the Shore team took it back and developed something that was absolutely incredible. So we met, I think it was over about four months. We did the first kickoff of the training in person. We did about eight, I think it was, virtual sessions, and then we ended phase one with an in-person gathering of the folks as well. 

And you would have thought that this was something that the Shore team just pulled off the shelf. They’ve done this before. They didn’t. They were not familiar with the conscious leadership framework, and they built this incredible training for folks that, again, haven’t experienced training before. So it was amazing. 

I was really impressed with what they were able to put together. It’s probably the number one thing I’ve gotten the most positive feedback on from the various teams was just, like, the usefulness of the training, the fact that we were able to get something so robust out there as quickly as we did. So we’re in the planning phase of phase two right now, which I’m excited about, and everyone else who participated is excited about as well.

Anderson Williams: Yeah, I just think that it’s important to put that into sort of concrete terms because again, it wasn’t just about, you know, again, you’re countering a story of private equity. It’s about efficiency. It’s about these kinds of things. And what you are doing is helping people think about how they show up at work, helping people manage what triggers them and what triggers the people they manage, and helping people have a language for those kinds of things that’s just a baseline, not of their job, but how you show up together as a team. 

And I think that’s a really powerful and specific example when you talk about taking care of the people. If I’m sitting on the other side of this as a founder, that’s what you’re talking about, and it’s really important. Let me add a person to that mix. As a founder who may be considering a partnership like this, how should they think about their role? I mean, it’s great, and it’s, I’m sure, confidence-building to hear the opportunities for them for these kinds of training and their people. But how do you think about what the right transition is from founder into this larger platform partnership? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah, it’s a really, a great question, and that comes in all different shapes, sizes, and colors, right? So we work with owner-operators, and some of the companies have multiple owners. So for example, one of the companies that we’ve worked with had three owners, and one of the owners wants to retire, right? And so he currently runs one area of the business, another runs another area of the business. So he’s in charge of residential, the other’s in charge of commercial, and then the third owner is kinda more of like that GM doing finance and accounting stuff. 

And so we just had a very open, honest conversation with all three of them and said, “Hey, you know, we know that someone’s looking to retire in about a year. Do you have a succession plan in place for him?” They don’t. So, you know, understanding what that looks like and working with them to find the right, you know, successor, but then also understanding what roles the other two guys wanna play. 

Do they have, like, the fire and the energy to keep going and add more to the business for the next three to five years during our hold period? Or do they wanna take a step back and be able to, you know, travel a little bit more with their wives or whatever it might be? So to me, that’s a very important upfront, transparent, honest conversation that we have with all owner-operators as part of the offer conversation. 

And I think it’s really important to understand what the owner-operators want to do, what role they want to play, and then we’ll work with them to build that. So, you know, if it’s something that doesn’t exist, we will work with them to build that out. And it’s going to come in different shapes and sizes ’cause different people wanna do different things. 

Another group that we spoke with, one of the guys really wants to focus on M&A and get out of the day-to-day, and he’s super familiar with the industry. He knows a ton of players in the space. He would be a great advocate for us to add to the M&A side of things. The other wants to just continue kind of the day-to-day operations. So we’re gonna build roles for each of them so that they can do what they’re excited about doing, and we’ll give them the support that they need to be successful in those roles.

Anderson Williams: Yeah, I mean, I think that sort of question and self-reflection for that founder or the business leader as they consider this is, you know, what do you want and why? Why now? It’s an important conversation that I’ve had with founders in this podcast, and I’ve started to ask more frequently: how would you tell someone listening to assess or evaluate how ready they are for this type of partnership? ‘Cause what you’re describing is, like, one component would be know what you want or have an idea of what you want on the other side. But are there other components when you talk across the market that you’re like, “This person’s a great match, but they’re maybe not ready. They may be ready in 18 months or two years”? Aside from the business terms and founder terms, what would readiness look like for you? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah, I think, again, comes in different shapes and sizes. And I’d say a lot of folks we actually talked to didn’t realize they were as ready potentially to sell their business. And then, you know, they have conversations with other owners and founders that we’ve partnered with, and they start talking about diversifying their assets and liquidity opportunities. 

And you know, one of the things I think that Shore does really well is not only obviously gives liquidity, so cash at close, but one of the big components of the negotiation process and the M&A process is getting equity in this platform, so they get a second bite of the apple. And oftentimes that’s significantly more money and just much more valuable generational wealth for them. 

And so I think they just– A lot of times obviously you’re an owner-operator, you’re focused on your day-to-day, you’re not really thinking about the long term. And maybe you have those kind of fleeting moments where you do think about it, but they don’t spend a lot of time, you know, figuring out succession planning or what’s next. 

And so when we have these conversations, again, they’re just transparent conversations. Oftentimes the businesses are probably more ready than they need to be. We have businesses that are run on pen and paper, and they know that they need to roll out some sort of a technology solution, but they’re really afraid of doing that, and that’s something that we can very easily help them do. 

And so even if they’re on pen and paper, that doesn’t mean that they’re not ready. And so, you know, we can help them. We can get them to that next stage where they may wanna be. 

Anderson Williams: I think it’s a really important thing. I imagine people assume they’re not ready for reasons like that, the sort of pen and paper process, or assume they’re not ready because they think that the option is this other private equity story that they don’t want anything to do with, and so they’re not ready for that. And so I feel like some of this is just opening up the conversation a little bit, and if there’s even a question, like, let’s start the conversation. Like you’ve built a great business, that’s the foundation, but for this to work well, it is this kind of transparency and openness that you’re describing. 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah, no question. And you know, it’s one of those things, it’s like, “Hey, we wouldn’t be having a conversation with you if you didn’t build something special that we know is super important to you that we think we can help you take to that next level. And whatever role you want to play in that at the next level is up to you, and we’ll work through that with you.” So yeah, I think it’s, again, it’s just that communication, that transparency, really important to have upfront. 

Anderson Williams: So give a little bit of a sense on where the company is today. You’ve mentioned Dillard and Ritchie Group and some of the locations, but when you think about the state of the business, the size of the business, the number of partners, the markets, the services, and those kinds of things, and you project out, say, two years or three years, where is this going and how is this getting built? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah. So we’re currently, again, in those markets. We’re looking to expand, you know, Midwest, Mid-South, Southeast. That’s at least what we’re thinking right now. That doesn’t mean if, you know, a really solid opportunity for us to acquire a good partner elsewhere comes up that we’ll, you know, shy away from it. We’ll definitely take a look at it. 

I think a number of things, you know, there’s– I wanna get to a place where we have a standardized platform on which we’re operating, so from a technology and operations management standpoint. You know, to me, one of the things that is often lacking in microcap businesses is the right data to be able to understand the business and understand what levers you can pull to improve your numbers, improve the business. 

And then for me, it’s really, it’s about sharing best practices, right? So I see every one of these operating companies that we onboard as a truly a partner, and what I want to do is bring all these great minds from this industry together to share best practices and explain and talk about challenges that they have. And then as a group, we can work together to solve those challenges and, you know, devise the best ways of working, ways of doing things. 

So, you know, we’re fairly small right now. I think our goal in three to five years is to be at $150 million-plus with $20 million-plus in EBITDA, and I think that’s super achievable, and I don’t really think it’s gonna take another four years for us to get there. I think we have a great team. We already have an idea as to the specific systems that we want to roll out and deploy and, you know, I think we’ve made a lot of headway in a really short amount of time. And I think the more partners that we can get on the platform, the bigger ball of clay that we have to work with, the better we’ll be able to build this thing even more quickly.

Anderson Williams: I wanna go back to something you were describing earlier ’cause I think it’s important to really hit. When you talked about best practices and thinking about future partners and those kinds of things, say more about that in the spirit of you’re not acquiring partners right now and then saying, “Okay, come do things the way we do them.” You’re looking for partners who excel in areas where when those partnerships come in, the platform gets better. So I think some people could assume that the platform has its rules and its standards and whatever, and if I sell my company or if I partner, then I need to adapt to that. But what you were describing was something different. And I would just like for you to say more about that. 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah, really great point. I’m glad that you clarified that. So there’s a lot around that. I think as far as the platform goes, we are looking to partner with companies that not only help us expand geographically, but specifically have a capability that we either want to have that we don’t have today, or a capability that would help us enhance our current capability in that space. 

So that’s kind of first and foremost. And then number two, we’re looking to partner with good people. That’s a game changer for me, and that’s a non-starter. We’ve come across companies that we were excited about partnering with, and when we did some due diligence on them and looked at customer reviews and found that they just weren’t really good people and didn’t really treat their customers well, we, you know, that was the end of it, right? 

So that’s really important. I think when it comes to the platform, the way we operate, sharing those best practices, if you do something really well today and the way you do it works, we’re not gonna look to disrupt that. I think if anything, we would look to give you potentially resources or tools to enhance that or take it to the next level. 

But for example, we’re going to choose a standard platform, so a field service management platform and ERP for the platform for Keystone Access Partners. However, if you’re running on a field service management tool that works really well today, we’re not likely going to migrate you to a different solution. 

If it works really well for you today, and we don’t see any kind of benefit or upside in getting you onto that standardized platform, what we’ll do is we’ll have you operate the way that you are, but we’ll be able to kinda ingest the data from that tool so that we can incorporate what you’re doing into the reporting. 

And really, it’s, at the end of the day, it’s important for us to be able to monitor and measure, you know, the performance of the business. And as long as we can do that by getting the data out of whatever tools or systems you’re using, and we don’t see a benefit to migrating you to a different type of tool or system, then we won’t look to cause that disruption. 

Anderson Williams: It’s almost like a portfolio effect. I mean, even the way that Shore thinks and learns across our investments, it feels like you’re describing that portfolio effect where different people come with different areas of expertise, and where that expertise can be captured and shared, it’s captured and shared. Where it needs more resources to be magnified, it gets resources, with the goal of building that foundation of a common business. You’re not building a patchwork, but from a learning perspective, it’s like a portfolio. 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah. And I’d say different areas of the business operate and function differently in different geographies, right? Like, you may use trailers in one area because it just makes more sense based on the type of driving that your technicians are doing. In other areas, you may use more of, like, a box truck or something like that instead of having to tow a trailer. 

So, you know, if that’s part of your secret sauce, and it really works, and it adds value to your business, that’s not something that we’re gonna look to change, but we may actually learn from you. You know, that works really well, and maybe it’s worth us trying elsewhere in the business.

Anderson Williams: Well, this has been really insightful in terms of how you’re thinking about the business, and you’re early. You’ve got your first couple of partners, and I’m curious just to come back to you. What, in this first era of the business and as the CEO of the business, have you learned as a leader, as a businessperson, as a business leader, as a leader of these portfolio companies, so to speak, these partners? What have you learned? 

Jamie Cusack: Yeah. I’d say for me, it’s very important to get out in the field and actually see the work happening, see the work that we do, right? Like, see us serving our customers. And one of the coolest things that I’ve learned is… and I’ve done this in different areas, different regions, our various locations. 

The technicians that we have, they’re solving incredible problems on a daily basis, and I think that’s one thing. It’s nothing is cookie cutter. Nothing is cut and dry in this space. You think doors are pretty, you know, pretty standard, you know, we take for granted, frankly. I think, you know, all the doors that we use and walk through and drive through and whatever on a daily basis, there can be one of 1,000 things wrong with a door. 

In watching our technicians actually troubleshoot, problem solve, use their brains, and then obviously use their hands to fix these things, it was mind-boggling to me. I was blown away by just, like, how much they care. And so, I mean, to me, that was a big learning moment for me just to see that in action. You know, again, I think I took some of that for granted, and they care. And to me, that’s a really important piece of this business, and it means a lot to our customers that we do obviously care that much. 

Anderson Williams: If you enjoyed this episode, check out our other Microcap Moments episodes at www.shorecp.university/podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts. Here, you will also find our Bigger. Stronger. Faster. and Everyday Heroes series, each highlighting the people and stories that make investing in the lower middle market unique. You will also find our latest video podcast series, Raw Talent. 

This podcast was produced by Shore Capital Partners. 

With story and narration by Anderson Williams 

Story, editing and recording by Austin Johnson 

Editing by Reel Audiobooks 

Sound design, mixing, and mastering by Mark Galup of Reel Audiobooks. 

Special thanks to Jamie Cusack.