Redefining an Industry

Last week, our Tugboat Institute® members made the trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for Tugboat Institute @Supportworks to learn about this exemplary Evergreen® company, reconnect with value-aligned peers, and enjoy a taste of Omaha. Dave and Dan Thrasher, who are brothers, co-owners, and leaders of their second-generation family business, put together a remarkable program and experience for our group.

On Wednesday morning, Dan and Dave welcomed us all to their beautiful and impressive campus, where Supportworks, The Thrasher Group, Thrasher Partners, and their newest business, Hello Garage, are headquartered. We opened the first day with a fireside chat with Dan, Dave, and Tugboat Institute CEO Dave Whorton, during which they shared the story of their parents bootstrapping the business slowly, over three decades, before handing the reins to their sons. Dan and Dave dug in and grew it from a $4.5M business in 2004 to an over $400M revenue business this year. Although the business remained relatively small in the 29 years Greg and Nancy Thrasher ran it before their sons returned, that period was critical to its later growth and success. In those first three decades, Greg and Nancy moved their business to Omaha to serve a larger market, added foundation repair to their original basement waterproofing business, and learned how to be a dealer of another manufacturer’s products and later that same manufacturer’s distributor to other dealers. During this period, they built a local brand that was deeply trusted by their community based upon always doing the right thing by their customers and employees. From there, Dave and Dan shared how they founded Supportworks, scaled both it and the original Thrasher business, adopted M&A to respond to the entry of private equity into their space, and key lessons they learned in scaling the overall enterprise at over 20% annual compounded growth rate for the past two decades.

In the second talk of the morning, Dave Thrasher dove into the evolution of their business strategy, breaking it down decade by decade and highlighting critical milestones and decision points along the way. Amanda Harrington, President of Supportworks, took the stage next to share the story of the companies’ journey toward codifying, articulating, and integrating their Purpose, Redefine Our Industry, across the entire organization and in all strategy, planning, and business processes. Finally, Dave returned to the stage to end the day of talks with a deep dive into the catalysts for growth through acquisitions with their Evergreen M&A playbook.

Before we left the campus for the day, we were treated to a tour of their impressive shared headquarters with both Supportworks and Thrasher Group employees as our guides along the way. We could see the incredible attention paid to every detail, from the design of the office space to the layout of their warehouses. It was clear from the way their employees talked about their work that they are deeply dedicated to their Purpose, take pride in their work, company, and team, and enjoy and support each other.

On day two, Dan and Dave collaborated on a presentation about their recent experience launching a new vertical, Hello Garage. They were candid in sharing not only how they selected this vertical for expansion and their successes with this venture, but also the mistakes made along the way and the lessons learned. Next, Amanda Harrington returned to the stage to share how People First comes to life at all the Thrasher companies and shared the details of their essential people programs and processes. She offered numerous specific, actionable ideas that attendees could take away, tweak, and implement in their own businesses. The last formal presentation of the day was from Dan, who shared what it means to them to create and sustain a remarkable customer experience. He cautioned that CEOs should not delegate responsibility for making sure that it remains remarkable and that it’s a never-ending process of continuous improvement for the team. Anything less than fierce attention to this aspect of the business, Dan warns, creates significant risk to longevity.

Finally, as is our custom at our Tugboat Institute Exemplar visits, we finished the day with a Q&A with both Dan and Dave, moderated by Dave Whorton. The candor and transparency that had characterized the entire experience extended through this conversation, during which Dan and Dave addressed questions pertaining to their operations, as well as ownership succession, governance, family harmony, their working relationship, and the future of the company.

After each of our busy days, we gathered for celebration in some of Omaha’s most iconic spots, including, of course, a steakhouse on one night and the historic and breathtaking Durham Museum on another. Dan and Dave proudly shared their beautiful city with us, and our community reveled in the support, friendship, trust, shared values, and love that exemplify this extraordinary group of Evergreen leaders. Thank you, Dan and Dave, for a wonderful and powerful week of connection, inspiration, learning, and growth.