How Anthony Perera Built a $200M Company, Lost It and Bought It Back

The Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset

Anthony Perera shares his intense journey of building a $200M HVAC empire, Air Pros USA, only to watch it be dismantled by macroeconomic shi

Key takeaways

• Perception drives revenue: Perera used bold zebra and tiger-striped van wraps to differentiate Air Pros USA in a crowded market.
• Strategic acquisition: He grew his business by purchasing defunct customer lists from failed companies like Service America for as little as $5,000.

Main topics

• Entrepreneurial risk and failure
• Brand differentiation strategies

Notable quotes

True determination is not what you do when you're winning, but it's what you do the day after you lose everything.

Conclusion

A powerful lesson on how to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit and fin

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Most people spend their lives building the one thing that matters most to them. My guest today took six years to build something so massive that he started with a $10,000 loan from his grandfather that was supposed to be used for tuition. Now get this, before building this HVAC company, he was a magazine guy, selling magazines at events by handing them to people and getting people to buy into what he was doing. In six short years, One truck turned into 800, 1,000 employees, seven states, and over $200 million in revenue. This guy was crushing it. And so one day, he watched it all fall down. He was put on the board. He stepped down as a CEO and almost overnight watched the company that he built with his father be disassembled piece by piece. Fast forward a few years later through Exuma Capital. He purchased the Florida Legacy sections back from the people that he watched take his business apart. So today, we have Anthony Pereira on the show. And the thing that I love most about this man's story is not that he's a successful businessman, is that he knows what determination actually really means. See, true determination is not what you do when you're winning, but it's what you do the day after you lose everything. Anthony, welcome to the show, buddy. Happy to be here, man. Man, so good to see you, man. Good to see you as Speaker 3 (1:28) well. Speaker 2 (1:28) You look great. And so do you. You look great, man. I like your haircut. It's freaking sweet. Thank you, thank you. Dude, so let's get into it, man. You know, when I look at your background, right, let's really talk about being at events. You know, early on when you were 19, you had a media brand company, and you were slinging magazines like a hot dog vendor. That is correct, yeah. No fear, just doing what you needed to do. What is the most humbling thing that you did at the beginning that you would still do tomorrow? Speaker 3 (1:56) Yeah, humbling is a big word. Like for me, when I first started the brand, it was because I wanted a magazine to read about a sport that I love, which at the time was mud racing. We had big mud trucks and swamp buggies and ATVs and all these things. And I went to a store one day and tried to find a magazine about that genre of off-roading, which didn't really exist. And so when we launched the company, listen, I had no knowledge about writing a magazine. That was very humbling. I was not a good writer in general. I had to buy my first camera to be the editor-in-chief. I was actually petrified to get on a phone and cold call people for advertising. So that was my probably most humbling experience that I had was learning how to overcome that fear. I mean, now I'll talk to anybody. Put me in a room. It doesn't make a difference. But back then, I would literally fear getting on the phone and talking to people. And so, but we had to. I had no option. We had no capital. We printed our first magazine without any advertising clients. Literally, there's not a single client. It was a picture book. And we'd go out there and we'd sell it for $3 a copy like a hot dog vendor, walking around events. And eventually we started calling advertising clients, getting advertising clients. And the brand, when we sold it in 2011, was in 16,000 retail stores. Holy moly. Yeah, it was a pretty big brand, man. It was pretty cool. But it was also one of the cool takeaways from that business is I learned early on that perception becomes reality. So we went to an event one time where we show up, we have a little tiny tent and we had, you know, the mud life ironed on our shirts and we had a little banner trying to sell magazines for $3 a copy and get people to trust us to buy a year subscription for 25 bucks. And they were like, there's zero shot on buying a subscription from this guy who's Speaker 2 (3:36) in Speaker 3 (3:36) a, you know, a Walmart pop-up tent and he has one magazine. And so what I realized is there's another brand across from us. I think it was called Bucked Up or something. And they were selling these shirts. They had this line out the door. I'm like, what are these guys doing I'm not doing? So we went out, got a loan for an RV and a big trailer that we couldn't afford, by the way, came out to the next event, had this huge rig that I barely could make the first payment on, and we had a line out the door. Perception becomes reality. The customer perceived at that time that they could trust us, they'd buy from us because we looked like we had money and we looked like we were successful. It was crazy. It was absolutely... I don't know about humbling experience, but that was probably a pretty cool experience I learned early on in business, that perception becomes reality. Speaker 2 (4:17) I think one of the things that I heard you say that I really want to dive into for the audience is you bought an RV, right? You took out a loan, and you were afraid that you weren't even going to be able to make that first payment. We couldn't make the first payment. I Speaker 3 (4:30) wasn't afraid. We didn't have the capital. You didn't have it, Speaker 2 (4:32) right? But there's a lot of people that hold off on their dreams and what they want to build because they don't have the capital. I can relate to this. Yeah. I started the Determined Society with no money. It was just a hobby. I did what I had to do. I recorded it as a car. But I still moved forward. Years later, the money started showing up. What kind of advice would you have for that new age entrepreneur or even somebody in their mid-40s that wants to start something new but is too afraid? We get that question all the time. It's from friends of Speaker 3 (4:59) mine. How do you take that first risk? You just got to do it. You got to jump. You can't be afraid to leap. And a lot Speaker 2 (5:08) of Speaker 3 (5:08) the companies that we founded, I mean, mud life and then going on to the bars and restaurants and then in the HVAC and home services, I didn't know a single thing about any of those industries. Not a single thing. Didn't go to school for media publication. Sure as hell didn't go to school to be a bar owner. Right. For an HVAC technician or an HVAC owner, right? Like, it's so you can't be afraid to take the risk because without the risk, there's no reward, right? And so, you know, take the leap. I mean, there's so many opportunities now out there for first-time entrepreneurs, for guys wanting to start up, and you're in an age where... AI is so abundant and there's so many like SBA loans now and all this stuff didn't exist when I started my company. It's just so much more accessible now. And it's, so I mean, the advice I would give is take the risk. I mean, what do you have to lose? Are you going to sit in your, in your, in your boring life you're currently in right now? I'm not saying, not saying anybody's lives are boring. I'm just saying, if you want to be an entrepreneur and take that jump, right, you got to have, got to have a pair. You know what I mean? Speaker 2 (6:03) Well freaking said, you have to have a pair. And, and that's the thing. you want big shit, then you better be able to risk it all. For sure. And, you know, I can relate because I did that. I left corporate America. I left, I was a top salesperson for any Fortune 500 company that I went in. It didn't matter if it was the payroll and HR industry or medical. It didn't freaking matter because the components that I had, I just took from there to over here. And then I brought them over to the show. It was a risk. It was hard. But how rewarding was it for you when it actually paid off? Speaker 3 (6:35) It was very rewarding. And to your story, man, like, you know, all those who are in sales typically are the best entrepreneurs, right? And that's just historically how it is because 95 % of any new startup business or new venture you get into, without revenue, you don't exist, right? And so if you are a good and you're a talented sales individual, you would make a great entrepreneur because usually those guys... love getting paid commission and love, you know, killing what they eat. And those guys are on the hunt 24 seven. Those are the guys who typically make the best entrepreneurs. Um, back to your question on reward. It was great. I mean, it was, it was a, it was a feeling that, you know, we finally had something, you know, we did something successful, right? Our first exit, I was 23 years old. We sold to a big publishing firm. Um, I was an executive publisher, my first job in corporate America. Uh, you know, That didn't really last for me. Speaker 2 (7:26) I didn't think that it would Speaker 3 (7:27) with your background. It was a funny story we'll tell you later on, but it's a, yeah. So it, but it was, it was a cool experience. I got to now see how the other side of the, of the industry worked. And this is a company who bought us as a multi-billion dollar business. And, you know, and it was cool to see the structure they had. It was cool to see the people that supported all the roles in the organization and taught me a lot. for later on in my life. Speaker 2 (7:49) Love it, man. One of the things I really enjoyed about learning about you and this process getting ready for this interview was how fucking dynamic you are. You haven't built it in just one industry. You built it in the media, hospitality, HVAC, now capital. We built a technology company we sold. Technology company. What was the technology company? So we Speaker 3 (8:07) built the company out of a need for our home service company. That's right. Speaker 2 (8:10) Called Speaker 3 (8:10) Inspected. Okay. We sold that business last year. We can get into that too if Speaker 2 (8:15) you want. That was inspected.com, right? Okay, Speaker 3 (8:16) I did read about that. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I had Speaker 2 (8:18) a Speaker 3 (8:18) brain fart. That was absolutely crushing it. I Speaker 2 (8:20) mean, Speaker 3 (8:20) they're doing 14,000 inspections a month right now. That's insanity. They're the largest third-party inspector, I think, in the country. Wow. By volume, a number of inspections for single-trade contractors. We essentially invented a market. Right. And it was a pretty cool business. Very cool. So, okay, look. So you had a $10,000. Yeah. My grandfather gave me... Gave it to one of the kids when we were young, $2,000 or $3,000 in a, I don't know, some sort of like educational plan. Speaker 2 (8:45) And Speaker 3 (8:46) when I was 18, it was worth $10,000. And I took it out, and I was supposed to use it for college, and we started the magazine with Speaker 2 (8:52) that, $10,000. Now, did he know you used it? He Speaker 3 (8:55) found out later on that I did it. And I think when he found out, I decided not to pursue college. I did a year and a half, or a year at Citadel, and then I did another year or so at Nova Southeastern. and didn't finish. And so when I took the rest of the money out to go do that, he was like, ah, that's a really good idea. It was kind of mad at me for a while, but he was alive to see some of the success we had and the exit we had on the mud life side and starting the bar. And he came to the bar one time. So it was pretty cool. Wow, man. Speaker 2 (9:22) Wow. So. You have mentioned in multiple things that I've read that you're not an HVAC guy. You're a brand builder first. What does a brand builder see that a technician can't? Now, look, y'all, I know when to admit when I'm wrong. And I've been wrong for the past 10 years. For the last 10 years, I thought Wayfair was a website that you could go to to buy furniture for your home and to get it installed with ease. So that way the precision and everything matches up to. what it looks like on the website. But like I said, I was wrong. This past month, we were searching for something special from our daughter's 10th birthday. And what we found there was this amazing Paris wall decor and this amazing bed set that was Paris themed with the Eiffel Tower. We were able to provide our daughter with a piece of Paris every time she walked into the room, every time she closed her eyes at night, and every time she opens them in the morning, she can see. her favorite place. Now, I know this may not seem a lot for some people, but when you have kids, you want them to smile. It was without a doubt the favorite thing she got. So thank you, Wayfair. Transform your space with pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get 5 % back on every purchase. Head to wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R. A-I-R dot com. Speaker 1 (10:55) Wayfair, every style, every home. Speaker 3 (10:58) Yeah, so listen, I mean, building a brand, again, I told you earlier about how I feel with sales guys, now revenue cures a lot of things. You've got to build a brand that customers can identify with. You've got to build an attractive character, no matter what you do. Whether you're selling a technology company, whether you're selling for the HVAC business, whether you're doing roofing assets now, you've got to build. an attractive character, meaning something that a consumer or a customer can relate to. Speaker 1 (11:25) And Speaker 3 (11:25) so a lot of guys jump in, I'm going to go spend money on marketing and their branding sucks. They're not memorable. They don't have something that they're Speaker 1 (11:32) going Speaker 3 (11:32) to attract themselves to. And so a lot of stuff that we do, we try to do in our companies is build the attractive character, whether it be the operator, whether it be the business itself, but have a brand story. Like, why is a company going to choose you in a crowded market, right? I mean, that's kind of... how we've always seen our companies. When we launched the magazine brand, I had guys getting the logo tattooed on their arms, right? And we had the Cowboys saloon bar in Davie. They had literally, guys had their tattoos of that on their arms, right? And so you build this brand that people can relate to. It makes everything else so much easier when it comes to marketing and driving revenue and scaling. Speaker 2 (12:07) You Speaker 3 (12:08) know... Speaker 2 (12:09) When you're talking about building the character, whether it's the operator, the company, et cetera, like, dude, you wrapped your vans or trucks or whatever in, like, what was it? Tigers and cheetahs. Our first van was actually a zebra. No shit. Speaker 3 (12:25) Yeah, it was a zebra. So Speaker 2 (12:26) let's dive into that because that's an industry where everybody wears matching polos and shit, dude. Speaker 3 (12:32) White shirt, blue pants. They got the logo on their name. Yeah, yeah. So what inspired you? To be Speaker 2 (12:40) loud like that right Speaker 3 (12:41) away. So listen, we opened the business down here in South Florida. You know, it's a big market. It's a major metro. You got three major cities that are back to back. West Palm, Waterdale, Miami, or whatever they are, counties. And I wanted a way that would let us kind of stand out in that noise, right? You know, you see a tiger-striped van or a zebra going down the street. Listen, we don't know what it's for, but you're going to turn your head and look at it. And it was funny because there's a really smart... branding guy who I'm really close with, Dan Antonelli. He started Kick Charge Creative, and he's wrapped some of the most iconic home service companies in the country, right? The Gettles of the world and that kind of stuff. I call him one day. I said, Dan, I want to change my AirPros design. Listen, full transparency. The actual logo itself was like a clip art piece. It wasn't very like... but the van looked like a damn tiger or a cheater or a zebra going down the street, right? It's badass. It was cool. It was definitely a differentiator in the market. Okay. And Dan and I had this hour-long battle over he wanted to change my tiger stripes. And I said, dude, I'm never changing the tiger stripes on this van. He goes, why? I just can't work with you. I said, well, come to work. We've done probably 14, 15 different brands together with him now. But yeah, I remember that story like it was yesterday. We're arguing over. You got to lose a tiger's stripes. I said, dude, that's what made us so successful in this market when we launched. I mean, you launch a company within year two, we're doing almost $10 million in revenue. So, I mean, it's from the ground, from nothing, from zero start. Right. I mean, it was like what? Speaker 2 (14:12) One truck, two employees in a parking lot, wasn't it? Speaker 3 (14:15) It was my dad was my technician. He helped you kick the company out. He gave you the idea. So he worked for me in the old bar business we had. Okay. He was my construction manager and we sold that company. He said, hey. I want to open an HVAC business. And I said, okay, well, let's go do that. Happy to help you, support you do that. We bought one truck and he was a sales guy and we had one technician. And the only thing about home service is at least in HVAC, you have like a turnover model where typically a tech goes to a house, they diagnose the problem and a sales guy comes in and sells a solution. My dad would sit in the truck or the tech would go inside the house, solve the, like figure out what was going on, come back and get my dad to go out and then sell whatever it was. the replacement or the repair, whatever it was, he'd go sell it. We had, we didn't know at the time, I didn't know what turnover model was or it would even existed, but we were doing the turnover model, you know, inadvertently, uh, very early on. And so, yeah, we started with one truck, one tack and, you know, we started growing it organically, um, for the first year or so. And then we started buying broken businesses, customer lists, phone numbers, you know, I think our greatest acquisition, we bought a, um, a customer list from a failed company called Service America down here.