**Transcript was automatically generated by artificial intelligence.**

Paul Martin
Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of Paul Martin's Crucial Conversations. Today we have with us Brent Mack. Brent is the CEO of Golden Bear Physical Therapy, the Golden Bear Therapy Partners. Golden Bear is a private equity backed company that was originally home base in Modesto, California. They have now moved those corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois, and they have grown to over 125 clinics in six states. Brent, congratulations. And it's great to have you with us today.

Brent Mack
Yeah, I appreciate it, Paul. Yeah, I appreciate the backdrop and kind words.

Paul Martin
So Brant, when newer acquire ers and you know, golden bear, I know you guys have been at it, you know, with short capital for a couple of years now and doing just a phenomenal job. But you're still considered one of the newer acquirers out there. And when new acquirers enter the market, our clients typically ask us three questions. And the first, which I will ask you, is how is Golden Bear strategy for becoming a successful company in this industry? How do you see it different from the strategies that some of the larger legacy companies are following?

Brent Mack
Yeah, you know, so Golden Bear is is new to, you know, being a growing company but has been around for 40 years. So the history that Golden Bear started in Modesto, California, 40 years ago and about two years ago, March 2019, partnered up with Shore Capital out of Chicago, about 18 players at that time in the Central Valley of California. And over the last two and a half years, as drawn to 125 places as he's referenced six states. And so although the platform is is new in the private equity realm and new to doing partnerships, acquisitions and growing outside of the original footprint, I myself am not new to that environment. I joined up with Bill Murray, three partners in July of last year, have a 20 year history with another platform which I helped grow from one client to over 800. And and they have taken some some learnings from my past and things that that work there we will apply here and things that I would have done differently in the past. I will do differently here. And I think, you know, having some of that experience and seeing what what has worked in the past with some of the market dynamics and things that have changed, I think we are different and I think we're different because we're taking a true partnership approach. Golden Bear Therapy Partners, a name of the company, they will be undergoing a name change here over the next 30 days to just become a therapy partners group. And I think what that means it stands for to to me is we want to have individual premium brands in different markets across the country and then really come in and help support them. I think we've got I don't think I know we've got best in class back office in this industry, you know, best in class in terms of sales and marketing, best in class in terms of talent acquisition, best in class in terms of training in development, best in class in terms of operations, support, compliance. I think as a growing private practice, whether you've got one place and you go into two, whether you have five and you want to go to ten, whether you have 50 divided by 100. There are certain things, you know, that work. When you have ten points to go work when you have 20, there are certain inflection points that come along the way and I think we have the resources to help help solve those. Wherever you're at in terms of that that path of growth, if you're you know, if you've got two or three clinics, you want to continue to grow. We have resources that help with that, but never take away from the brand that you build built over the years to get there. You've got 15, 20 clinics. You need you need more back end support. And there's some things that you're running into. You, you all, human resource wise, compliance wise, you find yourself sitting on webinars, phone calls, trying to get your COVID information and figure things out. Over the last couple of years, we have those resources that you could tap into. Are you looking for an exit strategy or are you looking to start doing some some acquisitions and some, you know, more de novo growth in the area that you're in, but maybe don't have all that operational support? I think we can be that answer for for many different groups out there, but we're not looking to just put dots on a map anywhere. We're looking to be the premium brand in the industry, really look for partners and impeaches that, want to continue with the business and be part of a bigger team and be part of the best team in the industry. And that's really what the what we're going to build here. So I think there are some differences that run some people here the been there done that to a degree that have made some mistakes in the past and and now have got to step around those paths. The but also some people have had some success in the past and and varied environments before that. I think we can now at the value some practices they're joining up so I think we've got a really unique thing. I think we've got a great team and I'm really excited about where things are going to go. And we want to be a be a national brand.

Paul Martin
Yeah. And and Brant, thank you for some more of the background. As as many of you may know, Brant comes from a long history of physical therapy operations, growth, development. And as you said, I liked what you said, Brant, you did a lot of things right. And in that company, you did a lot of some things wrong. I don't say a lot, some things wrong. And so you're going to correct some of those things now that you've you have that history going into Golden Bear. And yeah, as I said, so far so good. So Brant, when you look at a company and I know it sounded like a pretty wide range of companies could be the right fit for golden pear therapy partners. You discuss smaller companies that want to grow, larger companies that want to grow, but are there are some key characteristics of a company that you think would really thrive by joining Golden Bear Therapy Partners?

Brent Mack
Absolutely. You know, it's a very overused word, but culture and culture is hard to kind of put down on paper, but you can feel it. We don't have we have a business development team, like I mentioned earlier, we have what I believe to be the best in class back office in this industry. So we've got people to help guide through the acquisition or partnership process. You know, just just like most most groups out there, I think we have people that are really good at. However, you know, there's heavy involvement from myself, from the chief operating officer, from others who have joined the platform that people are going to work with day in and day out. And I think that, you know, as we look for practices, they've got to be the right cultural fit and want people to be attached to the to the platform. And, you know, with it being very part of this group, we're going to keep local name brands that have build a great reputation for years. But we want people to realize as being part of a bigger team how they how they fit into that. How do we you know, really support with made them special over the years with allowed them to grow because are so many uniqueness to brands geographies I very much understand that but you know having a great culture of wanting to be part of a bigger team and you know, really wanting to come in and do something that hasn't been done before. I think, you know, there's 15 or 16 different private equity backed players in the industry now and there's three big public companies. And everybody has the same the same investment thesis will come in. We're going to do we're going to do acquisitions with big partnerships. Did you know about same store growth? We're going to have the best outcomes. If you look at everybody's website, look, everybody's promotional material offers the same thing and it's one thing to put in our point deck. It's one thing to have a, you know, fancy promotional material. It's another thing to do it. And I would say with the right cultural fit, we're going to do it here. And we're already doing it. And that's what I want to do. We all spend a lot of time at work. It becomes a big part of our lives. It's a big decision to to sell your practice or to join up with it with a bigger team. And I want to make sure that I we uphold when somebody comes aboard this platform six months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months down the line, they feel like the best decision they've ever made. And not only for them, for the rest of their employees and teammates that joined up as well. So your cultural fit is number one. And, you know, just what what problem or are we trying to solve? And are we a good fit to do that? You know, we are a smaller organization that's looking to grow. We help with that. If you're a kind of a medium sized company, you've reached an inflection point. You know, you need to add some, you know, back office staff or human resource to revenue cycle, whatever problems we might be having. I think we can be a resource help that if you're looking for an exit strategy, if you're looking to do more acquisitions and more growth, I think it's it's not a one size fits all approach here, but I think we have, you know, a lot of flexibility to help in many areas and be stronger together.

Paul Martin
Right. So kind of the nuts and bolts of an acquisition process, you're talking about your structures, your process. How is your approach of acquiring a company different from some of the larger companies in terms of the process?

Brent Mack
Yeah, you know, I think it's it's, you know, very much me and get to know you at first, right. So this is, you know, sometimes you get desperation and there's you know, I think numbers are a reflection of behaviors in this industry. There's certain KPIs and numbers that we look at just like any industry that give you an indication of maybe the health of the business. But the numbers don't tell the story. They tell a story. But, you know, so we we do look at the numbers just like everybody else does. I think that allows us to have an educated first conversation with folks. And so know we have a business development team that can can guide people through the through the entire process. People are very skilled at, you know, how to handle closed deals, how to structure deals with different options and kind of walk people through that, that whole process. Once we get to the point that says, okay, this is this is a deal that we both feel good about and let's do the right diligence. Let's get to another line. Let's pick a close date and walk all the way through that. I think that, you know, again, we're probably a little more hands on through that process when somebody decides to, you know, sell their company, partnered up, partner up with with their partners group. It's it's a big decision. You know, there's a gentleman that people that I've known for ten, 15 years and, you know, a guy joined up with the practice you're and next month has 30 year history and 30 years ago he was out you know sitting in parking lots of or he practices and acting like he's just hanging out waiting for physicians to walk out the door early to work that day in the hopes that he could run across into the parking lot and get that one patient 30 years ago. Well, that's up to me to uphold that. I know that that just doesn't happen. And so I think the uniqueness of having a physical therapy run company understand what it takes to get there over the years and never just blending that all into a a huge platform, really celebrating the uniqueness of the different brands, making sure it's a great cultural fit, and then making sure that we can we can grow together. And so I think we, you know, we look at numbers, personality, culture as a, you know, really get to know you face. But then it's really important to talk about what life looks like after the fact. You know, what? What do you want to do? What are your goals? And, you know, I'm I'm not big on corporate jargon. I don't like to talk in such a high level that's never actionable. And I believe in being very upfront and honest with people. And a lot of times in the past when you do that, it works out or you figure out early on, Hey, maybe this just isn't the right fit for you here, but we get it somewhere else. But we want people all rolled in the same direction. I want everybody on the same team and it's going to be the winning team. And, you know, that's what, again, we're trying to do to build an all star team here. We can guide you through the business development and sale process. We've got subject matter experts there, but I think it's really that cultural fit. What do you want to do after the fact? What's the company doing today, you know, financially and where do we think that we can take it to? And, you know, again, numbers are a reflection of behaviors. Every day we take great care of patients every single day, every day, great care, our teammates and employees every day. We're going to have a have a great company that financials take care of themselves. So, you know, long winded answer and we can get more into that, you know, with anybody that's interested. But we have something unique here. We have something that I think is best in class and industry is something that you're going to see us back up over the next several years.

Paul Martin
You know, you've talked a lot about culture and as you said, it's, you know, kind of a buzz word and it's a pretty broad range of cultures. How do you think someone who has been a partner with cold beer therapy partners, how do you think they would describe your culture, say, a year or two into the relationship?

Brent Mack
You know, so, you know, we've moved currently from 18 flags to set right account for you to do six dates in about 125 clinics. And so, you know, with that growth in that period of time, you know, there becomes, you know, some challenges. Yeah, I've been here since July of last year and really focused on pulling the company together and really functioning as one, although we still operate under several different regional brand names that are that are super strong. And so I think I think people would describe the culture as I'm able to, you know, continue to celebrate my uniqueness at the local level. But I think over the last year we really started to pull things together culturally. How does this all makes sense? How does my brand, the Tucson, Arizona, how is my brand in Spokane, Washington, has my brand in Las Vegas fit in with the parent company? And so, you know, some very, I think, best in class training programs for clinic directors. We have a equity program for for for contractors that join up that can participate within the parent company, equity within the parent company stock, a lot of regional growth plans that are built with our growth and development team best in class recruiting. And so I think, you know, that we're we've really built again that best in class back office. And so if somebody has had trouble in the past with recruiting, I think we'd be able to solve those problems for people. If people needed some ideas on how to grow operationally or maybe how to look at things a little bit differently, I think they will solve that if people have been wanting to undergo an EMR transition, we've got trainers and people up and coming and plug in with that. So I like to say we're a, you know, a small mom and pop shop with the support of a large organization and in keeping that family friendly feel every single day, every patient that walks through the door with light them up, let's make it the best, the best experience of their day, even though the treatment might be a little different. You know, a therapist in an Orange County might treat a four or 500 just a little bit differently than somebody in Seattle. But the patient experience would be the same across the board. So we want to make sure the culture is the same, the patient experience is the same, that people have all the opportunities in the world to grow within within the company and not just within the brand. And I think that we've got, again, something that that is very unique that's just getting better every day.

Paul Martin
And it sounds like, you know, the the discussion that we had of moving to and going through somewhat of a name change really points to that culture of kind of continuing to have local community businesses that are growing but with their, you know, their name branding remaining the same. But with the support of Golden Bear around that. But would you agree with that?

Brent Mack
Absolutely. And that's really the reason behind the name Change. The company has grown bigger than the original investment thesis was. It was to be and with it just being a California brand. And yet with Golden, there are three parts make sense as we've expanded the six day team to be a seventh. And I really see this being a national platform and keeping the individual brand names, third parties group makes more sense. It's really what we do. We partner up with practices that help them grow and but maintain again that that local my about feel and local mom and pop brand and so yeah I think I think it just more accurately reflects who we are and where we're going. So, yes, I said the reason for the change.

Paul Martin
And you touched on now being in six states and looking to at some point in time be a not have a national presence. How do you as the CEO and your leadership team, how do you guys look at geography, where you will go, where you may not want to go, what you do once you get into a new state? Walk me through kind of your geography strategy. Certainly not giving up too much, but, you know.

Brent Mack
We have a plan. So, you know, we have a we have what we call regional growth plans. And so when we enter a market, we don't want to just put dots on a map everywhere, even if it's a great cultural fit and a great practice. I don't think it's suggested. I don't think it's a recipe for success to have one clinic in Kansas and two in Iowa and three in Alaska and two in New Jersey. So we want to go into new markets with a market leader. And I think most markets that we would enter would be with a partnership or an acquisition and then grow off of that. So if we're looking at new areas and probably looking at something of size, we are going to open up in some areas just organically. I think there's there's people out there and they're maybe looking for a change and and maybe don't have their own practice yet, but have some relationships, have some fire in the belly or the right cultural fit. And it can open up in some new markets for us. You only have that support system to be able to do that. But I think overall, you know, we're looking for companies that have five, five plus clients. If we're going to go into a new area with the path to to help them grow. And, you know, it's not completely unique structurally wise here, but there's multiple ways that we can we can set that deals up as well. You know, these can be cash deals. We have the opportunity for people to have stock within the the parent company when being in a private equity environment like we are. And almost three years into the whole period here, sure, there'll be an exit or a recap opportunity for folks that joined the platform in maybe a second and third bite at the apple. That line that let people join up with us. So there's there's different structural, you know, ways to set things up here, but it's nice to be able to take some chips off the table with your current company, be able to add in some additional resources to grow, be part of driving that growth, and then participate in the success of the parent company. So you can get excited about not only what's going on in your your area, but also other areas of the company and all of us learn from one another. And so I think I think some differences there. And again, I'm real confident about where things are going. That's because we have a great team and we continue to really add some premium brands and smart people right along with me that that work well together, that support each other. And, you know, we should go to work every day and have fun. And I think, you know, in the end, the finish line is not just when you sell your business partner up with somebody. And just like the end line here isn't when short capital sits and somebody else comes that this is going to be built to last and and again, trying to do something. I'm not in the business of trying to do something that hasn't been done before in this industry with a collection of premium brands. So we can we can really help grow small mom pop shop. We'll support a large organization which is really get people involved.

Paul Martin
Yeah. And you know, for so many years, people had such a, you know, an opinion when it came to, you know, call it corporate rehab. And anything that's private equity backed, you know, certainly could be considered corporate rehab. But it's so refreshing to hear from you. You know, the strategy of maintaining that local presence, maintaining those, maintaining the name. So many companies have a real big issue of changing their name and you don't have to go through that anymore. And so you have that local feel to it. And, you know, I think with us, business owners have to take a step back and look at is what incredible opportunities this offers to private practices, small, medium and large to have an opportunity to join a group like Golden Bear and truly get, you know, what they would what they deserve for all their years of hard work in their practices. So yeah, I think you know, very positive on on all fronts.

Brent Mack
Yeah. You know this is a very relationship driven business and I know that I'm a beauty. My dad's a beauty. My sister is a beauty. So all I've ever known and you know, regardless of I've heard for 20 years, it's a fragmented industry. It's always going to be because there's always room for the small mom pop shops with great relationships to do a great job out there. But I don't think anybody has got it right on a big scale before know we're going to get it right on a big scale here. Relationships matter. This is a small in this industry and, you know, a lot of people know each other and reputations matter. And I think, you know, we're going to maintain the all the nimbleness to do what works at the individual classic and brand level. But again, be able to provide support of a large organization with some subject matter expertize on the back end. And so I'm really excited about where things are going. And, you know, it's it's very important to me, you know, if if you're deciding to just sell your practice and again, sell, you know, I don't really like that term as much, but is that of what's happening? But you're partnering up here. You're able to roll shares into the parent company. You're able to participate in the future future equity programs. And and, you know, that's all fine and good. But you also have your employees that they bought in to you. They didn't buy they don't know me. They don't know if every partnership and we have to make sure that those people that are the ones delivering the care every single day think that this is this is a really good thing for them done. Why they never make that decision at one point they're they're they're checking their payroll maybe says a different company on it. They didn't choose that. And so it's up to me it's up to us to uphold, you know, everything that I'm talking about here at a high level, that they think this is the best thing for them. They don't lose that small feel of why they joined you. They will trust the practice owner and or their clinic director, whoever it might be. But I think we have unique programs here to help people become the best clinician that they want to be through Golden Bear University, different leadership programs that we have to get people on track to be contractors, to be regional directors and just a lot of really good and smart people to learn from. And, you know, if you got an environment that people want to come into every day and and work with others that are very like minded and were winning, that becomes an environment that's fun to go work every day. And that's what that's what we're doing here.

Paul Martin
Yeah, exciting stuff. Exciting stuff. So Brant, kind of final words here. What advice would you have for a business that is preparing for this market? What's the most important thing they should be looking at and doing?

Brent Mack
You know, you're going to have options. I'm sure if you're listening to this right now, you probably talk to multiple people like me and maybe marry me over the years and everybody's going to tell you a version of the same thing. I think you got to think about what is life look like after that? What do you really want to do? What are your goals? Because I'm I'm again, I'm a I'm not a slick sales guy, but I would tell you the truth. It and I will back up what I'm saying. And I think we have you know, I think you should do your diligence. There shouldn't be a rush. You're going to have all your options out there. If you if you built a great practice, we got to find what's right for you. And again, what does life look like? They after six months, 12 months, 24 months, and does that match up with your goals? And, you know, we are not the someone that ever gives you the hard sell. If that's the right fit in this the right time. Terrific. If it's if it's the right fit at the wrong time, as long as you will keep talking, if it's the wrong fit and the wrong time, that's fine. You are your partner. You'll have plenty of other options to go other places. But trying to really build something special here that we all feel good about and and have a growing company and again, doing something that is different, that has been done in this industry before. So I would just you do your diligence, take your time, get to know the people and, you know, make sure that they can back up what they're what they're trying to do.

Paul Martin
Well, yeah, really helpful. So, Brett, I want to thank you. You've given us some great information today, and I'm really glad you've been able to also once again kind of get in front of a lot of people and talk about golden bear therapy partners and what you guys are up to and what you're all about. And this is really enlightened us to that. So I really appreciate your time today.

Brent Mack
Appreciate that. Paul Nobody's ever told me I've enlightened anybody before, so that's first for me. But I really do appreciate the time and getting in front of an audience. I love being back in physical therapy and again, no buzz words, but we love to talk and meet with anybody who's interested and really appreciate the time of.

Paul Martin
Yeah, thank you, Brent. And for all of you out there, if any of you have any questions about the discussion that I had today with Brent Mack, Click below and let's talk. Thank you.