Think Like an Owner

Alex Bridgeman and Brian Johnson explore the operations and customer experience challenges of running a garage door company. Johnson, who transitioned from 20 years in commercial lending to acquiring Pioneer Overhead Door in 2023, discusses the realities of buying a business with minimal office infrastructure and no prior industry experience.
They discuss:
- Building a training facility to ensure technicians learn away from customer homes
- Shifting revenue mix from 85% commercial work to 60%, with service growth driving margins
- Transforming the sales process from a 15-minute spring replacement to an hour-long educational experience that includes a 29-point inspection
- Using recorded service calls and show-and-tell tactics to demonstrate value rather than compete on price alone
- Testing AI phone answering systems and determining when human interaction still outperforms automation
This episode offers practical insight for anyone operating or considering acquiring a home service business, particularly around balancing commercial projects with residential service work and redefining how value gets communicated to customers.
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:00:55) - Building the training facility
(00:03:09) - Shaping the customer experience
(00:05:49) - Lessons from home service industries
(00:07:51) - The technician as educator
(00:09:38) - Background in finance and search
(00:12:56) - Underwriting the deal and due diligence
(00:14:58) - Day one challenges
(00:17:33) - Shifting from commercial to residential service
(00:18:54) - Working capital crunch in commercial installs
(00:24:13) - Price versus value in service calls
(00:31:02) - Preventative maintenance in commercial
(00:38:36) - Refining the sales process
(00:56:50) - Customer service and AI experiments
(01:01:21) - Looking ahead to growth and culture
Links:
Brian on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-johnson-a435914/
Pioneer Overhead Door - https://www.pioneeroverhead.com/

Matt Weber, a second-generation garage door business owner, joins Alex Bridgeman on Think Like an Owner to share his journey from working in his family's construction supply company at age ten to eventually acquiring and expanding Alpha Garage Doors across Montana. After nearly a decade away exploring different paths, including pursuing a history education degree, Matt returned to the family business in 2010 and has since grown it into a multi-location operation serving Billings, Butte, and Missoula.
They discuss:
- How rapid expansion without proper systems exposed foundational gaps that required rebuilding
- Why effective delegation means staying out of operational details and trusting your team to execute
- The process of developing authentic core values that work both as family principles and business culture
- How assuming everything is about you as an owner damages relationships and undermines leadership
- Why having a spouse involved in the business provides essential outside perspective and support
This episode offers practical lessons for anyone leading a family business or managing fast growth while learning that sustainable success depends on building strong systems and remembering it's not all about the owner.
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:00:54) - Growing up in the garage door business
(00:02:52) - Leaving Montana and returning home
(00:05:40) - Coming back to work in the family company
(00:09:44) - Communication breakdowns with parents
(00:11:12) - Leadership lessons: it's not about me
(00:14:48) - Getting buy-in from the team
(00:17:17) - Heroes and historical influences
(00:18:06) - Core values rollout at Alpha
(00:25:10) - Team reception and proving it
(00:28:52) - Delegating operations to Jonathan
(00:33:18) - Making it less lonely at the top
(00:35:15) - Vision for regional expansion
Links:
Matt on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-weber-229518a2/
Alpha Overhead Door - https://alphaoverhead.com/

Alex Bridgeman and Alex Johantgen explore the journey of building Rise and Shine Garage Doors from two personal trucks to a fleet of over 20 vehicles projected to do $10–11 million in revenue. Johantgen shares how he and his business partner started the company in 2015 after selling a home and cashing out a 401(k), built early traction through door-to-door networking and Google reviews, and later rebranded from the generic "Garage Door Repair Company" to a memorable identity with eye-catching vehicle wraps. The conversation reveals how attending an industry conference in 2020 opened their eyes to what was possible and led them to implement structured systems, processes, and an eight-week technician training program.
They discuss:
- Why customer service ability matters more than technical experience when hiring technicians
- How twice-weekly team meetings and a structured career ladder help maintain consistency across 100+ daily service calls
- The surprising effectiveness of neighborhood-based direct mail campaigns tied to recent jobs, tracked through reverse lookup attribution
- How building a training center and hiring a full-time trainer freed up leadership to focus on growth instead of daily operations
- Why brand familiarity through billboards, radio, and vehicle wraps increases conversions when customers search on Google
This episode offers a detailed look at scaling a service business through deliberate investments in training, marketing, and leadership development for owners in the trades.
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:00:41) - How Alex got into garage doors
(00:02:26) - Starting the business with Josh
(00:03:43) - Rebranding to Rise and Shine
(00:04:48) - Growth phases of the business
(00:05:57) - The conference that changed everything
(00:09:39) - Learning from other owners
(00:12:00) - Building systems and training programs
(00:19:48) - Career paths for technicians
(00:23:48) - Hiring the right people
(00:26:36) - Building the leadership team
(00:29:33) - Marketing strategy evolution
(00:39:11) - Looking ahead to the rest of the year
Links:
Alex Johantgen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-johantgen-664b41102/
Rise and Shine Garage Doors - https://www.callriseandshine.com/

Mahesh Rajasekharan has spent over twenty-five years in supply chain and leads Cleo, a category leader in AI-driven supply chain orchestration serving more than five thousand customers globally. In this episode of Think Like an Owner, Alex Bridgeman, Rob Southern, and Mahesh explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping enterprise software and what it means to build an AI-native company. Mahesh shares how Cleo combines powerful intelligence with accumulated data, context, and domain expertise to close the gap between planning and execution in complex supply chain environments.
They discuss:
- Why AI amplifies existing strengths rather than creating value from weak foundations
- How software production has shifted from humans writing code to humans defining problems while agents participate in building
- The economic discipline required when allocating capital across frontier models, open-source alternatives, and purpose-built solutions
- Why supply chain orchestration represents a structural opportunity to coordinate action across multi-enterprise ecosystems
- How clarity of purpose, exceptional talent, and leading transformation from the front become even more critical in the AI era
This episode offers practical insight for software leaders and business owners navigating technology transitions while maintaining long-term compounding growth.
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:00:57) - Mahesh's background and Cleo's mission
(00:03:20) - What AI-first actually means
(00:07:21) - How AI transforms software development
(00:11:01) - Enterprise software's shift to systems of action
(00:13:41) - What executives misunderstand about AI
(00:16:12) - From software features to business outcomes
(00:19:10) - Supply chain orchestration as a category
(00:24:31) - AI economics and smart capital allocation
(00:29:55) - Leadership principles in the AI era
(00:32:44) - Capital allocation across growth initiatives
(00:37:09) - Building for the next decade
(00:41:13) - Final thoughts on CEO leadership in AI
Links:
Mahesh Rajasekharan
    LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheshrajasekharan/
    Cleo — https://www.cleo.com/home

Alex Bridgeman and Dustin Winter explore the realities of building and scaling a garage door business in Minneapolis. Dustin shares how he transitioned from fifteen years in commercial banking to buying Metro Garage Door in 2020, drawn by the industry's stability, low cyclicality, and strong pricing control. The conversation covers how Metro has grown from 18 to 30 employees while more than doubling revenue and shifting from 12% to 52% commercial work.
They discuss:
- Why Metro moved away from commission-based pay to build customer trust and improve the technician experience
- How cross-training all technicians on both residential and commercial work creates flexibility and compresses the cash conversion cycle
- The strategy of scheduling preventative maintenance appointments at job completion to smooth revenue and retain customers
- Why smaller tuck-in acquisitions offer better risk-adjusted returns than larger platform deals
- How delivering materials to job sites early and billing immediately shortens working capital cycles on commercial projects
This episode offers a practical look at service business economics for operators managing seasonal work, long sales cycles, and the tension between growth and leverage.
Topics:
(00:00:00) - Intro
(00:01:17) - How Dustin bought Metro Garage Door
(00:04:28) - Service vs sales revenue and seasonality
(00:07:59) - Growing from 18 to 30 employees
(00:09:04) - Shifting to 52% commercial work
(00:10:01) - Working capital as a competitive moat
(00:13:01) - Converting projects into service contracts
(00:16:26) - Cross-training all technicians
(00:23:34) - Eliminating commission-based pay
(00:30:56) - Building a preventative maintenance program
(00:38:00) - Benefits of scale and deeper teams
(00:41:06) - Fast iteration with daily customer feedback
(00:45:12) - Accelerating cash conversion cycles
(00:53:36) - Tuck-in acquisition strategy
(00:59:50) - Software implementation challenges
Links:
Dustin on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/metro-garage-door-mn/
Metro Garage Door - https://www.metrogaragedoor.com/