Episode
#397 - Wiley Curran - Co-Founder @ CPC - Building A Perpetual Holding Company Of Lower Middle Market Businesses
- Podcast
- POWERS
- Published
- Oct 28, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 4973
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/ATHLLC3503500643.mp3
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/powers-1144811/episodes/397-wiley-curran-co-founder-cpc-building-a-perpetual-holding-company-of-lower-middle-market-businesses/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/powers-1144811/397-wiley-curran-co-founder-cpc-building-a-perpetual-holding-company-of-lower-middle-market-businesses.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Today, I sit down with my good friend Wiley Curran to break down the story behind CPC, a family-built perpetual holding company that buys and holds businesses indefinitely. We also discuss how CPC approaches acquisitions, management incentives, and organizational design to create enduring value across industries. We discuss: The evolution of CPC from a family chemicals business to a multi-company holding group Why long-term ownership outperforms short-term investing strategies How to build companies around customer intimacy and employee satisfaction The “five key battles” CPC uses to evaluate and improve every business Lessons learned from buying, integrating, and supporting 14 companies over time Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:12) - Running a CEO search (00:08:26) - The story behind CPC (00:23:39) - The importance of customer intimacy (00:37:02) - CPC's long-term vision and employee engagement (00:40:33) - Executive ownership and equity (00:41:29) - Structuring equity buyouts (00:42:58) - Valuation and liquidity rights (00:44:49) - Investment strategy and business acquisition (00:47:11) - Sourcing and evaluating business opportunities (00:50:14) - Onboarding and integration of new businesses (01:03:09) - Customer lifetime value and profitability (01:09:13) - Board meetings and CEO summits (01:14:36) - AI experiments and business impact (01:18:30) - Future vision and personal goals Support our Sponsors Ramp: https://ramp.com/fort Collateral Partners: https://collateral.com/fort Chris on Social Media: Chris on X: https://x.com/fortworthchris Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefortpodcast LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/45gIkFd Watch POWERS on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3oynxNX Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/ Leave a review on Apple: https://bi…