Keep pulling the thread on Brad Jacobs.
Brad Jacobs has successfully built eight separate billion-dollar companies.
Brad Jacobs' strategy for selecting an industry to consolidate involves finding one that is large, growing, fragmented, allows for acquisitions at reasonable prices, is not tech-forward, and is not at risk of near-term disruption from AI and automation.
Brad Jacobs' compensation strategy for his senior team involves giving them large amounts of equity that vests over time, with most vesting in the last two years of a five-year period, and a five-year restriction on selling.
Brad Jacobs' team has a core competency of acquiring a company and doubling its EBITDA within three to five years.
Brad Jacobs' team successfully doubled the profits of acquired companies like Conway and Norbert Dentressangle within approximately three years post-acquisition.
Brad Jacobs uses a mental exercise to categorize employees: if he would feel relief if they quit, they are a 'C player'; if it would be a manageable inconvenience, they are a 'B player'; and if he feels pure terror and panic, they are an 'A player'.
Brad Jacobs' monthly operating reviews (MORs) use a crowd-sourced agenda where attendees submit and then rank key questions based on pre-read materials, with only the highest-rated items being discussed.
Brad Jacobs asserts that the two primary drivers for creating shareholder value in his businesses are growing top-line revenue faster than the competition and expanding profit margins.
Brad Jacobs correctly predicted that the online education company Chegg would be disrupted by AI and that its stock would subsequently decline from around $50 to single digits.
Both United Rentals and XPO were top 10 stock performers in their respective indices during the decades of Brad Jacobs' leadership.
In the last 12 months, Ramp hired only 0.23% of the engineering candidates who applied.
Brad Jacobs served as CEO of United Rentals for approximately 10 years before stepping down to start a new company.