Don Grigg·February 16, 2026

Exiting for Millions vs. Long-Term Hold | Don Grigg Interview

Don Grigg is a North Carolina-based operator who bought two distressed plastics manufacturing businesses in 2002 with only a few hundred thousand dollars of personal capital and no outside investors — years before ETA had a name. The first, a plastics recycling business with 6 employees and ~$500k in revenue, initially looked promising around a flower pot supply deal that fell apart immediately; but Don discovered the real edge was on the supply side of scrap plastic, not the customer side. He scaled the recycling business to 50 employees and $10m in revenue over 7 years before selling it to an Illinois Tool Works division — a financially transformative exit that he came to view with ambivalence, as the acquirer standardized away the creative, high-margin work and the culture deteriorated. The second business, a custom plastics molding and early-stage kayak manufacturing company (~$2m, 18 employees), he has held for over 24 years. By recognizing that the kayak product line would drive factory utilization that unlocked the custom molding margins, he built a multi-brand kayak company through acquisitions of Legacy Paddle Sports (2015) and Bonafide Kayaks (2018), becoming the #4 player in the industry, with the combined operation now at ~$22m revenue and 110 employees. Don is an eloquent advocate for ETA as a life's work rather than a PE-style exit vehicle, arguing that sponsored search structures that require exits in 5-7 years are often bad for the businesses and the employees who depend on them.

Deal facts

revenue: Business 1 (recycling): ~$500k revenue at acquisition, grew to ~$10m at exit. Business 2 (molding/kayaks): ~$2m revenue at acquisition, grew to ~$22m combined ($15m kayaks + $7m custom molding)
financing structure: Own savings (a few hundred thousand); controlling interest via manager-managed LLC; minority position in molding business
notes: Two businesses acquired in 2002: (1) plastics recycling business, 6 employees, losing money, ~$500k revenue; acquired controlling interest through LLC partnership. (2) plastics molding/kayak business, 18 employees, losing money, ~$2m revenue; minority interest. Recycling business sold ~2009 (7 years after acquisition) to a division of Illinois Tool Works in a non-shopped deal. Molding/kayak business still held as of 2026, now ~$22m combined revenue, 110 employees, 4 kayak brands.

Why this business

Don wanted a manufacturing business because that was his background from brick manufacturing and metals work. He was searching for small, broken manufacturing companies he could fix and scale, constrained by having only a few hundred thousand dollars of personal capital. He sought businesses that were 'small and broken' but fixable and scalable, and stumbled into plastics through his search process rather than targeting it specifically.

What's working

Supply-side insight in the recycling business: realizing demand was not the constraint — cheap sourcing of scrap plastic was the key lever, allowing the business to grow from 6 to 50 employees and $500k to $10m in revenue
Synergy between the custom molding and kayak businesses: the kayak product line drove factory utilization to 80-90%, which unlocked the high margins latent in the custom molding work
Sticky customer retention in custom molding: once specked in with a customer's mold, the business is very hard to lose
Serial brand acquisitions in kayaks: acquired Legacy Paddle Sports (Native Watercraft + Liquid Logic) in 2015 and Bonafide Kayaks in 2018, becoming the #4 player in the industry
Long-term hold philosophy: keeping ownership stable, building loyalty and culture, avoiding PE-style exit pressure
Adding a third business line (Cool Tops Canopy, aftermarket canopies for commercial mowers) leveraging the same rotational molding and thermoforming capabilities, growing from zero to ~$3m after a 2022 acquisition

What's hard

Original business plan for the recycling business was in the trash within six months of acquisition — the flower pot customer deal fell apart and equipment costs were double expectations
Acquiring two businesses simultaneously (both closed within 6 months of each other) when fully engaged in operating the first; both were an hour and a half from home in opposite directions, pre-Zoom, requiring physical factory presence
Post-exit regret after selling the recycling business: the acquiring company (Illinois Tool Works division) standardized operations, eliminated the creative high-margin grades, and profitability suffered — 'it did feel like losing a family'
Growing a custom molding business is inherently difficult: the same stickiness that retains customers makes winning new customers equally hard
The kayak brand hit a growth ceiling post-2009 recession and required acquisitions to continue scaling

Notable quotes

Small and broken is what I call it — not too broken hopefully.

I learned that what's really important here is sources of supply — that customers are basically buying a commodity from you. If you could make it, you could sell it.

It did feel like losing a family. We had a strong culture out there. We had a lot of families in that factory and it became a much tougher place to be for them post acquisition. And so, yeah, you sort of lose your family when you sell out.

Search is about running a company — not buying a company, then exiting a company five years later. If you find yourself attracted to the deal side of search and the acquisition side of search, probably you should get into private equity.