Same roots. New branches.
A family holding company formed to acquire one established New England business — and to operate it, in person, for the next thirty years.
One business. One transaction, run for decades to come.
Most owners weighing what comes next get two kinds of offers. A private equity firm will fold the business into a portfolio and manage it from a spreadsheet in another state. A competitor will absorb it, keep the customer list, and cut whatever overlaps — which is usually the people. Both are great outcomes for some owners. But others want a third option.
Hecker Family Holdings exists for the owner who wants something else: a single buyer who moves to where the business is, learns it from the floor up, and stays. I’m looking to buy one company — not a platform, not the first of ten — and I intend to still be running it in thirty years. That is the entire strategy.
That commitment shapes every decision that follows it. There is no fund life, no hold period, and no investor waiting on an exit. Growth comes from the business getting genuinely better at what it already does, because with a thirty-year horizon there is no other place for it to come from. That means investing in people, in technology, and in a culture with the right values.
Three core values.
These are the three values an owner or a broker can hold me to during a deal, and long into the future.
Focus
One business, one region, one operator. This is not a national search while working on the side. New England is where I was born, and where my wife and I will stay, which means I can be in your building this week rather than on a call from three time zones away. A narrow search is slower, but fits who I am: methodical and intentional. Focus extends to how I lead a team. It requires clarity and accountability on all sides. Know the game you’re in, and know the right path forward.
Low ego
The business does not need me to reinvent it. Someone already spent years learning what the customers want, which suppliers deliver on time, and which person to call in a pinch. That knowledge is most of what I am buying. My first job is to ‘do no harm’ — so I’ll ask folks a great many questions before changing anything, and I will change only with clear focus.
The long game
Every decision gets measured against the version of this business that exists in 2055. That rules out easy moves: deferred maintenance, thin staffing, price increases that hurt your best customers. It also permits reinvestment that would never survive a five-year clock. The compounding of doing the right thing, day after day, is the only advantage we are counting on.
Two audiences, one standard.
Brokers and owners are asking different questions about the same transaction. Here are honest answers:
What you can expect
- SBA pre-approval and financing conversations underway before a seller introduction
- A clear yes or no, with reasoning either way
- Direct contact with the buyer — no analyst, no gatekeeper
- I will not retrade. If diligence matches what you represent, the price holds.
- Confidentiality and respect as a condition of the relationship, not a formality
What I commit to for your business
- Employees keep their jobs and their titles
- Your name stays on the door for as long as you want it there
- A transition on your timeline
- My commitment to operate every day, not hide behind a monthly report
- One person to call, who will be there when you do
to come
About the founder
A career built in operations and supply chain — as a consultant, as Head of Supply Chain Sourcing at Wayfair, and inside manufacturing shops with fewer than ten people on the floor. Most recently responsible for roughly $150 million in annual spend, where the work was about getting demand, process, and sourcing to line up with each other. That's my instinct at the center of everything: find the friction, alleviate it, and do it again tomorrow. It's the same habit of mind that made the leap from corporate supply chain to running a business directly — a desire to be close enough to the day-to-day to see what's actually broken, and to fix it, instead of managing from a distance.
That discipline was formed early in life. Tennis was more than a hobby — nationally competitive as a junior, then four years playing in college — and two lessons shape how I work today. Matches are rarely won on the spectacular shot; they're often won by whoever makes fewer unforced errors, which is close to the whole philosophy above. And the preparation that actually matters happens away from the match, long before it's needed — not just the physical reps, but the mental ones, rehearsing composure so it's already built in by the time a match, or a bad month, puts it to the test.
Investment criteria
Starting points. A business sitting just outside these is still worth a conversation.
Financial profile
- Revenue
- $1M – $5M annually
- SDE / EBITDA
- $0.4M – $1.0M
Revenue quality
- Durable demand
- A durable, ongoing need for the good or service
Company profile
- Operating history
- 10+ years in business
- Geography
- New England — where my extended family is basedNot a preference. This is where we will be living.
Thinking about what comes next?
A first conversation is confidential and commits you to nothing. Share a little about the business and you will hear back soon.
Get in touch ethan@heckerfh.com