Six months ago I stepped in as General Manager of FMSI, the branch performance and workforce optimization platform that joined the Solen portfolio. I arrived with a clear picture of what the job would be. Some of that picture held up. A fair amount of it did not. What follows is an honest account of what the first half of the year actually taught me, written for anyone weighing a similar move.
What Surprised Me Most
In the first thirty days, two things caught me off guard. The first was how invested Solen is in creating happy customers. I expected an owner focused mainly on the numbers. Instead I found a partner that genuinely wants its businesses to thrive, and that understands relationships and satisfied customers are what make a company last. That is not a line in a deck. It shows up in the questions they ask and the decisions they back.
The second surprise was the team itself. I expected drive at FMSI. What I did not expect was the relentless pursuit of building something special. The intrinsic motivation here blew me away. People are not waiting to be told to care.
I also got one big assumption wrong. Walking in, I thought I would be largely on my own. That could not have been further from the truth. I am surrounded every day by other business operators with sharp minds who push one another to build our companies the best way we can. The job is far less lonely than I expected it to be.
The Permanent-Capital Reality
There is a common perception that private-equity ownership means constant pressure and short-term thinking. Quarterly targets, cost cuts, a clock ticking toward a quick flip. That was the version of the story I half expected to live.
What I have found inside a permanent-capital firm is different. Solen holds a long-term vision for each of its businesses, including FMSI. That vision is broken down into digestible goals, and then into monthly, weekly, and daily actions that move it forward. Breaking a large ambition into smaller components makes it feel manageable. Counterintuitively, it lowers the pressure rather than raising it, because you always know the next right thing to do.
The relationship is calibrated, not constant. Solen is as involved as it needs to be. When we hit a problem or need expertise, they are there with ideas, resources, or the right people. When we are executing well, they let us operate. The capability I have come to value most is access to expertise. Solen is full of people with skill sets I do not have on my own team, and they are always willing to dive in and help strategize the path forward.
The Team I Inherited
The thing I did not expect to value as much as I do is the people. I inherited a team that is genuinely dedicated to its work and committed to getting better. The unteachable qualities they bring, judgment, care, and ownership, are the hardest things to build and the easiest to take for granted. I did not build this team. I get to steward it, and that is a privilege.
Have I won them over? I am not sure that is the right question. Culture and relationships are always under construction, built day by day, and they always will be. That is the beauty of it. There is always a better culture to build and a better relationship to be had. Solen recognizes and understands that well, which is part of why the work feels like a long-term build rather than a transaction.
What I Changed, and What I Left Alone
One thing I pushed to move on quickly was AI. In today’s market, if you are not using AI, you are getting left behind. Solen’s focus on putting AI to work across its businesses was obvious from the start, and we saw eye to eye on it right out of the gate.
Engineering is where that has paid off most. Our engineering team was already strong. Amplified with AI, it has reached new levels: faster product builds, rapid prototyping, and roughly three times the velocity on bug fixes. That is not a science experiment. It is shipping value to customers sooner, and we intend to keep improving.
The thing I deliberately left alone was our support team. Every customer satisfaction score I have seen, and every NPS reading, points to that team as the reason behind our success. It is working, and it is keeping our customers happy. Knowing what not to touch is as much a part of this job as knowing what to change.
What I Wish I’d Known on Day One
If I could go back, I would tell myself how invested the leadership team is in developing other leaders. From sessions on building AI skills to work on strategy and operations, the leaders at Solen actively push the people around them to grow, and they are very good at elevating people to the next level. I treated that as a nice-to-have on day one. I now see it as one of the real advantages of the model.
So how would I describe this job to someone considering a similar move into a permanent-capital environment? Rewarding. If you enjoy a complex puzzle, building an executable vision, and leading a team toward a large goal, there are few better opportunities. The pressure people warn you about is mostly a story about a different kind of owner.
Looking Ahead
For the back half of the year, my focus is simple to say and hard to do: find a way to accelerate our growth. We have the team, the customers, and the partner to do it. The next six months are about turning that into real momentum.
If you are a founder or operator wondering what life inside a permanent-capital portfolio actually looks like, I am happy to compare notes. Reach out to the Solen team and let’s talk.