👷Field Services: The Spreadsheet Is the Easy Part

Hi all - this past week was a bit of a whirlwind. First, getting stuck in Denver because of the NYC snowstorm. Then an overnight flight back to New York…followed by another overnight flight to London.

I landed in London to find the airline had lost my luggage. And now, writing this from Switzerland!

Private equity might be spreadsheets and board decks on the surface. But behind the scenes, it’s a lot of delayed flights, lost bags, and late night conversations.

This week, I thought we’d try a new newsletter format, distilling the latest conversation I had with Robert Irving, who:

Speaking of empire building…if you have a serial acquisition thesis,

Field services is one of those corners of the economy that most people overlook until you realize it quietly powers everything: safety, uptime, compliance, and the “stuff that can’t break.”

Private equity has poured capital into services roll-ups over the last decade, but most analysis is still written from the outside:

fragmentation + recurring revenue + tuck-ins + synergy math.

The hard part is what happens after the deal closes:

Edwin: What’s the one thing you’d want this audience to walk away with about building a services platform the right way?

Robert: It’s durability and sustainability.

When I think about the businesses that compound over time, they’re not built on clever capital structures. They’re built on repeatable processes and a deep understanding of the end user.

In services especially, it’s boots on the ground. It’s technicians in trucks fixing broken stuff. It’s recurring revenue built through trust and consistency.

Financial engineering can amplify a business. It can’t create one. At the end of the day, you actually have to do the work and make money.

That’s the part people forget.

Edwin: You’ve been an entrepreneur and now an investor. What traits actually matter on the founder side?

Robert: The energy of an entrepreneur is different from an investor.

You need high agency and the mindset that unless it defies physics, it can be solved. You charge into the storm. You don’t wait for clarity.

But you also need self-awareness.

Building a company is like a relay race. The person who gets you from zero to one often isn’t the person who gets you from three to four. The Elons and Zuckerbergs who take something from nothing to multi-billion are rare.

A lot of founders struggle because they don’t recognize what stage they’re in. Sometimes the job shifts from “doer” to “builder of systems.” And that’s a hard transition.

Edwin: Why did you decide to sell Better Fire to Summit Fire?

Robert: We weren’t looking to sell.

Like many operators, I didn’t fully understand private equity. But when you start modeling it—really understanding debt, rollover equity, liquidity, multiple arbitrage—it starts to click.

Liquidity reduces risk. You take chips off the table. You get optionality. And if you believe in the platform, you can roll equity and build something bigger.

Once you see inside the black box of how platforms compound through disciplined M&A and integration, you can’t unsee it.

It becomes hard to go back to purely organic growth.

Edwin: What did Summit Fire look like internally?

Robert: It was a machine.

Two to three acquisitions a month. Over 100 deals in five years.

But the most valuable part wasn’t the volume, it was seeing what real integration looks like:

When you’re executing that level of integration repeatedly, you start to see patterns on what works, what breaks, and what’s much harder than it looks in a CIM.

Edwin: Where do spreadsheets diverge from reality?

Robert: Everyone loves synergies.

You model cross-sell. You model procurement savings. You model overhead reduction.

But the real gap is human.

When you buy a business, you’re not buying revenue. You’re buying people.

Last Tuesday, before you showed up, life was normal. Now you walk in and start changing systems, dashboards, comp plans.

You’re excited because you see the upside. They’re thinking:

“Why am I doing this? I’m getting paid the same salary.”

You have to meet owners and employees where they are. Ask:

Forcing the wrong role onto the wrong person is one of the fastest ways to destroy value.

And combining org charts? That’s the hardest part of a roll-up.

Edwin: When you buy a services business, what’s your value creation plan?

Robert: There’s no golden dagger. No magic lever.

It’s small, incremental changes consistently implemented over time.

Four primary levers:

1. Org Chart

As revenue scales, the org chart must evolve.
What worked at $4M doesn’t work at $10M.

You need clarity of duties, defined accountability, and proper spans of control.

2. Sales & Marketing

Most lower middle market sales teams are built on raw horsepower.
A couple of studs carry everything.

That’s not repeatable.

You need:

If I read your comp plan, I should understand your strategy.

3. Technology

Technology is the #1 limiting factor.

If systems don’t scale, you throw human bodies at the problem.
Overhead rises. Margins compress.

And remember, your technicians are customers too.
If they have to log into nine systems that don’t talk to each other, they’ll leave.

4. Constraint-Based Growth

There is always a bottleneck:

Solve the constraint. Then the next one.

It’s whack-a-mole. But disciplined whack-a-mole.

Edwin: What do people underestimate about integration?

Robert: Empathy.

You’re building the airplane while it’s flying.

They still have to fix generators. They still have to service accounts. Meanwhile, you’re migrating systems, redefining roles, introducing dashboards.

And here’s the reality: the company you buy may have better people than you do.

That’s hard for acquirers to admit.

You might assume “my service manager stays.” But their service manager may be stronger. You have to evaluate honestly and repurpose thoughtfully.

Integration isn’t mechanical…it’s emotional.

Edwin: What’s your advice to investors exploring field services?

Robert: Find a real operator.

There are lessons in the trenches you cannot read in a book.

Most lower-middle-market operators:

And that’s okay.

Your job isn’t to flex financial superiority.
It’s to combine:

Private equity is the business of building businesses.

But humility is required.

Edwin: How should investors think about tech integration?

Robert: Ideally:

CRM → Field Service Management → ERP as system of truth.

But you don’t rip everything out on Day 1.

You:

Data integrity is everything.

Bad data creates billing errors.
Billing errors create cash flow issues.
Cash flow issues kill good businesses.

Edwin: When do you change comp plans?

Robert: Sooner rather than later is preferred, but carefully.

Salespeople optimize for what you incentivize.

You don’t want:

You want:

If it can’t be explained on a napkin, it’s probably too complex.

Edwin: Why generators as your first thesis?

Robert: Tailwinds.

Data centers are exploding.
Backup power is non-negotiable.

Generators require:

It’s mission-critical and recurring.

And structurally, it looks similar to fire protection…the trucks, technicians, process.

That’s an unfair advantage.

Edwin: How do you stand out in sourcing?

Robert: Story + credibility.

When I sit down with an owner and can speak their language technically and financially, that’s different.

And once you buy one company, that owner knows ten more.

Do right by people. Offer fair rollover. Build trust.

Then inbound starts to happen.

That’s when the flywheel really turns.

I’m excited to announce the inaugural 2026 Serial Acquirer Conference, taking place on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 in New York City.

This is not a traditional private equity conference. This is a room built for:

If you’re serious about building—or backing—serial acquisition platforms, this is the room you want to be in.

We’re bringing together leading voices across the modern serial acquisition ecosystem, including:

…along with many other top active investors in the ecosystem in attendance.

These are practitioners:
- Operators who have executed dozens of acquisitions.
- Investors who have backed repeat platforms.
- Builders who understand what it actually takes to scale.

Most conferences just talk about private equity. This one is about becoming an owner.

You can expect:

We are intentionally keeping the room small to ensure meaningful conversations and real relationship-building.

If you’re thinking about—or actively building—a serial acquisition platform, you should be here.

📍 @Ease 1345, New York City
📅 Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Road To Carry has always been about building alongside each other, not stopping at just consuming content.

This conference is a natural extension of that mission. Hope to see many of you there!

Best,
Edwin

Any topics I should cover next? Share thoughts with [email protected]
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