Key Points
- Tracy Britt Cool has been busy acquiring midsize companies, and now she wants to build a close-knit community for these smaller businesses.
- The 39-year-old investor struck out on her own in 2020 after working for Warren Buffett for a decade.
- Her private equity firm Kanbrick focuses on companies with $5 million to $50 million in earnings before interest and taxes, in industries ranging from consumer to industrial to business services.
Tracy Britt Cool has been busy acquiring midsize companies — ones too small for her old boss Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway — and now she wants to build a close-knit community for these smaller businesses. The 39-year-old investor struck out on her own in 2020 after working for Buffett for a decade. Her Charlotte- and Nashville-based private equity firm Kanbrick, a nod to her Kansas background and fostering businesses “brick by brick,” focuses on companies with $5 million to $50 million in earnings before interest and taxes, in industries ranging from consumer to industrial to business services. Cool is a co-founder, along with partner Brian Humphrey. Kanbrick won’t say how much money it manages, although earlier this month, it announced raising $220 million in new capital . Cool’s investment criteria sounds a lot like Buffett’s, except on a much smaller scale: family- or founder-owned, having a competitive advantage and with long time horizon. Unlike the Berkshire CEO’s laissez-faire approach to managing his companies, however, Cool is more hands-on, guiding company leaders through hiring and developing strategies. “We want to be the trusted home for midsize companies,” Cool said in an interview. “There’s accelerators for startups. But there really isn’t much for midsize companies. CEOs and owners who really want to take their company to the next level struggle oftentimes to find resources.” That’s why she started a special community program where she twice a year brings together five outside CEOs to workshop…
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