In this episode, Jimmy St. Louis, CEO of Agentis Longevity, reflects on the company’s first year of growth and the lessons learned along the way. He shares how building a mission-driven, values-led team has shaped Agentis, why partnerships and cultural alignment are critical to success, and what it takes to balance long-term vision with the urgency of execution. Jimmy also highlights the role of Shore Capital in helping him navigate challenges and accelerate growth while staying true to the mission of redefining longevity healthcare.

Key Takeaways:

• Mission-driven leadership takes root when values are lived daily and reinforced through culture, not just words
• The right partners bring expertise, credibility, and culture that strengthen the platform beyond financial outcomes
• Strategic planning becomes a catalyst when paired with flexibility, helping leaders balance long-term vision with near-term execution
• True growth comes from treating acquisitions as partnerships where both sides learn, adapt, and build together

Chapters:

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 04:22 - Building a Values-Led Team
• 07:46 - Partnerships and Culture
• 09:52 - Learning from Shore
• 14:34 - Develop the M&A Playbook
• 23:26 - Vision and Execution

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https://www.shorecp.university/podcasts

You'll also find other Microcap Moments episodes, alongside our series Everyday Heroes and Bigger. Stronger. Faster., highlighting the people and stories that make the microcap space unique.

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Blog: https://www.shorecp.university/blog

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This podcast is the property of Shore Capital Partners LLC. None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, or a recommendation or offer relating to any security. See the “Terms of Use” page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:17

Welcome to Microcap Moments, a podcast from Shore Capital Partners that highlights the stories of founders, investors, and leaders who have taken on the challenge of transforming ideas and small companies into high growth organizations.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:32

The journey of building and scaling a business takes one down many unexpected paths.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:37

It's a journey where we learn from our mistakes fall down often, but have the entrepreneurial grit to pick ourselves up and persevere.

Michael Burcham: 00:00:44

Within this series, we will share these stories of success and failure, of the challenges and the rewards faced by those who dare to dream big, and through their lessons learned, we hope to inspire others who are on a similar journey of becoming, growing, and leading.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:01

In this episode, I talk with Jimmy St. Louis, the Chief Executive Officer at Agentis Longevity.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:07

This podcast is a follow-up to an episode from a year ago when Jimmy was just launching Agentis.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:12

You can find that episode titled "Unlocking Longevity: Redefining Health and Wellness" anywhere you get your podcasts.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:18

While the first episode focused on the vision for the platform and what it was like just getting things started, here Jimmy shares his lessons learned from the first year of Agentis.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:27

He talks about building his team, developing his relationship with Shore, and investing in deep partnerships across the longevity market.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:34

Jimmy shares insights about how he and the team are developing those partnerships for the long term, and how they think through which partnerships make the most sense for Agentis in terms of timing and sequence along their strategic plan.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:46

As you will hear, Jimmy has learned a lot in his first year, and it hasn't always been easy, but his passion for Agentis and his belief in their ability to positively impact healthcare and improve people's lives is stronger than ever.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:58

Well, welcome back, Jimmy.

Anderson Williams: 00:01:59

I'm really glad to touch base with you again after a year.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:02

We were here last year and hear how the business has grown and what you've learned along the way.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:06

Jimmy St. Louis: It's great to be back and certainly have learned quite a bit.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:09

Feels like it's been five years, but it's been a fantastic year so far.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:12

So thanks for having me.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:12

Yeah, will you start just for the audience by introducing yourself and telling us what you do and where you do it?

Anderson Williams: 00:02:17

Jimmy St. Louis: Sure.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:18

My name is Jimmy St. Louis.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:19

I'm the CEO of Agentis Longevity.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:21

We're a longevity healthcare provider, largely focused on acquiring other longevity healthcare businesses, sharing best practices, expanding services with the goal of driving the standard of care and longevity health.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:32

And what is longevity?

Anderson Williams: 00:02:33

Just for someone who hasn't necessarily heard that term or has heard it and hadn't thought much about it, how do you define longevity?

Anderson Williams: 00:02:38

Jimmy St. Louis: I define it as where length of life meets quality of life.

Anderson Williams: 00:02:41

And I think from a healthcare consumer perspective, that's the best way to focus on it, is how can you not just age gracefully, but age in a manner where you can still live life to its fullest?

Anderson Williams: 00:02:51

And then as we think about from a overall healthcare perspective, we've found this market to be relatively fragmented, meaning each provider or professional out there might have had a slightly different way of delivering that care.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:03

So it's our goal to go out there and find those that are doing certain things really well, share those best practices, and over time drive that standard of care through the understanding of best practices and the ability to grow those.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:14

And last time we talked, you were just getting things started.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:16

Give us an update on the last year, what it looks like to be in the CEO seat from the jump.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:22

What's the last year been like?

Anderson Williams: 00:03:24

Jimmy St. Louis: Sure.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:24

Well, I can tell you there has not been a single bad day.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:27

It's been nothing but fun, excitement, highly motivated.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:30

We're a mission-driven organization, guided by our values, and we're steadfast with those, so we're having a ton of fun doing what we're doing.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:37

It's a dream to myself and I believe to my team as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:40

When we spoke last time, we were just about to finalize our first partnership with nine clinics up in the Midwest, and that partnership is fully forged and we're really working with them to understand their best practices, to see what can translate over to our other organizations that we are very close to acquiring.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:57

We've found a location in Nashville.

Anderson Williams: 00:03:59

We're building out the executive team.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:01

I believe when we spoke last time, we started to look for that senior finance leader.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:05

We were bringing in our Chief of Staff.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:07

We're starting to build up the rest of the executive team and we're pretty well on our way.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:10

We've instituted some platform strategies as well on the sales and marketing front and our integration plans built out, and our first other couple add-on businesses under LOI and getting ready to launch.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:22

That's really exciting.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:23

How have you thought about building your team.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:26

You're starting from scratch.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:27

You had a vision for this platform and where this business could go.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:31

How have you approached building your team and getting the right people around you?

Anderson Williams: 00:04:36

Jimmy St. Louis: So I think that there's the technical aspect of it and then there's the cultural aspect as well and the technical aspect, Shore has been an incredible partner from that perspective in terms of aligning on the scorecard, the search, the profile, and really finding just an incredible team thus far.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:52

And then there's the cultural aspect, which is extremely important to me.

Anderson Williams: 00:04:55

And as I referenced here earlier, being mission-driven, but values-led is very, very important.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:02

So we're steadfast with our values.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:03

The team all knows them front and back.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:06

We live them every day.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:07

We bring them to life through our Monday morning stand ups, where we award people who brought those values to life.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:12

And that's the first thing that new teammates hear and see.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:15

And that's really the first thing that the potential teammates hear during the conversations.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:20

The other thing that's really important to me.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:22

The very first question I ask each potential candidate is, what are your career goals?

Anderson Williams: 00:05:27

And then what drives you to want to make a change to Agentis Longevity?

Anderson Williams: 00:05:30

And it's my ambition to understand, does what they want to accomplish in their career align with the strategy for Agentis?

Anderson Williams: 00:05:38

And when it does, we at least feel comfortable that we can make that next step with them.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:42

Where now we have alignment, they're mission-driven, values-led.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:45

We believe we can also give them an incredible next three to five years of an experience as well where they have the chance to grow in their careers and frankly accomplish the goals that they would like to accomplish.

Anderson Williams: 00:05:55

Also, just curious in the process, how have you screened?

Anderson Williams: 00:05:58

How have you thought about that values-led kind of perspective as you interviewed?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:03

Undoubtedly, candidates who would love to be part of an entrepreneurial journey, who would love to be part of a fast-growing private equity backed business, who would love to be part of a team with a dynamic CEO?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:12

How do you screen for values when you think about that?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:15

Jimmy St. Louis: We ask people about their ambitions, what are their goals, what drives them, what are their motivators?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:21

And then sum is through more of the casual conversation during those interviews.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:25

Tell me about what you like to do for a living.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:26

Tell me about your past career.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:27

Tell me about your working relationship.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:29

I also believe that there's, I use this legs of the stool analogy quite a bit, and here we are in chair with four different legs of the stool.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:37

And you think about those as your values, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:39

And so when I think about values, I think you never want to deviate from them.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:43

And sometimes when one gets a little bit wobbly, that can be a tough place.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:47

But when that second one falls out, the bottom falls out and you go crash into the ground.

Anderson Williams: 00:06:51

So as I think about how to align with people who are values driven, I ask them, what are your values?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:56

What are your goals?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:57

And how do you live those on a day-to-day basis?

Anderson Williams: 00:06:59

I'll tell you, we won't always get it right, but I believe if you lead with that, you'll get it right a lot more than you won't.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:04

Well, and at least you start the conversation and establish that that is fundamental to what this opportunity is gonna look like.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:11

Jimmy St. Louis: That's right.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:11

That's which is you know, set that expectation from the beginning.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:14

Jimmy St. Louis: This is a business where, in my opinion, it's very personal, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:07:17

Our services can apply to almost anybody.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:19

Our services can prevent people from undergoing significant conditions down the road in certain ailments, and having some really hard health experiences.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:29

So to me, I take that piece very personal.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:31

And I think because of that, it's also an easy business for people to get behind.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:35

It's hard to not really agree with the mission.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:38

And so if we have that feeling that certain people don't, to us, it's certainly just not a fit and that's really the first way that we try to screen our new teammates out.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:46

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:46

You know, we talk a lot about early stage companies.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:49

You're driven a lot by assumptions, and then over time you validate some of those assumptions, you move on from this assumptions.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:55

Obviously, in this environment you learn really rapidly.

Anderson Williams: 00:07:58

Would love to hear you just talk a little bit about the first year with Agentis, some of those things that have been confirmed, and then maybe some of those things that have evolved as you've learned over this first year.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:08

As you think about the business, the market, your product offering, whatever it might be.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:12

Jimmy St. Louis: I would say the first learning experience was more validation that I found the right partner here with Shore Capital, and I could not be more steadfast from that perspective.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:21

The lessons learned that they can bring to the table, that's fantastic.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:24

There's a blueprint that we can follow during our M&A activity that has been very helpful.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:30

The other thing that I've learned is as we used to say in the franchising business, be in business for yourself and not by yourself, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:08:36

And I believe that this partnership with Shore also allows us to be, as I say, a small business with big business resources.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:43

So I've really learned to lean in heavily on experience, and that was more from a validation perspective.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:49

We found the right partners.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:50

The other thing I've learned is even though we have a very attractive business and we have a lot of individual groups who want to partner with us, M&A is hard.

Anderson Williams: 00:08:59

Finding those the right ones that aren't not just a fit culturally, we like the services and they have happy patients, but what about the rest of the business and those businesses that are built to last?

Anderson Williams: 00:09:09

That's been a big learning experience for me is how do you build out the puzzle and stage the priorities of future partners?

Anderson Williams: 00:09:15

That I think if we do that correctly, that will be one piece of this recipe for success.

Anderson Williams: 00:09:20

The other thing I've learned has been the talent at the table, the stakes are high, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:09:25

So the talent at the table is just so, so important that I view everything we do as high stakes, and I know that's not for everyone as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:09:34

I would say this is one of the more intense environments I've been in.

Anderson Williams: 00:09:38

I love it, enjoy it, and am learning every day how to throttle that pedal up and down and up and down to help my team navigate these certain challenging situations.

Anderson Williams: 00:09:48

But it's been a incredible year so far, and I know there's a lot more lessons to be learned.

Anderson Williams: 00:09:52

I am curious based on what you were describing in the acquisition process, even with a partner who has experience, even with your own experiences, that that is just in fact hard.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:02

Any surprises as to what you've discovered as key components or key things you're looking for in a partner that you might not have been aware of, or red flags that you've found that you weren't aware of a year ago?

Anderson Williams: 00:10:13

Anything on that front that comes to mind?

Anderson Williams: 00:10:15

Jimmy St. Louis: I've learned that if you find the right partners, they can be incredibly accretive to the overall mission and vision.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:22

And specifically what that means to me is the lessons that we can learn from them, that we can apply so quickly into the rest of our organization.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:29

If we do that correctly, it puts our business on a fast track.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:32

So when we spoke last time, we talked about this vision of this.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:36

Honeycomb services within longevity healthcare.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:39

What we didn't know is we would find so many potential partners that do a certain aspect of that honeycomb so, so well that we can lean in on that and we can then attract the world-class expert in that particular modality to help drive that standard of care to then expand those services across our entire enterprise.

Anderson Williams: 00:10:57

That would be critical to us from an integration perspective.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:00

I didn't predict that we would have that ability.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:02

I thought a lot of it would have to be homegrown and go out there and seek best in class and evaluate it and measure it, which we still need to do.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:10

But that piece has helped us, I believe, accelerate very quickly.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:14

The other one is the opportunity to build out our management and leadership team with know-how as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:20

These are entrepreneurs who have built incredible businesses, and our ability to learn from them has been something that I've been highly attracted to and frankly just have an affinity towards.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:29

And very similar to how I spoke about trying to find those new teammates with these sellers or these potential partners, the same conversation is had, which is what are your goals?

Anderson Williams: 00:11:39

How can we align to them?

Anderson Williams: 00:11:40

I think our mission's relatively easy to get behind, but the ability to align with them so they can help put our business on overdrive has been something tremendous that I've had the chance to experience as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:50

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:51

Well, I love, one of the things that I hear you talking about is just in addition to the specialization that some of the potential partners that you're finding in the market.

Anderson Williams: 00:11:58

But the notion that you're also looking for people to help you build that culture and to bring that expertise to the platform.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:05

I think a lot of people probably have misconceptions that if you're being acquired, that the platform figures it already has the right way figured out, and you're just gonna have to comply with what they do and what you're describing to me is something more accretive, more not just financially, accretive but knowledge and wisdom and experience and values and all of those things.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:23

Which I think is a little bit of a surprising answer for what most people are thinking of when you're acquiring in private equity.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:29

Jimmy St. Louis: You know, I think that each time we are acquiring a business, we're integrating a new culture into our platform, and although we are mission-driven and values-led, that is integral to what we do.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:39

We still know we're bringing in other people that did certain things right?

Anderson Williams: 00:12:43

That also had a recipe for success, and we really respect that.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:46

So what we did systematically was just recently, a few months back, we finished up our strategic planning session, the couple day long session, ushered and navigated by Shore.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:56

They let us along that path.

Anderson Williams: 00:12:57

We walked away with this great blueprint and what we've done with future partners is we've sat down and we've had that same session with them as well, individually.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:07

So the first part of that session is we're sharing a lot of our lessons learned and what we believe our North Star to be so they can understand how they might fit into that.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:15

And then we're shifting gears and we're focused on their strategy to integrate into Agentis.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:21

And we're giving that amount of time and attention equal the same respect they were giving us.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:25

We're learning about the business, we're seeing what makes it work, what's going well, what's not going well.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:30

So we can build out that integration plan where now these partners feel like they're not just plugging into a platform, but the wonderful things that they've done will have the chance to see exponential benefit to the platform and to them down the road as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:43

Well, I love that it's truly defining it as a partnership.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:46

It's not that you're just acquiring and consuming and building, it is you're defining a partnership.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:51

Here's your strategy.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:52

Here's our strategy.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:53

How do these things come together to make that more than just the sum of its parts?

Anderson Williams: 00:13:57

Jimmy St. Louis: That's right.

Anderson Williams: 00:13:57

I will tell you, I truly care about the future partners.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:00

I develop a deep relationship with them.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:02

I care about their goals.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:03

I care about their families.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:05

I care about what their future has in store for them, and I have such conviction around what we're building that I feel like I have this obligation and this great responsibility to be sure that when they partner with us, not only do they have a great experience, but they also have their dreams achieved and we can help them on this journey for them to have the same experience as I opened this, which is never a bad day.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:27

There may be tough days and hard days, but never a bad day, and they are unwavering in how they think about the decision that they made.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:34

With that in mind, going back to what you said before about just the challenges of getting the acquisition process moving and finding the right partners and then executing through all of that, how have you developed that muscle and repeatable process or key lessons learned in that process?

Anderson Williams: 00:14:51

That now when we sit down a year from now, that engine will be running smoother than even it is today.

Anderson Williams: 00:14:57

Jimmy St. Louis: So my first lesson learned there was a very positive one, which is as I spoke about caring about these partners, that certainly reflex in their interest to work with us, and we have a lot of people very interested in becoming a part of Agentis.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:11

The tougher lesson, and I still haven't learned it all the way, is what's that puzzle piece?

Anderson Williams: 00:15:16

How do you time it?

Anderson Williams: 00:15:16

How do you stage it?

Anderson Williams: 00:15:17

How do you prioritize it?

Anderson Williams: 00:15:18

Who fits in where and when they don't fit in right away?

Anderson Williams: 00:15:21

What does that mean?

Anderson Williams: 00:15:22

For the relationship, right, and what I have found is that there's a great deal of mutual respect for one another.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:28

And we often articulate it in a manner where we say, it may not be a now, but it could be a very short follow thereafter, once certain things fall in place.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:37

But what we've done for them is we've put in place this constant mentoring as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:42

So if there were challenges within their business, we're here to help them thrive.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:46

When we revisited in six months or a year down the road, we would love for them to be exponentially larger and worth more and happy and thriving from that perspective as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:15:56

So I've learned that we're pretty good at developing that top of funnel relationship and caring about them.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:01

The other challenges have been how do you navigate them from the singing kumbaya.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:07

All the way to an LOI, and part of that has been it's tough, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:16:11

They sometimes have to hear hard things.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:13

I don't love delivering those messages, and sometimes it could be as simple as, I might not have thought about moving a product in that manner that quickly, or you need to prioritize a bit better or with this partnership, we might suggest a change here or here or here.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:26

And that's tough.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:28

I've been in that side of the equation many times as well, and I know what it's like and you have to have thick skin.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:33

But I'll tell you, the refreshing piece of all of that is we've never come across one that's offended.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:39

We've always come across one that understands there's mutual respect and admiration for one another, and it comes from a place of us caring about them.

Anderson Williams: 00:16:46

Well, and I think that that goes back to what you were describing before of just being values driven, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:16:51

I mean, if you're leading with values and you're poking a hole in somebody's business that they don't really wanna be poked, but they know it's coming from a place of mutual benefit and aspiration, it changes the nature of it.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:02

Jimmy St. Louis: And collaboration, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:17:03

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:04

Jimmy St. Louis: That's exactly right.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:05

I think that there's that mutual respect, admiration.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:07

We're aligned on values, we're aligned on the vision.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:09

There's a lot of excitement from that perspective, and that last piece of collaboration is so important.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:14

Where we might give feedback they don't love and it's perfectly okay to get pushback and what are we missing there?

Anderson Williams: 00:17:19

And okay, you, you still think about it differently, explain to me why you think about it differently.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:22

And we oftentimes have those aha moments as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:25

So it truly is a partnership, as I said, uh, to all of them.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:29

There is mutual respect, admiration.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:30

They've built great businesses and we're honored to have the chance to be a part of their business and their future as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:35

I love what you were describing about even if it's not the right time for a partnership, that you're supporting those businesses and you're wanting to see them thrive.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:44

That it may not be for Agentis right now, the right acquisition, but that doesn't mean it's not the right acquisition in six months or 12 months or so forth.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:51

And I don't think I've heard another company with that sort of almost market building mentality.

Anderson Williams: 00:17:57

Is that in your mind, because of the nature of the market, the relatively nascent nature of the market, it's just what you do and because you care that much about this industry, just where does that kind of investment and long-term play come from for you?

Anderson Williams: 00:18:10

Jimmy St. Louis: It is the latter about really caring about the industry.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:13

I believe that this business has the ability to shape and change healthcare in certain aspects where we can help to drive that standard for what longevity healthcare means.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:25

Not just with great businesses and great practices, but driving clinical excellence, driving what great outcomes actually means.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:32

Building trust, building credibility, doing it in a scientifically validated, clinically credible manner, and being that leader.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:39

We have the ability to do that.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:40

This is oftentimes the conundrum that I'm in.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:44

I am thinking about this big picture, long-term vision as well, 10 plus years, but we also are an world where we want to build something incredible in a four to six year period as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:18:56

I will tell you that's been part of my feedback most recently with my partners and the boards, like, thank you for giving me the latitude and the ability to think out 10 years while we're still aligned on this four to six year mission as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:08

So because of that, I know that as we build this over the course of this, what's often termed as a hold period, that there is a next by the apple and the next chapter as well, and that runway that this relationship building tactic builds for us will give us an incredible runway down the road as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:25

Any insights?

Anderson Williams: 00:19:26

You mentioned that it turned out to be confirming this year that you chose the right partner in Shore, but what have you learned from the CEO seat about working with a private equity sponsor and given a five year hold period and all of those things?

Anderson Williams: 00:19:38

Anything you've learned about that partnership in this year?

Anderson Williams: 00:19:41

Jimmy St. Louis: Well, I've learned I'm not alone.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:42

And being an entrepreneur, it can be lonely.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:44

It's tough, right?

Anderson Williams: 00:19:45

It's a lot of pressure.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:46

I love the pressure.

Anderson Williams: 00:19:47

I thought I loved the ability to make independent swift decisions, and for the most part, that's something that's great, but the ability to sometimes take a quick pause and ask and collaborate with this incredible board and Shore's team in general has been something that's helped me feel almost safer in our decisions.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:05

Where if you look at my personality profile, I'm a bit of a, of a risk tolerant person, uh, to say the least.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:10

Uh, that, that said, the having teammates around the table to say, I hear you, we'll give you the latitude, but just think about it this way.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:17

We've been through this hundreds of times.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:19

These are lessons learned that we can help you frankly, operate more efficiently.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:24

And so sometimes I believe that as an entrepreneur, you're making swift decisions and you can think, you know, you might run 10 miles for a five mile race.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:32

And I think what Shore does is they help us to not have to deviate off the path so much where you're running five miles for that five mile race and so I've learned to take that pause and collaborate.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:43

Same thing with our board as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:45

We have incredible board meetings that are highly collaborative, extremely productive.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:49

We walk away with great recommendations, we prioritize and I can lean on them even in between board meetings and they're there to support me.

Anderson Williams: 00:20:57

And I think that's a pretty rare situation where I believe in other environments you might have your financial partner there wearing that financial hat, and there's a place for that.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:06

There's a recipe for success.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:08

That one wouldn't be for me.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:09

This one's more for me, where we have that collaborative environment.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:12

I've got great people around the table to lend their expertise and to help Agentis be successful.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:17

Yeah.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:17

And you've mentioned Shore prides itself on building great and unique and differentiated boards.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:22

You've mentioned the strategic planning process.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:24

I know you've taken advantage of some of the talent development opportunities as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:28

Talk a little bit about how you've approached, or any advice maybe you would offer A CEO who's in your position from last year on how to approach all of the things that Shore kind of puts in front of you, doesn't force you to do for the most part, but says, here are all the ways that we can support you and sometimes that can seem like a lot.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:47

Jimmy St. Louis: I would say lean in, understand the landscape and be selective.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:51

And what I mean by that is lean in on the opportunities, but understand what all those opportunities are and what the right fit might be.

Anderson Williams: 00:21:58

If you think about those resources are available to you, if they weren't, you wouldn't go and actively seek them out.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:04

So just because they're there doesn't mean you need to leverage all them at the same time.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:07

And then lean in heavily on the strategic planning process that usually takes place six months to a year after the platform starts.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:14

Sometimes that can feel like a long time.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:16

I can tell you it's not.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:17

And the time that we did it was the perfect time where we had the chance to learn a lot.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:21

We built some systems, got through the a hundred day plan, which was a great process as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:26

So we then were able to really understand how to lean in heavily into those different resources.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:31

The resources that we have primarily used have been the Centers of Excellence and then the strategy team.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:37

The Centers of Excellence, primarily the recruiting function has been tremendous for us to help build out our leadership team.

Anderson Williams: 00:22:44

We have leaned into the marketing functions and the sales functions for very different purposes, to help us build out systems, to help us do agency selection, and then on the sales side to help us onboard new sales teammates and help to get them trained and profile them and do all those things, and there's many others that we have had the chance to engage with.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:02

I would tell you that if the engagement ever briefly felt suboptimal, it was because the engagement and the timing wasn't quite correct from that perspective as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:11

So my advice again, in summary, would be to understand all of the different resources to lean into the strategic planning process.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:17

To prioritize and then to lean in and leverage the Centers of Excellence where they might be the best fit for the strategy that you're executing on.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:26

As you think about, you had a lot of experience prior to this and a lot of leadership roles have had a quite a dynamic life that we covered a bit in the first episode.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:35

Um, curious in this year what you've learned about yourself as a leader that maybe you didn't know a year ago.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:41

Jimmy St. Louis: I've definitely learned the power of words.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:45

I've learned to be patient in an extremely fast-paced environment, and I've learned that you need to set the tone and set the pace, and the expectations should be clear of your teammates with that as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:23:58

You shouldn't, in my opinion, never, ever, ever lower the bar to accommodate for a teammate's ability to keep up, and we have not experienced that, which has been something tremendous.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:08

The other thing that I've learned that with some feedback from my teammates that have been very positive is it's important to be steadfast in what you believe.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:16

Big picture values, mission-driven and lock in deep on strategy.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:22

But when it comes to objectives and tactics, be malleable.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:25

We have smart people around the table.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:27

Having conviction is great.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:29

You never wanna feel like a ping pong ball.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:30

But I understand we've brought on tremendous teammates with great experience that have different ways of thinking.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:36

So to me, that has been a, I believe, a great lesson learned where I've seen that the team appears to really thrive in that type of environment.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:44

I love that.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:44

What's the best advice you've gotten this year?

Anderson Williams: 00:24:47

Jimmy St. Louis: The best advice I've gotten this year that's been the most productive has been to trust the process.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:53

I always had this desire to make a swift, accurate decision and keep a scoreboard on.

Anderson Williams: 00:24:59

That was a great decision and it's helped the company, but what I have learned is that there's lots of different ways to do it, and I've partnered with a group that's best in class, and it's okay to just trust that process, meaning sometimes it's okay to just ask and say, I don't just need guidance here.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:14

Just tell me what you would do.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:16

You're in this seat, you've done it hundreds of times.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:18

Tell me what to do and then help me understand the why so I can really get behind it.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:24

And that's not something I've had access to before.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:26

So I really learned how to lean in heavily in that.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:28

And I also believe that that has really helped to forge tremendous relationships.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:33

Where I also have the latitude to bring some industry expertise, some specific subject matter expertise to the table where I have the latitude to run fast and make those right decisions also.

Anderson Williams: 00:25:43

What would you say has been your biggest challenge in this first year with Agentis?

Anderson Williams: 00:25:48

Jimmy St. Louis: The biggest challenge has been to balance our forward thinking and the faith and trust that we have in our ability to execute with onboarding the right resources at the right time, and having tremendous partners.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:02

They help me be a very, very good custodian of our budget, but being bullish in a lot of faith in our plan, I oftentimes know that we're gonna execute and it's going to happen.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:12

So it would make sense for us to get out in front of the resources necessary to execute on that plan.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:18

That's been an interesting challenge for us, where oftentimes now we're ready to go and we can feel behind in resources, but I understand that there's a reason for that, and that's the reason the partners are here, is to help us assess some of the risk and not step in the potholes.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:34

So that's been a challenge.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:35

The other one has been in the education of all the teammates about the specific industry nuances.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:42

One, those industry nuances are moving all the time.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:45

Regulatory aspects are moving all the time as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:48

So I'm still learning how to help the rest of the team navigate around that as there's new reading, new literature.

Anderson Williams: 00:26:55

I have the luxury of working with other industry leaders and world-class medical experts to understand where's the industry going, and then that ability to educate the team around me to say, okay, we're all marching in the same direction now has been a challenge and it's a challenge that we're all up for and that we all acknowledge.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:11

What are you most proud of about this first year?

Anderson Williams: 00:27:14

Jimmy St. Louis: I'm proud of the team that we've built.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:15

I'm proud of the runway that we have in front of us.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:18

I'm proud of us being steadfast with our vision and mission.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:22

I'm proud of our team bringing our values to life, and I'm proud of the partners that we're bringing on board.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:28

What haven't I asked that I should have?

Anderson Williams: 00:27:30

As you think about your first full year in seat, you think about all you've learned, you think about the challenges you've faced the market.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:38

What haven't I asked that I should have asked you?

Anderson Williams: 00:27:41

Jimmy St. Louis: I would say that I'm a very positive, motivated, high energy person, and part of what I've learned has been to wear that hat of, let's be very clear about the challenges and then also just what hasn't worked.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:53

And that's something that I'm learning as well.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:55

I know there's certain things that.

Anderson Williams: 00:27:57

Do not work and should not work with a relationship like this.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:00

One is making decisions only off of gut feel without collaboration.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:06

I think gut is very important.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:08

Gut should lead us towards the North Star, but it shouldn't be relied on solely.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:11

And that is something that I have relied on in the past and sometimes it's been successful and sometimes it hasn't.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:18

And uh, that's definitely been a lesson learned from my perspective.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:21

The next thing is thinking through the future of this organization and what does the rest of the team build out look like?

Anderson Williams: 00:28:27

And I believe that oftentimes you can feel like, okay, we have a roadmap.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:32

We're gonna hire a Chief Marketing Officer, we're gonna hire a Chief Revenue Officer, boom, boom, boom, down the pipe.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:37

But what I've realized has been it shouldn't be that linear.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:41

There's strategies that are hard to execute on.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:45

That we'll do our best to make the right decisions on, but there will be pivots and there will be challenges and hurdles along the way.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:51

There could be market indicators, it could be internal challenges.

Anderson Williams: 00:28:54

And because of that, it's been an interesting process of thinking five years out, but also understand that we don't have all the answers for what this five year roadmap would look like.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:10

If you enjoyed this episode, check out our other Microcap Moments episodes at www.shorecp.university/podcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:19

Here you'll also find our Bigger.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:21

Stronger.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:22

Faster.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:22

and Everyday Heroes series, each highlighting the people and stories that make investing in the lower middle market unique.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:29

This podcast was produced by Shore Capital Partners with Story and Narration by Anderson Williams.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:33

Recording by Austin Johnson.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:35

Editing by Reel Audiobooks.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:37

Sound design, mixing, and mastering by Mark Galup of Reel Audiobooks.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:41

Special thanks to Jimmy St. Louis.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:43

This podcast is the Property of Shore Capital Partners, LLC.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:46

None of the content herein is investment advice, an offer of investment advisory services, nor a recommendation or offer relating to any security.

Anderson Williams: 00:29:54

See the Terms of Use page on the Shore Capital website for other important information.