California Dream Is Built on Blue-Collar Grit
California is a paradox. It’s one of the few places where you can ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon. You can leave an outrageously expensive bungalow in La Jolla, cross over mountains, and be baking in the desert two hours later. It’s a state that practically begs for a Fleetwood Mac soundtrack. It’s also a world apart from the rolling hills and oak trees of my Missouri childhood, and I love it.
From a business perspective, everyone sees the headlines: billion-dollar tech exits in San Francisco, Hollywood premieres in LA, biotech breakthroughs in San Diego. The narrative is always the same, California is powered by glamour, brains, and innovation. Sure, that’s true on the surface, but California is the same as any state in America, it doesn’t run on apps or Oscars, it runs on electricians, mechanics, and welders.
Why San Diego Really Is the Greatest Place on Earth
Now, before you accuse me of being a California apologist, let me acknowledge the obvious: this state is a mess in a lot of ways. The politics are broken, the traffic sucks, and we have regulations for our regulations. Here’s the thing, everywhere has it problems, and if I’m picking a place to live, raise kids, and build businesses? San Diego wins. Hands down.
Comedian Dustin Nickerson nails it when he says that whenever he’s in the Midwest or South and tells people he’s from California, he gets eye rolls and communist salutes. Then he says “San Diego,” and suddenly everyone’s like, “Oh, well we love San Diego.” It’s the one part of California that’s hard to hate.
· Weather = 75 and sunny, no explanation needed.
· We’ve got beaches, mountains, and tacos that should qualify for statehood.
· There’s a proud military presence that keeps us grounded.
· And yes, we have serious business muscle: Biotech is booming, defense contractors are hiring, and tourism keeps the cash registers ringing.
Meanwhile, up north you’ve got LA influencers doing make up on Youtube, and the Bay running billion dollar valuations for companies that have $0 in revenue… They have their place in driving California, and the world for that matter, just not my scene.
The Hidden Engine of the California Dream
Behind every glamorous headline is someone in steel-toed boots keeping the lights on. Literally.
· That $500M Google data center? Someone wired the switches. Someone installed the HVAC. Someone hauled the servers in a beat-up flatbed that doesn’t have Apple CarPlay.
· That biotech lab working on life-saving therapies? Somebody poured the concrete. Somebody fabricated the metal racks. Somebody ran the plumbing that keeps experiments sterile.
· The final season of Stranger Things? You think the soundstage builds itself? A rigging crew in Van Nuys does it while listening to classic rock on a jobsite radio that hasn’t worked right since the Bush administration.
Hollywood royalty doesn’t maintain itself either. Someone’s fixing the transmission on Ryan Gosling’s Range Rover. Someone’s skimming Sidney Sweeney’s pool. Someone’s installing backup generators in Malibu because PG&E can’t do it right.
These are my people. These are the businesses I want to talk to. They don’t trend on LinkedIn. They don’t go viral on TikTok. They are essential, profitable, and enduring. And in a world obsessed with shiny new things, that makes them rare.
Why I Invest In Local Services
Tech cycles come and go. Biotech booms and busts. Box office receipts are billions or bombs. But asphalt paving, security systems, auto parts, and specialty manufacturing? They perform, year in, year out.
Here’s why I love these businesses, specifically in Southern California:
· They solve real problems. No one “follows their passion” into wastewater management, but everyone needs wastewater managed.
· They print cash. Fragmented industries. Low competition. Generational customer relationships.
· They’re underappreciated. Everyone wants the next SaaS rocket ship. I want the boring, necessary companies that make SaaS possible.
· They know how to work through red tape. If a company has been operating, profitably in California for years, they know how to deal with regulations already.
· They have a large, local market to attack. The businesses we look at have been successful, and they all still have plenty of room to grow, in a local, massive economy.
There are over 350,000 businesses in the U.S. lower middle market, most family-owned, many looking for succession solutions. For investors like us, this is the big opportunity: acquire, professionalize, and grow these companies, without turning them into something they’re not.
We don’t buy businesses chasing headlines. We buy the ones building California’s foundation.
Why It Matters More Now
In an age where Taylor Swift can move GDP with a concert tour, we forget that the electricians setting up her stage are the real deal. When Apple drops a new iPhone and social media explodes with hot takes, remember that the chips powering that phone were made in a plant that runs on machinery requiring maintenance from the kinds of businesses we invest in.
AI needs infrastructure. The models don’t train themselves in the cloud like magical elves; they sit on racks in climate-controlled facilities built and maintained by…you guessed it…blue-collar companies.
While Hollywood is fighting to get Barbie 2 into production, you can bet that pastel dream house set needs a real life contractor to build it.
Midwestern Roots, Amongst the California Fruits
I live in California, but I still act like a Midwesterner, I like people who know what hard work looks like, stands by their words, treats people with respect. If you’re an owner of one of these backbone businesses, or an operating looking for capital to fund your boss’s retirement, shoot me a message. You’re the reason California still works, even when it feels like the politicians don’t.