Grinding Ahead: A Conversation with Marc Salvati
- Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
- AC Furia handles service, repair and sell electro-mechanical industry (pumps, motors, controls and drives). We are a one stop shop business for field service, new installs and construction.
- Located in White Plains, NY
- 2018 – Marc joined AC Furia – Marc built and sold two other businesses and it happens that his stepdad managed an electric motor shop. Marc was enthralled by what he saw and a great opportunity to build and expand, buying AC Furia. Strong brand awareness
- Marc is the third generation of ownership for the company – right after World War 2.
- Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
- Graduated with a degree in history and business from University of Albany
- History has become a pastime for learning.
- First business started when he was 22 – technology staffing and consulting
- Expanding a regional operation in Toronto as a subsidiary of a staffing firm.
- Built from zero to a multi-million-dollar operation.
- Second business when he was 26
- Built strategic source materials for major technology and investment banks Palantir, Venmo, Goldman Sacs, Shopify
- Two acquisitions and one initial public
- Resiliency – second business started three months before 9/11, the mortgage crisis and another recession and was still wildly successful.
- What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)?
- “I love looking at a business holistically. The parts and levers that make it successful. Improving upon existing strategies. Fixing the things that need to be fixed. Most excited about driving revenue forward and extracting the best out of people – especially promoting people’s talents.”
- Employees going from zero to one hundred from development and realizing their potentials and excelling in their careers.
- Making our customers happy and delivering on solutions and services.
- Customer service is a lost art – and showing up, answering the phone and making sure a customer is understood and seen.
- How did the idea for your business come about?
- We had grown four hundred percent in a 4-year window. I wanted to continue that expansion but was also thought we could do it more efficiently and have more fun in a partnership of like-minded individuals. Like-minded motivated partners.
- What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
- Don’t be afraid to fail. My greatest lessons are from my greatest failures
- Recognize where you need work and your own weaknesses and see them as an opportunity for growth
- Surround yourself by experts and take suggestions
- What would you say are the top three skills/character traits needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
- Strategic
- Analytical
- Growth-Mindset
- How many hours do you work a day on average?
- Pre-acquisition: 5 AM work – to power nap 3-4
- 12 to 16 hours a day
- Post-acquisition:
- 10 hours
- Pre-acquisition: 5 AM work – to power nap 3-4
- How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
- Word of Mouth/CRM
- What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
- Consistency
- Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
- Business sold to Rapid Pump and Meter. Getting to continue to brainstorm and work with peers on development.
- How important have good employees been to your success?
- Critical
- Went through two general managers in a row that failed miserably, then finally found Joe and he was amazing which allowed me to expand the business, and Rachel is here now.
- It’s important to have the right people – to have a great team in place to rely on for the business to run optimally without me there.
- Critical
- How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
- Agile mindset – make decisions very quickly and failing very quickly. Cut quickly if it’s not. Agile testing.
- How do you define success?
- Something that you do which results in a complete and rewarding experience that you cannot just provide for your family but also feel the reward of a work day and be at peace with that.
- How do you build a successful customer base?
- Honesty and all I did was ask people (listen and learn from it). Also the relentless pursuit of excellence and getting your customer what you need no matter what that is.
- What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
- Feeling that after 37 years of slinging your first newspaper being looked at by peers in the industry as a valuable resource for promoting growth and change within a company.
- What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
- The culture is absolutely an all-in collective culture to make sure we are all accountable to the organization and there is no one person who is responsible for the success. Treated everyone like this. A fast-moving stand-up culture.
- In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
- Sometimes I’ll take a few scrapes when I knock down walls but I’m not afraid to do so.
- If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
- Everything I’ve done has led me to this so I don’t want to change anything.
- For my kids, I want them to possibly pursue something related to industrial engineering – science of business more so than the dynamics. More involved and focused academically.
- If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
- Edward Demming – father of data science
Notes: Staying in the day and staying present is all you can really do.