Orono, Minnesota
We’re looking for a few good companies to buy and run, close to home.
Proven teams, thoughtful transition, enduring legacy.
I’m Alex Brost. I lead Vidfarne, with a team behind me. We buy and run established businesses in the Midwest.
Far-travelled. Now close to home.
This map comes from my travels. The longer story is at alexbrost.me.
What we look for
A good company already has people who know how it runs.
We look for profitable companies with a general manager or management team already in place. Manufacturing comes first. We also look at commercial cleaning, restoration, and marine businesses.
Our search is close to home, generally within about five hours of the Twin Cities and Lake Minnetonka. We make one national exception: marketing agencies that a team already runs day to day.
The full buy box includes what we pass on.
How we work
Don’t wreck what’s working.
We start with the owner, then the people, then the processes, then the numbers. A company is a group of people who have been doing this together, often for a long time. The numbers matter. They’re just not the first thing.
We buy to operate. After a close, I spend a few months in the business, learning how it actually runs, and then a general manager leads the day to day. We plan to hold for the long term.
You’ll deal with me. I make the decision. If we’re going to pass, we’ll say so plainly and in a reasonable amount of time.
The name
Far-travelled. Home in Minnesota.
Vidfarne comes from the Old Norse vidfarne, “far-travelled.” I was born in Sweden, raised in Minnesota, and spent a lot of years on the road building a surf brand. The work now is closer to home.
The map above is part of that story. It traces the places I’ve been, with the lines coming back to Minnesota.
Next step
Thinking about what’s next?
If you built something you care about and you’re thinking about what’s next, I want to hear from you. Owners and brokers are both welcome.