Testimonial Anchor Bay Powder Coat: Growth & Ownership Transition
Identity & metadata
Video title Anchor Bay Powder Coat: Growth & Ownership Transition
Date 2025
Speaker Rob Thomas, Founder & Owner
Company Anchor Bay Powder Coat
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What this clip covers Rob Thomas shares the origin of Anchor Bay Powder Coat, the challenges of scaling independently, and the strategic decision to partner with private equity to fuel growth.
Core insight Scaling a manufacturing business often requires more than operational improvements—it requires the right strategic partner to unlock growth while protecting long-term vision.
Key themes • Transition from small shop to growth-stage business
• Leadership burden and scaling challenges
• Post-COVID workforce shifts
• Strategic capital and partnerships
• Long-term legacy vs short-term valuation
Full transcript
Speaker Rob Thomas
Transcript Hi, my name is Rob Thomas. I am the founder and one of the current owners of Anchor Bay Powder Coat. We originally started—my dad started it—as an auto body shop back in the 1980s. Then, around 2009, when the economy was going bad, I needed to figure out something better to do and ended up going all-in on powder coating. It was starting to get kind of difficult to do everything on my own. Especially post-COVID, the mentality of the average person has changed, and it’s just getting harder and harder. I knew I had a lot of opportunity to grow but was getting tired of having to worry about everything myself—funding it all, managing it all. So I started thinking it might be nice to bring someone on who could help with those things. We decided at Anchor Bay Powder Coat that it would be best to seek out venture capital to help us fund this growth moving forward. And we chose Six Axis Capital to be our partner in that process. What drew us to Anchor Bay is the extreme diversity of this business, serving a high-growth market. Aerospace and defense have enormous tailwinds, both macroeconomic and regional. We’re sitting in one of the highest concentrations of defense manufacturers in the United States. I think, most often, a business owner entrusting the next person to run their business is one of the biggest decisions of their life. Not all partners are created equally. You really want to understand your potential buyer—their commitment to the area, their long-term plan for the business, and whether they have a track record that matches their promises. So it’s not always about chasing the highest price, but about finding the partner who will be the best steward of your legacy. That usually leads to a much better outcome.
Taxonomy tags
Theme Growth; Leadership; Private Equity; Strategy
Industry Powder Coating; Metal Finishing
Content type Testimonial; Founder Story