Building a $2.2B Aerospace Business From Scratch

In this episode, Chris sits down with Bryan Perkins, Founder & CEO of Novaria Group, a Fort Worth-based aerospace manufacturer he started in 2011 and sold to Arcline last November for $2.2 billion. Bryan didn't set out to be in aerospace. He needed a job. But once he was in, he saw a niche nobody else wanted - high-mix, low-volume, esoteric parts that go under the radar - and spent 15 years rolling up 27 companies into one of the biggest businesses most people have never heard of. His North Star from the start was TransDigm, a company he'd been studying since his 20s. Chris and Bryan unpack the full operator's playbook behind that arc, how his thinking has evolved across a family office, KKR, and now Arcline, and where the entire aerospace ecosystem is headed by 2030. They discuss: Why you can't outmanage a bad capital structure - and what most lower middle market PE gets wrong about underwriting How Bryan built a roll-up that produces 80-90% proprietary deal flow, and the patience it takes to do that Why commoditization is an immediate no, and how the "layer cake" of process IP, material science, and unit economics creates moats most people can't see What an arranged marriage with private equity actually looks like, across three different capital partners Why he thinks the world still won't have enough airplanes by 2030, and how the new space economy is reshaping demand The decadal-thinking, "win the day" mindset behind a 15-year compounding machine Timestamps 00:00 Intro 01:22 "You Can't Outmanage a Bad Capital Structure" 05:00 Underwriting Deals 12:17 Novaria's Strategy in Plain English 15:04 IP Moats Over Commoditization 17:04 Why Making an Aerospace Washer Is Harder Than You Think 21:56 Business Model Business vs. Single-Product Business 27:07 Patience and Decadal Thinking as a Proprietary Deal Flow Strategy 30:49 How Unglamorous Early Jobs Build Real Credibility 38:01 Centralized Controls, Decentralized Operations 44:44 Leveling Up: Founders Who Start with the End in Mind 55:11 What Is an Institutional Compounder? 1:03:05 TransDigm as North Star - Carving a Differentiated Strategy 1:08:41 Why Aerospace and Automotive Factory Playbooks Don't Transfer 1:14:10 The Road to 2030: Demand Surge, Space Economy & New Aircraft Design Presented by Airshare: https://flyairshare.com/ Sponsored by Collateral Partners: https://collateral.com/fort Chris on Social Media: X: https://x.com/fortworthchris Instagram:   / thepowerspodcast   LinkedIn:   / chrispowersjr   Visit our website: https://www.powerspod.com/ Leave a review on Apple: https://bit.ly/45crFD0 Leave a review on Spotify: https://bit.ly/3Krl9jO