Description

He sold his company for $230 million right before oil prices collapsed. It wasn't luck — it was a board meeting. Thomas Chance joins The Deal Podcast to share what 30+ years of building, selling, and starting over actually looks like from the inside.

Thomas Chance is a serial entrepreneur, engineer, and Louisiana native who built CNC Technologies into the world's largest privately held offshore survey company — 600 employees, 10 offices worldwide, $25M EBITDA — then sold to Oceaneering in 2015 for $230 million. He then spun off and built ASV (Autonomous Surface Vehicles), a pioneering unmanned marine technology company, and sold that to L3 Technologies (now L3Harris) in 2018. His father before him built and sold a landmark survey company in 1991. Now his sons are doing the same.

Topics covered:

• Following his father's entrepreneurial path from civil engineer to company founder
• Building a pre-GPS satellite positioning system in the 1980s (before GPS existed)
• The emotional reality of leaving a family business after a sale
• Hiring the people a new acquirer just laid off — and why it worked
• Growing CNC Technologies to 600 people and the world's largest private offshore survey firm
• Why a board of advisors (not PE) told him to sell — and why he listened
• Timing the $230M exit before the 2015 oil crash
• Carving out the autonomous underwater vehicle division at close
• Building ASV and selling driverless boat technology to L3 Harris
• Startup advice: learn the industry first, then go start your company

🔗 Website: https://www.thedealpodcast.com/ 

Jude David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jude-david-jd-dcl-mba-172a6a76/ 

Joshua Wilson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuadwilson/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealpodcast 

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DISCLAIMER The Deal Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing discussed constitutes investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always consult a licensed professional before making financial or investment decisions.