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Building ONWARD with Travis Guerra 9-5-25
00:16:37
In this episode, Travis Guerra, Founder of ONWARD Headhunting, joins the podcast to discuss his journey building a boutique healthcare-focused retained search firm, the trends shaping executive hiring in private equity-backed healthcare,
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- [00:02]
A
Onward Headhunting is the source for elite M and A operations and finance executive talent exclusively for private equity funds and their high growth portfolio companies. When top tier leadership seems impossible to find, Onward delivers with speed and accuracy. This is retained search built to shape the future of your most important assets. Learn more on LinkedIn or visit onwardheadhunting.com to start the conversation. And let's move your most critical executive searches Onward.
- [00:32]
B
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business Podcast and the Becker Private Equity podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant entrepreneur and leader. We're joined today by Travis Goera and Travis is the founder of a talent and recruitment firm called Onward. It's going to talk to me about Onward. He's also going to talk about the trends he's watching in staffing and business and into a lot more. Travis, we are so thrilled to have you with us today. Can you introduce, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Onward?
- [01:03]
A
Yeah, Scott, thanks for, thanks for having me. As you mentioned, I'm Travis Guera, founder of Onward Headhunting. We're a boutique healthcare only retained search shop based in the heart of Nashville, the healthcare city here in the Southeast. So we exclusively serve private equity funds and their portfolio companies by head hunting, sea level and director level talent in really three specific verticals. Those would be corporate development and M and A strategic and corporate finance and.
- [01:34]
B
Then operations and talk a little bit about first. I mean Nashville is the healthcare sort of capital business, capital of the world. Talk about how did you get started? What was it like starting your own business? Was that anxiety ridden? Was that nerve wracking? Was it just pure excitement? You've got a great positive attitude. But talk a bit about getting started and a little bit about the national healthcare business situation.
- [01:59]
A
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So you know, as I like to say, my first big boy job coming out of undergrad which was here in Nashville was with the advisory board company. They had a large consulting business that they had acquired and then brought on to the organization. And I started there serving within the healthcare consulting vertical and as all, all good health care assets or healthcare adjacent assets go the way Optum eventually bought us. And I stayed through a transitionary period but knew that, you know, my, my long term wasn't to stay with that organization and through a series of events was connected with somebody that had a recruiting firm based in Nashville focused kind of across industries. And while I really loved healthcare and have with Onward, you know, really established our core focus being healthcare, I started there and really recruited Across a little bit of everything, learned the process, how to get deals done, and then found a draw both from an entrepreneurial standpoint but also from a, a niche standpoint of, of wanting to start onward, focus only on healthcare and then really attack C level to director level positions with the best organizations out there, you know, private equity, some family office as well, but really, really cut that niche out about two years ago when we started onward been it's been helpful from my end because advisory board had a great, great employee base. A lot of those individuals went out to start their own healthcare company. So in, in a lot of ways I've been able to serve prior colleagues as they've launched businesses very specific to healthcare. And so that's been a really kind of good symbiotic relationship. You never know who in your early career you'll cross paths with later and, and be able to do business together and, and help each other win, which has been really, really special.
- [03:44]
B
No, it's really fantastic. And I've gotten to know you over the last few years and you've got an amazing positivity and energy level and it probably leads to a lot of entrepreneurial success, quite frankly. Talk a little bit about the trends you're watching currently. What trends you see in employment right now we look at sort of the macro level you're looking at very specifically private equity, health care and health care. What trends are you watching and what do things look like?
- [04:09]
A
Yeah, yeah. So some of the things that I follow, you know, LinkedIn being a pretty good guide for white collar professional roles. You know, they do have us down year over year, about 8 or so percent. You know, some of that is, is driven from, from multiple industries that's kind of a, a total conglomerate when they carve out healthcare alone. Healthcare is actually the shows the least decline, which I've also seen from our client base. And if, if we're really thinking, you know, hiring has become a little more strategic than broad. Right. So 2019 to call it 2020, it was if you had a pulse, somebody wanted to employ you, 24 were pretty quiet. But now we're definitely seeing that trend to hiring more strategically. You know, especially with the space that we serve, C level to director level, there is still a high, high demand for that talent, that expertise. When an organization is thinking, do we need 10 staff accountants? Maybe we could do it with six right now when they think, you know, their executive team, could they do it without a cfo? Definitely not. You know, can that CFO do it without a really strong vice President, Strategic Finance or Corporate development. Think of the Chief Development Officer. He has to have a really capable, well built out team below him. And those are the roles we serve. So overall it's been been rather positive. I would also say our sample size going back to being an entrepreneur and starting onward in the kind of the spring of 2024, you know, we have actually year over year, we've actually doubled our revenue. So we are on a great trajectory. Again, sample size is small, just about two years. But knowing that when you start, there's a lot of effort that's put into the back office, standardizing processes, getting people to really know who you even are. You know, a quote by Alex Hormozi is that I really like is the worst thing for your business is for, for nobody to know that you exist. Right. And so spent a lot of time, you know, the first year, really, really diving into my network and expanding it. I would say since the beginning of this year we've had a lot more traction, a lot more inbound outreach, which is ultimately the goal. You know, good mix of outbound. A good mix of inbound and then close deals and serve clients really well and create a great reputation as a premium retained headhunting shop for healthcare clients.
- [06:37]
B
No, it's, it's really fantastic and I've watched you connect and grow and it's great fun to watch. So congratulations. When you had mentioned just a couple years ago people could put up their hand and get hired, now the job market's a little bit tighter. There seems to be a generation of young professionals that got engaged in this concept of being able to job hop regularly. What's your thought on sort of job hopping? We're staying someplace a few years. How do you sort of think about and look at those issues?
- [07:04]
A
Yeah, yeah. This is one you and I, I think went back and forth on briefly on, on X a few weeks ago. And man, that is, that is one of the biggest challenges for me is seeing great sharp individuals who for the last three roles have stayed less than 18 months. Right. A benefit of being health care specific is that we understand some of the macro and micro trends within the industry. Certain organizations losing funding, maybe falling short on goals and having to reduce headcount. That kind of that laid off or let go scenario. Right. And so it's really important with individuals that have short stints to dive in and understand why those movements are occurring. Some individuals, especially when you've been doing this for so long, you can take a pretty quick pulse and understand that, you know, they can only blame other people so many times until you start to really question, hey, you know what? I think you'd be a flight risk for one of our clients. You know, we expect our placements to stay for anywhere between, you know, two to five years. That is, that is when a candidate, I think right at about 2, they understand the organization, they can actually start to see opportunities to move up instead of moving out. And we want candidates placed who are excited about staying for the long term, seeing something grow. We also understand some of those trends of hey, this company sold and I know they reduced headcount on their corporate development team or operations team or they got bought by a strategic and that strategic didn't have a need for this well built out finance team. And, and so we understand that you're, you'll let go or laid off for, for that reason and that that's really a benefit for, for working with a industry specific firm. To those individuals though, I, I have no problem. I'm a pretty, I'm, I'm a Chicago born and raised kid, west suburbs guy. So sometimes I, I lack a little bit of a filter and I'll kind of tell you how it is. And a lot of those candidates that do trust Onward for really good feedback on their search, I have no problem telling somebody, hey man or ma', am, you've taken, you know, the last three roles at less than 18 months total. You really need to stay where you land next or you know, you're not going to be able to be represented by somebody like myself or somebody at Onward to one of our clients because you look like a flight risk. How can we, how can we strategize with you to find the right role where you are going to stay for a while and really add value to an organization 100%.
- [09:27]
B
And Travis, talk for a second about as you look at the next half or the last half of this year and going into 2026, what are you most excited about? When you look at sort of this next year, starting next year, what are you most excited on? What are the big goals?
- [09:41]
A
Yeah, yeah. So I mean I think, I think from a market standpoint, you know, businesses, the positive is that businesses are no longer slashing headcount. I think we've reached a pretty strong equilibrium. You know, they're not hiring mass in mass either. But I think as we look into 2026, the one big beautiful bill has been passed and you've had other guests on talking about, you know, this creating kind of a framework for health care policy and how Government will be spending dollars across, you know, Medicare, Medicaid, and that creates some stability for our clients. So I think that that's good. You know, we also have a lot of assets for clients of ours that are a little bit long in the tooth. And I know there's a lot of folks trying to get across the finish line on a recap or sale to a strategic before the end of this year and then get that capital back either to investors or back to the fund itself and be able to see deals rebound a little bit in 2026. So I'm excited about that. I think 2026 is going to be a great year. We have less ambiguity around what last year looked like, an election, high interest rates, et cetera. So I think that's going to be great. For, for onward, we're looking to bring on another full time individual here in Nashville or across the Southeast, which we're really excited about. We currently have myself here in Nashville, we have a recruiter based in Florida and then we utilize some really, really great offshore recruiting, specific virtual assistants that do everything from sourcing leadless development automations. And that's been really, really great use of our time and capital to, to build that team out. So we're excited again as we step into year three. You know, I think the only limiting factor is how many conferences we can get to and how many deals we can get closed and satisfied clients are on the other end of, you know, some of these C C level placements.
- [11:39]
B
It's phenomenal. And what advice would you give to both? I'll start with emerging leaders. What advice would you give to other emerging leaders or to founders? Travis, how do you think about that? What advice would you give to people?
- [11:49]
A
Yeah, when it comes to founders, I have a lot to say. You know, I, I think no one, no one told me this blatantly and maybe they did, but I was oblivious because it's working for someone else at another time, but yourself as founders as well. I'm sure you, you'd echo this, but it's going to be longer, it's going to be harder and you're going to make less money than you anticipate, you know, with rose colored glasses before you incorporate the business. You've got, you know, high expectations and it, it's challenging but very, very much so worth it. You know, I think for emerging leaders it's, it's stay the course, find an organization, find a leader who you can learn from and, and, and find a leader who is known for, for pulling people up not pushing people out. You know, I see some really, really great talent, follow some fantastic executive leaders across their career and have been open, have had opportunities opened up that they would never have seen before had they not stayed the course, stay through the crappy days. I'm a really big, big proponent of strong tenure. To our conversation earlier about your early career, folks, you know, staying 18, maybe 24 months at each stop, but continually moving roles, man, there's something to be said about staying power and, you know, working through the tough days, finding ways to add value. If you feel stagnant, what are you doing? You ask yourself, what are you doing to raise your hand? Who in the leadership team knows that you feel stagnant? Because oftentimes those individuals, if they're aware, they're made aware, and you're a good, a great employee and somebody that they want to continue to develop, they'll give you those opportunities. You don't need to go externally to look for them, but if you're going to go external, look for them, reach out to onward.
- [13:30]
B
Yeah, but I think the first step in any job search should often be working with your existing company to figure out if there's opportunities and so forth. We've already built up credibility. We already know people and stuff like that. I think that's a great piece of advice that's often ignored by so many young and emerging professionals that don't understand that. Travis, I'm going to ask, you had this brilliant both career and then founded your own business. Any additional advice that you would give to founders? You start with some of that, that it'll take a little bit longer than you expect and all those kinds of things. Anything else you have specifically for founders.
- [14:03]
A
Man, I think, I think the best advice for founders is to find people that have gone before you, whether they're in your industry and they've had outsized success. You will never find somebody who's further along than you that's not willing to. You know, they may be busy and it may be hard to get on their calendar, but if they know that you're grinding and you're trying to make something within a specific industry that you're in. I've never been told no by someone who I've asked, hey, could I grab 15 or 20 minutes of your time? I'm building in this space. I know you've had incredible success in your career. You know, would you mind if I took you out for lunch or took you out for, for a coffee? And they may say, hey, get with my executive assistant. It's going to be a couple of weeks or a couple of months. But looking for individuals who really believe in pulling people up, you know, in individuals who, you know, are generous with their time. I think there's nothing better from a character trait than generosity, whether that's, you know, dollars or time. And the best leaders are, are going to make time to help develop more junior level individuals and, and founders in themselves.
- [15:09]
B
No, I think that, I think that's right on. And I think people don't often understand that most entrepreneurs or builders are so thrilled to talk to somebody about what they've done and what they're doing or have done and to have those discussions, particularly if, as you say, you make it easy for them. I always advise my adult children, tell somebody, hey, can I get 10 minutes of your time on the phone? Don't make it hard for the person. Like when somebody calls and says, you know, can I take you out golfing for four hours? Like, of course you can't because who's got four hours to spare? But if you want to spend 10 minutes, would love to. Then you develop relationship from there. But you make it, yes, it will make it easy to do, but people largely want to do it. Travis, where can people find out more about Onward and about you?
- [15:50]
A
Yeah, yeah. So best place to find me is on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active on the platform, so. Travis Guerra, G U E R R A. You can follow our Onward Headhunting account there on LinkedIn and then also our website, so onward headhunting.com and that's a great way to start the conversation and engage with us and see how we can help your growing platform companies or even at the fund level, you know, strategic hires you need.
- [16:17]
B
Travis Guerra, thank you so much for joining us. It's remarkable for me to visit founders and leaders with founders and leaders like yourself, just so simply fantastic. Thank you for joining us on the Becker Business podcast and the Becker Private Equity podcast. Thank you very, very much.
- [16:32]
A
Of course, Scott, really appreciate it.