Taylor Mattingly·November 24, 2025

When to Buy a Large Consumer Business | Taylor Mattingly Interview

Taylor Mattingly and his partner John Watson, both from management consulting and finance backgrounds respectively, did a partnered traditional search fund and acquired Energy Ogre in August 2024 — a subscription-based electricity concierge service in Houston, Texas, three miles from where they both grew up. Energy Ogre charges residential customers $10/month to actively monitor the deregulated Texas electricity market, select the best retail electricity plan for each customer's usage profile, and automatically switch or extend plans when better rates emerge, saving members an average of $500/year. The deal was structured without SBA financing — 45% equity, 20% seller note, and 35% conventional loan — leveraging the business's highly predictable subscription cash flows and eight-figure revenue to support more debt than a typical search fund deal. The acquisition was entirely relationship-driven: Taylor had been a customer for seven to eight years and knew one of the co-founders since childhood; the seller's move to Germany and co-founder's pivot to another venture created the natural exit moment. A year in, the business is performing as expected; the team has focused on reducing onboarding churn, scaling back underperforming B2B business development, and implementing EOS quarterly sprints. Key strategic uncertainties include the cost of acquiring the next tier of customers, regulatory pen-stroke risk from potential changes to Texas deregulation, and the tension between AI/offshoring cost savings and the 'Texan talking to Texan' brand identity.

Deal facts

revenue: well into eight digits (eight-figure revenue stated)
financing structure: 45% equity, 20% seller note, 35% conventional loan (no SBA)
notes: Described as larger than most traditional search fund deals; 55% debt (seller note + conventional loan) to 45% equity; closed August 2024; 75-day target close extended to ~95-100 days; partnered search fund structure with two co-CEOs; ~90 employees; 12-person development team; 5.3 million eligible meters in Texas; single-digit market penetration

Why this business

Taylor had been a customer of Energy Ogre for 7-8 years and personally knew one of the co-founders since childhood (the co-founder went to high school with his mother). He was drawn to the subscription-based, recurring-revenue model with minimal capex and strong EBITDA margins, operating in a unique Texas deregulated electricity market with a clear consumer value proposition. The business came to them through a relationship — the co-founders were open to selling to someone they trusted to maintain the model and culture — and it was located three miles from the neighborhood where both Taylor and his partner John Watson grew up.

What's working

Subscription model at $10/month ($120/year) produces highly predictable, recurring revenue with strong post-90-day retention (single-digit churn after onboarding period)
Proprietary technology platform custom-built by founders that monitors the Texas electricity market, pulls customer usage data, and automates plan-switching decisions on behalf of members
Consumer-advocate positioning: Energy Ogre is paid only by the customer, not by providers, enabling unbiased plan selection and strong NPS/trust scores
Word-of-mouth acquisition engine: referrals are the stickiest and lowest-CAC customer channel, and the concierge model lends itself to cross-table dinner conversations
Strong middle/upper management retained from founders, including a COO with 9 years of retail electricity experience who serves as a tiebreaker between the two co-CEOs
All staff based in Houston, enabling 'Texan talking to Texan' brand positioning that resonates with members paying for a local concierge service
Relationship-driven acquisition allowed a clean, trust-based transition; sellers wanted someone who would maintain the business model and culture
EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) model adopted with quarterly sprints; complementary co-CEO roles (Taylor as visionary/marketing, John Watson as integrator/finance-IT)

What's hard

Onboarding churn is higher than post-90-day churn; getting new customers to complete required actions (granting LOAs/authorization to access meter data) takes work
Business is complicated to explain, limiting effectiveness of traditional sales reps and B2B business development outreach; they scaled back that function after finding it unfruitful
BTOC model and regulated broker status required extra investor education — cap table had to get comfortable with PUC regulation, churn profile, and consumer-facing risk
Close took ~95-100 days vs. the 75-day target, due to regulatory review and churn analysis during diligence
Strategy pivoted more than expected in year one because the learning curve on retail electricity operations took longer than four months to climb
Regulatory/pen-stroke risk: entire business model depends on Texas's unique deregulated electricity structure remaining intact
Geographic expansion to other deregulated states is risky because consumers there are not mandated to choose their own plan and lack awareness of switching options
Next tier of customer growth will require paying more for acquisition as the easiest word-of-mouth customers have already been captured
AI/offshoring tension: cost savings from automating call-center work or offshoring conflict with the 'local Texan' brand identity that drives trust and retention

Notable quotes

I think the theme of family, relationship, and trust for our story is going to be weaved throughout our entire conversation. That was what was predicated on our relationship with the seller as well.

What we do for $10 a month is we take each of our members' custom usage curve, we map that against all the plans out on the market and make the best selection for them from an electricity plan perspective. Then we serve as the liaison between them and the provider.

From a cost savings perspective, yes, we are $120 a year, but we're saving folks on average, average home, average rate within the state of Texas. If they're coming into an energy ogre plan, we're saving them about $500 a year.

Once somebody understands our services and is starting to get conditioned with what Energy Ogre is doing on behalf of them, the only people leaving are a lot of the time the people leaving are just moving out of a competitive area.