Udow Ventures

David Udow

Building better businesses.
Looking for the right one to lead next.

I'm a BC entrepreneur and operator. For more than 35 years I've been founding, buying and improving businesses. My main goal now is to acquire the right established company and run it myself. Alongside that search, I'm opening capacity for one substantial fractional COO or interim operating role. Both are the same work: taking a good business and making it meaningfully better.

I have a business opportunity I need operating leadership
About

Founder. Operator. Acquirer.

I started my first company at eighteen and I've been building or running something ever since. In 2000 I co-founded Ziptrek Ecotours in Whistler. Over twelve years we grew it into one of North America's best-known adventure tourism brands: three permanent locations in two countries — Whistler, Mont-Tremblant and Queenstown, New Zealand — more than 150 employees, and a team that could run the business without me. I moved to the Board in 2012 and I'm still a Director and shareholder.

In 2014 I bought Pink Solution, a Canadian eco-cleaning brand. I rebuilt the operating model, expanded the products and sales channels, nearly tripled revenue, and sold it in 2021. More recently I was the Integrator at Jetstream Hospitality Solutions, where I put in the accountability and management systems a growing hospitality technology business needs: quarterly priorities, executive scorecards, and a weekly leadership cadence.

My best work is at the intersection of people and execution: building accountability without building bureaucracy, strengthening a management team, improving the customer experience, modernizing systems that have fallen behind, and helping a good business become less dependent on any one person. That's the same work whether I own the company or I'm working alongside its founder for a defined period.

Udow Ventures Principal & Operator 2012 – Present
Ziptrek Ecotours Founder, Director & CEO 2000–2012 Founder & Director 2000–Present
Jetstream Hospitality Solutions Integrator 2023–2026
Pink Solution President · Acquirer 2014 – 2021
NetSet Home Solutions Founder 1996 – 2000
Clearview Window Cleaners Founder 1988 – 1994
How I Work

First, find out what's actually broken.

I don't arrive with a program. Every business I've run or been brought into has had its own particular problem, and finding it is the first job — talking to the people doing the work, going through the numbers, and paying attention to what customers actually experience. What gets fixed first depends on what I find.

These are the six areas I look at.

Two things I've learned the hard way. Don't automate a process that isn't working yet — you'll just make the mess run faster. And don't chase growth while customers are quietly leaving.

This is why the two paths are one job. Whether I buy the business or a founder brings me in for a defined period, the work is the same and so is the goal: leave it better than I found it. The only thing that changes is who owns it at the end.
What I'm Looking For

The right business to run and grow.

I'm looking for an established business in the Lower Mainland or the Sea to Sky corridor that I can buy and run myself. My background covers tourism, consumer products and manufacturing, and hospitality technology. But the right fit has less to do with industry than with a stable revenue base, a capable team, and room to get meaningfully better.

Well-run, not just profitable
The best businesses I've seen were run by a founder who cared: loyal customers, a solid team, real cash flow. But they were never fully optimized, because the founder was busy running the business rather than building systems around it. That gap is where I add value.
$1.5M–$8M in revenue
Big enough to have a real team, an established customer base and meaningful cash flow. Small enough that hands-on leadership makes a real difference. The economics matter more than the range, so I'd look higher or lower for the right business.
A team already in place
I'm not looking to come in and be everything to everyone. I want a business with capable people who already know the work, and to give them better leadership, clearer direction and the systems to do their best. Fifteen to fifty people is the right range.
A revenue engine that doesn't depend on me
The business needs a way of finding and keeping customers that already works: recurring contracts, repeat buyers, a sales team, or demand that marketing brings in. I can strengthen that engine and grow it. What I'm not going to do is build a pipeline from cold.
A founder ready for what's next
A full exit, a transition with you still involved for a while, or buying out a partner — I'd like to see the deal. It doesn't need to be a distressed situation. If you've built something real and you're thinking about what comes next, reach out. The conversation costs nothing.
Lower Mainland & Sea to Sky
I live in Lions Bay and I'm looking within about 90 minutes of home. I want to be close to the business: in the community, available to the team, actually present.
What you can expect from me
I'm not a financial buyer and I'm not looking for a flip. I plan to run the business myself for the long term — think ten years, not three — protect what already works, and invest in the team and systems it needs next. I've been a founder and a seller myself, so I know a transition is about people, legacy and trust as much as it is about price.

I've been on both sides of this.

In 2014 I bought Pink Solution from its founder. It was a Canadian eco-cleaning brand with loyal customers, a capable team, and a lot that had never been optimized. I ran it for seven years: rebuilt the operating model, expanded the product line and sales channels, nearly tripled revenue, and sold it in 2021. I know what it's like to hand over something you built and wonder what happens to it next. I also know what it takes to look after it properly once you do.

Funded, and in control

My own capital plus bank financing, and for a larger business a passive co-investor alongside. What doesn't change is who runs it: I hold operating control in every deal, and I don't take partners who want a say in the day-to-day.

Confidential from the first call

Nobody needs to know we're talking — not your team, not your customers, not your competitors — until you decide otherwise.

A straight answer, quickly

I'll tell you early whether it's a fit, and why. If it isn't, you'll hear that from me instead of silence.

Flexible on structure

A clean exit, a staged transition with you involved for a while, or buying out a departing partner. I'm open on how it gets shaped.

Where I'm probably not the right buyer: restaurants and food service, retail storefronts, distressed turnarounds, and businesses where the revenue depends on the owner doing the selling. That said, a category is a blunt instrument and I've been wrong before. If you think there's a fit, I'd rather have the conversation than miss it.
Fractional & Interim Leadership

When a good business outgrows informal management.

Sometimes the next step isn't a sale. It's giving the founder room to lead, getting accountability back across the team, or moving the priorities that keep stalling before committing to a permanent hire. I'm opening capacity for one substantial operating role with an established founder-led company.

01

Operating assessment

A focused review of the management structure, the operating rhythm, and where accountability and execution break down. It ends with a practical 90-day plan.

Four weeks
02

Fractional COO

Ongoing operating leadership for a company that needs experienced executive capacity but isn't ready for a permanent full-time hire.

Two days a week · three-month minimum
03

Interim President or COO

A defined leadership role during growth, succession, restructuring, or the search for a permanent executive.

Typically six to twelve months
Best fit: an established company with a sound business, capable people and a committed founder — but too much still runs through one person, accountability across the management team is inconsistent, or the important priorities keep stalling.
Start a confidential conversation
Get in Touch

Let's talk.

If you're thinking about selling, representing a business that fits, or running a company that needs experienced operating help, I'd welcome a confidential conversation.

Or reach me directly
david@udow.com LinkedIn