After 13 years of growth and innovation in the intellectual disability and developmental disability (I/DD) communities, CapGrow Partners LLC stands out as a success story from an entrepreneurial perspective. But like all other startups, there were a lot of twists and turns in the early days, and CEO Matt Pettinelli recently appeared on the web broadcast “Bootstrapping In America” to talk about those.
The show is produced by tastytrade, a rapidly growing online financial-content network, and is one of a portfolio that includes eight hours of live, original programming each weekday. Topics range from investment strategies and other financial focuses to interviews with business professionals such as Pettinelli to learn how they started, and grew, a successful company.
In his interview, Pettinelli talked about his hunger for finding a job that he could really dig into, and tying that into a family history of giving back. Thanks to his parents’ careers in social services, he was aware of the need for better, more comprehensive community-based housing solutions for individuals with I/DD. In January 2006, he took the leap.
“There was a lack of fear of failure in the climate around me, and my wife encouraged me to try it,” he recalls. “I knew there was a void, and a demand, but wasn’t sure the idea would work.”
Behavioral health industry needed real estate help
In those days, most companies dealing with the I/DD disability community owned their real estate, which wasn’t ideal because it tied up capital and forced them to spend time on issues surrounding property purchase and maintenance vs. providing services. CapGrow was able to target that need, and help those companies get out of the ownership business and focus on their strengths.
“We acquire, typically, a single-family home and then lease it to that health care operator, who then fills it with individuals they are serving in that community,” Pettinelli explains. “We are demand-based; we don’t speculate. We work in partnership with our clients who say they need a property in a certain spot, and we help them find it. AT the end of the lease agreement, they can determine if it fits their needs, and the needs of the individuals they are serving. They are not tying up their capital, and they have a lot more flexibility.”
This has led to CapGrow Partners becoming nationally prominent in the I/DD housing arena, but it took a while.
“I asked a company to give me one chance, and I gave them everything to make our first deal,” he recalls. “We did that deal, I was so happy. I told my wife we were making $1,000 — after expenses, for the year. That’s the grit of an entrepreneur. She told me I had better go and get some more. It’s a funny story, but I still think back on that, and those bumps and bruises.”
CapGrow Partners now provides homes for more than 1,300 individuals in 22 states, and continues to expand. And all the while, he says, the venture he took a chance on is helping him fulfill his personal mission of giving back in meaningful, life-changing ways.
“We are allowing these individuals to come out of a congregate setting and live in the community,” he says. “One partner of ours told us that the home we bought on a particular day allowed four women, who had an average age of 45, to finally have their own bedroom. We do well by doing good, and we’re very proud of that.”
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