A Chat with The Candle Man
Pursuing a brighter career with Chad Hildebrant
We recently caught up with Chad Hildebrant, a 17-year Wall Street veteran turned self-appointed “Candle Man.” In 2022, Chad decided to light up his career after long stints with firms like Standard Chartered, HSBC, and Deutsch Bank, and then Blackstone -backed working capital provider Peridot. He did it by acquiring a 10-employee private label candle manufacturer in New Jersey from its retiring owner.
Junteau: How has this career shift impacted the family?
Chad: Well I’m married with three kids: 9, 8, and 4. I think my kids are really proud to have a father that finally does something they understand let alone that they can take part in. They got upset after I joked I might sell it. The idea of passing it on to them is also a great feeling. My wife works as well, so in a weird way I’ve been able to use my own big career risk to push her to take on a risk of her own by switching firms after more than 15 years.
J: Did your wife approve in the beginning? What were her and your anxieties?
C: She was very supportive. She would get nervous whenever I had uncertainty, but as long as I was confident she trusted my judgment. (So sometimes I faked confidence).
J: What is something people say about business ownership that's entirely wrong or misleading, in your view?
C: The idea of passive ownership is mostly a silly and imaginary concept. Exceptions exist, of course, but every single time I hear this I dig in and find that’s not quite the reality. Even successful businesses are struggling in their own way. If your business is booming, then that usually means your people, systems, equipment, timelines, etc. are all being stressed beyond typical usage. For example, we lost a bunch of small customers recently but gained an even bigger customer that will net in our favor on paper, but the day-to-day does not feel better at all - it feels more precarious.
Owning a business is like the inverse of having a child. With a child, the downsides - lack of sleep, tantrums, etc. - are all very relatable to people who have never had kids, but the upsides are impossible to accurately convey. With a business, the upsides - money, being your own boss, flexibility, etc. - are very relatable, yet the downsides are very hard to convey. I can tell someone about having a seasonal business where you exit the year flush with cash and then watch it disappear like sand through your fingers for the next five months while still working your tail off, having debt higher than your net worth, and debating whether to let go of a few low wage workers with families to stem the bleeding…. but no words will do that experience justice.
J: On the flipside, what is wonderful or underappreciated about owning a business?
C: Other than having kids, it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. After 17 years in banking, it’s the first time I’ve been able to focus on the present stage of my career rather than constantly being plagued by what the next step is, if I’m where I should be, or wondering if I’m appreciated enough. The camaraderie between business owners, inside and out of your own industry, is really great. It’s its own fraternity in a way. The second I meet someone who is also an owner, there is an immediate deeper connection that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
J: What was the lowest low and the highest high you've experienced so far?
C: I took on the business with incredible excitement and intensity. I worked insane hours at the start - I thought I knew what that meant in the context a desk job… but doing most of it on your feet in a factory is a whole other animal. I told myself if I got burnt out I’d pull back, but that’s kind of like saying you’ll stop working out when you get injured - the damage is already done.
After 4 months I was fried.
I was supposed to travel for my 40th birthday and couldn’t - I intended to skip celebrating it if not for my wife throwing me a surprise party. There was another trip I told my family to go on without me. I was almost looking forward to being able to work long hours without guilt while they were away. But scrolling Instagram at 9pm in my office and seeing all of them on a beach was soul crushing. During much of this I was getting up at 4am most days for marathon training in 25-35 degrees in the dark followed by 12-15 hour days working. I’m absolutely astonished I lived to tell about it. There’s a quiet shame in buying your own business for freedom and flexibility and then going and working 70 hours. I never doubted my overall decision, but you constantly question your execution.
I’ve since been able to pull back a lot. I’ve been riding the high of having a relatively stable business that I spent a lot of time putting people and processes in place to allow me to take a healthy amount of time off without stressing too much about it now.
J: Does anyone in business or life inspire you more or differently now?
C: I try to be a head down guy with regard to my work, but I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for the likes of Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Jobs who have spent decades consistently leading their businesses with seemingly sharp focus and not riding off into the sunset long before. The stresses and uniqueness of that is probably underappreciated.
J: A lot of new business owners get excited about implementing new technologies or processes into older established businesses? What has been your approach?
C: I like the analogy of chiseling a statue… In the beginning you’re lopping off big chunks with broad strokes, but over time your changes get smaller and more slight. There’s a lot of big ideas I’m excited about, but we’re limited by space right now which is dramatically more difficult to solve for than you’d think. I’ve got 10 solutions and all of them are either band-aids or they come with substantial downsides. It’s slowed our growth, but I’ve come to appreciate that it might be healthier that way.
J: Would you ever go back to a W2 or to work for someone else? If so, how would your approach to a traditional career be different?
C: It’s really hard to imagine, but everywhere I’ve ended up would have been a surprise to me 5 years before.
J: What would you have done differently, knowing what you know now, during your initial search and transition to ownership?
C: I could nitpick a million things but overall I think I did okay. I needed to make a lot of those mistakes.
J: Shifting from business to personal, what do you or the family do for fun? Is your answer different now versus before?
C: Actually, mostly the same. We make a lot of effort to get the kids out of the house and go on roadtrips a lot. Much of that has to do with living in an apartment in an urban area.
J: Any vacations recently or coming up? Can you relax knowing you have a business running? How do you manage so that you can enjoy your leisure time?
C: We travel as a family a decent amount. The first year was tough, but the second year I finally had the support systems in place to allow that.
J: What do you do to stay physically and mentally healthy? Personal life?
C: I run a lot. Personal life I’d say is better. I drive to work now instead of subway which gives me time to call and catchup with friends on my way home. I just started to take off Wednesdays and use that time to visit suppliers/customers and have lunch with friends. It’s been great.
J: Read anything interesting lately? What was it and why was it interesting?
C: I was an avid reader before taking on the business 2 years ago, I’m just now getting back into it. For now I mostly bludgeon myself with the insanity in Twitter for the occasional insightful take.
Junteau: All told, are you on the right path versus your expectations? Are you happy?
Chad: All systems go. I’ve never been more content with my life.
If you’d like to hear more about Chad’s story and his business acquisition process, check out this episode from Acquiring Minds.