Family Business Values: My Chance Jay Bush Encounter

In 2013, my reputation as an advocate for family business and family business values was solidified after years being weaved into my blogs and speaking gigs. I got invited to speak at the Transitions Conference in Florida by Family Business Magazine & Stetson University (they would later name me 30 Under 35!), about my work building Dyn into a leading Internet Performance company and my overall views on family business, of which Dyn in the early days was so strongly rooted. It was also right around the time we decided to explore things with YORK Athletic’s Mfg., which would become the next generation of our family business story, but my talk was early innings, speculative and aspirational from that perspective.

Jay Bush was in the audience - amongst hundreds of other families - and my words and outlook struck a passionate nerve with him. You may or may not recognize his name or face, as Jay is of an iconic multi-generational, American family business: Bush Brothers & Company. Yes, that’s Jay and his dog Duke in the commercial spots for the best beans you’ve ever eaten. He's far cooler and edgier than it appears!

When I sat down after my talk that day, I sat right next to Jay, who I had chatted with briefly earlier, because he was intrigued by my obvious “different look” in a room full of suits, given I was rocking a Dyn SXSW concert t-shirt and he noticed the infamous band Deer Tick on it’s back--- and I was about half the age of the average attendee. We talked indie music and we hit it off immediately and he seemed surprised when I interrupted him to tell him I needed to get on stage and speak. It was a great lineup and my talk coincided with a nice juxtaposition with the other speaker, Wendy Yuengling Baker, COO, of the oldest brewery in the United States, D.G. Yuengling & Son. You could argue her surname and family business is just a little more famous and recognizable... for now.

I remember the day vividly because everyone in the room had misty eyes and an appreciation for my bent on family business. I’ve never before or since gotten more praise for a talk I’ve given. That attempt at impact is why I brave the stage so often. But Jay, the guy I chatted with about music sat silent next to me. Not “nice job” or even a head nod of appreciation, just silence. Until he perked up with a beaming smile and handed me the pages of notes he was feverishly writing as I returned to the table---with a list of names, his kids and his own, contact details, thoughts and notes from my talk and the family brand's potential. He wanted to stay engaged, pushed on buying Dyn shares (who doesn’t want to own a piece!), told me about his family story and how he had never felt so prideful to be a part of a family business. But also that he’d love to be involved in something that was new, a startup, and more “his own."

We stayed in touch over the coming months and it all came together in late 2014. Jay, Mark McGarry (CEO), Travis York and I make up the board of directors and have all now invested a great deal of time, energy, resources and love to this project.

Jay told me that day that he had never been so inspired to be a part of a family business. Which I’d like to be a reminder for everyone that family business values really, really matter, in any business of any size and scale. These family businesses are also what drive our economy. It’s a gut check on what carries true foundational meaning and why we work in the first place. My talk was very different at the conference from those companies trying to figure out how to “hand down the keys” of much more established, large revenue, family businesses. Instead of fear of what their kids or cousins might do with their businesses, we told a story of honoring our parents and grandparents before them and what this could become for our kids and grandkids if we made the right moves. And that through all of the York brothers business pursuits (notably Dyn, YORK Athletics & GYK Antler), we involve each other and are forming a family business enterprise for the next generation, all with the values, work ethic, ambition and passion I spoke about, that we all learned the right way working my parent’s local retail sporting goods shop. 

Jay has become a friend, supporter, mentor, co-conspirator and loyal ally. I’m honored to share this journey with him. I hope this post is further proof that you never know who is listening in the crowd and there can be nothing more game-changing than a chance encounter.