EBITDA? Nah. Multiples? Nope. Hockey sticks? Nowhere to be seen.

Most posts about exits aren’t about small or even medium-sized businesses. They’re about the big ones—the rapid-growth, billion-dollar, market-disrupting kind.

This isn’t that.

This is about a simple business on a steady timeline, creating value over a decade.

For those who don’t know, P10 is short for Perfect 10 Distribution—the food distribution company that Nick and I founded in 2014.

At first, we were running deliveries out of pickup trucks with coolers. Then came the day we bought our first reefer Chevy Econoline van. Big time. Then came our first 12-foot box truck. Then a dock-height truck.

And when we finally got a forklift—forget about it! We were big time.

We were total newbs when it came to capital assets (probably the most important piece of running a profitable distribution business). And honestly, that was a big reason why we ultimately decided to exit.

But from day one, our focus wasn’t on fleet size or financial models—it was on reputation.

We were 100% committed to having a great reputation with the brands we worked alongside. Internally, our goal was simple: support the brands we love.

The first ones?

🍦 Honeysuckle Gelato

🧈 Banner Butter

🌶 Doux South Pickles

🥜 Pure Bliss Organics

🧄 Garlic Clove Foods

🌈 King of Pops (of course)

👅 Lick-A-Lots (our frozen dog treat pre King of Pups)

We weren’t the flashiest operation. We grew 10-20% a year—not overnight, not exponentially, but steadily. We built trust. We became a lifeline for local food brands. A steady supplier for independent grocers. And eventually, national brands like Whole Foods and Fresh Market gave us a shot.

But there was never a single moment where we thought, “We’ve made it.”

If you want to understand what building P10 actually felt like, here’s a standard warehouse transfer in Charleston back in the day…

We didn’t back the truck in—because of a power line. No one wanted to be the one to clip it and knock out the internet for us and our neighbors. So the routine went like this:

✅ Line up the pallet jack on some 2x10 boards (the same ones we used to load King of Pops carts into trucks).

✅ Get a running start.

✅ Pray you make it across the sandy dirt before losing momentum.

✅ If you don’t make it, round up 3-5 fully grown humans to heave and hoe it onto the cement pad.

A year or so later, Nick finally solves the problem… with a few zip ties. Just lifts the line up to the power line. Safe? Probably not, but backing in was suddenly no big deal.

It wasn’t pretty. But it worked.

And the only reason it worked? The people.

It’s always the people.

We worked hard. But we also had a lot of fun.

The P10 pranks were legendary— keyboards in Jell-O, every single chair in the warehouse mysteriously relocated to one person’s office, and staplers gone missing.

We built something real. And we laughed a lot along the way.

Roll call of the legends who built the bones of P10:

😉 Nick Carse - The man with the plan & the energy to make it all come to life.

🚛 Jim Carse (Dad) – our first delivery driver, loved his customers a little too much sometimes.

📑 Lib Carse (Mom) – collections extraordinaire. She was always on it, even when we were on family vacations.

🧩 Alli Barfield - after graduating from our prestigeous Catapult Program she took the plunge - Pulling the strings, making things happen.

Brendan Horgan & Rader - the original muscle. And eventually the brains.

Jamey Gronewald - the next guy up, who took the reigns in Atlanta.

Austin Martin - driver, sales guy, everything guy.

Shawn - grew up with the company and now leads it in many ways.

Allen Bonow - the guy who took the helm in Charleston and legitimized us in the grocery world.

Andy McCarthy - our Charleston partner who took this on full steam and grew the team

Sam - the steady force making it happen, eventually taking the reins in Charleston.

Jorge Ramirez - the constant thread in Charlotte, proving the model works in one of our most successful markets.

Patrick Tracy, Nils Nelson & Paul Cassimus - hard to know who was even doing what… we barely had time to check in, but you always made it work. And customers loved you.

Beth Maisano – the saleswoman who will never give up on a big idea.

Josh Graham – leaned into everything the brand could be and made it better.

These are just some of the OGs. There are so many more who made this thing what it was.

This team made the hard work fun. The chaos manageable. The ridiculous moments worth it.

So yeah, monetarily, this was a nice win. But more importantly, it puts King of Pops in an incredible position for the future.

And if there’s one point I want to make, it’s this: Not all success stories are flashy. Some are just about showing up every day, doing the work, building a reputation, and eventually, someone sees value in what you’ve built.

If you’re the head down, get it done type—I hope this story finds you.