Scott Lacy | VectorFi CFO

I'm an MBA who owns a plumbing company. Apparently that makes me a meme. Since MBA's, trade based companies, and ETA seem to be a hot topic at the moment, I thought I'd add some first hand insight. 18 brief insights below. My evening is free, so can do AMA tonight for a bit. Please, keep it civil and constructive. We're all here to learn and encourage. Don't be that guy unconstructively bashing other people just to feel better about yourself or just shooting off careless words. Here's some first hand info in no particular order: 1. I co-own a plumbing franchise com with my best friend of 20 years; like a brother to me. His family, a second family to me. 2. He runs the day to day. He does not have an MBA. I could not run this business without him. He managed SMB sign manufacturing companies for most of of his prior career. 3. My role is CFO; i also operate kind of like a board chair, providing perspective. He believes he couldn't run the business without me. See my linkedin for background. I work just a few hours a week on the business. Mostly collaborative phone calls early in the AM or late PM; and big spending decisions; forecasting, cash flow, etc. 4. I think the secret to us working together successfully is trust built on 20 years of real friendship, being able to leave our ego's out of everything b/c we have nothing to prove to each other, and having complimentary skill sets. 5. Our trucks are wrapped, so i guess that makes us fancy. We want to employ great plumbers who don't want the hassle of running all of the "business stuff", and we want to employ top performers and pay them above market average. 6. I previously owned a company with my wife. I couldn't have run that company without her. We're still married. Huge accomplishment. 7. Prior to starting my MBA, I made less than 6 figures. After getting more than halfway through my MBA, I got a new job and now make double what I made in my previous job. 8. My current job requires an MBA 9. MBA at University of Arkansas Walton School; Great program. 10. None of my classmates are struggling to find jobs. Most make 6 figures+ and are some of the most wonderful people I've ever met. Some will be leading the Fortune 1 in the coming years. 11. Cost of MBA: $50,000. I paid less b/c of tuition discount for being a Univ. employee for awhile. 12. Plumbers don't "make" $200+ an hour. "Make" implies take home pay. $200/hr is what is charged to the client. 13. Most plumbing companies with 3+ employees now charge $250-$350 per hour for labor. 14. An experienced journeyman plumber will make $75k to $175K/yr with base salary + commission + bonus + benefits. I would say the highest recurring number if all were surveyed would be in the $100k ballpark when including all forms of compensation. 15. MBA's, generally, teach from a corporate perspective. This makes it hard for most MBA's to run SMB's. 16. I believe we will dramatic changes in curriculum over the next 5-10 years. Univ of AR is top 3 schools in SEC for Entrepreneurship 17. Most MBA Entrepreneurship programs are solely aimed at Angel/VC to Exit models unfortunately. This will change. 18. In the last 2 years of what I've learned about business: 40% has been from SMBX/Twitter; 40% has been from MBA; 20% has been self study and online courses. Hope this is helpful. If you'd like to connect, feel free to reach out. Networks of good people are powerful things and I'm always looking to grow mine.

@noahkaufmanmd Congrats!

This week meant a lot. After 20 years working in emergency departments, I finally opened my own clinic. We’ve already seen patients. People have stopped by just to support us — even from out of state. The reviews we’ve gotten so far… honestly kind of surreal. Still waiting on signs. Still a lot to do. But it’s happening. KaufCare.

Warning:

@EricLDaugh 😳

🚨 JUST IN: SCOTUS Justice Ketanji Jackson argues for illegal aliens having birthright citizenship by saying if she steals somebody's wallet in Japan, she has "allegiance" to that country She has to freaking go. This is absurd. Actually. "I was thinking, you know, I'm a U.S. citizen, am visiting Japan. And what it means is that, you know, if I steal someone's wallet in Japan, the Japanese authorities can arrest me and prosecute me. It's allegiance, meaning can they control you as a matter of law?" "So there's this relationship based on—even though I'm a temporary traveler, I'm just on vacation in Japan, I'm still locally owing allegiance in that sense. Is that the right way to think about it?" "And if so, doesn't that explain why both temporary residents and undocumented people would have that kind of, quote-unquote, allegiance, just by virtue of being in the United States?" I guess it is April Fools 🤡🤡🤡

Iran was trying to use the North Korean model to get a nuke: create sufficient conventional deterrence so you won’t be challenged in acquiring one (it’s called the Seoul Hostage Problem). This has been explained over and over since day one. Everyone claiming shifting goalposts or no imminent threat has been lying. The reason North Korea was allowed to get nukes is because Seoul (and its 10 million inhabitants) is within artillery and rocket range of North Korea. During the 1994 nuclear crisis, the Clinton administration seriously considered airstrikes on North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor but backed off precisely because of the artillery threat to Seoul. Iran was trying to accomplish the same by stockpiling missiles and drones which would have had the same deterrent effect. The proof is what Iran has been doing in the past month: attacking all its neighbors in order to pressure the US to stop attacking it Beyond this, they were building medium-range ballistic missiles that could reach Paris and London, meaning all of Europe could be held hostage as they built a nuclear bomb. The reason Iran has not built a nuclear weapon until now is not because it couldn’t, but because it knew it would be attacked and denied this capability. So by allowing them to continue developing this conventional deterrence, you would be allowing Iran to get a nuclear weapon. And unlike North Korea, Iran is led by an eschatological death cult Reagan saw nuclear mutually assured destruction (MAD) as both morally bankrupt (because of the innocent-body-count problem) and dangerously fragile because it assumed flawless rationality between adversaries…this means it only takes one irrational actor to destroy the world. Working backwards from the conclusion that Iran’s Islamist regime must never have a nuclear weapon, it was necessary for the US to attack Iran to deny it the conventional capacity to hold the entire eastern hemisphere hostage. Every European leader knows this and behind the scenes praises the US for this action. But they are cowards, held hostage by their own internal Muslim populations, and so adopt these ridiculous public positions. This was never about Israel. And if your argument is that Iran should be allowed to get a nuclear weapon then you are a fool and a traitor to western civilization…you’re a useful idiot

Totally agree with one caveat…some medical issues do exist that make it incredibly difficult..For myself, had an undiagnosed brain tumor that was absolutely destroying my hormones. Cravings were nuts. Almost 0 testosterone. Tried losing weight for years…constant yoyo and no muscle gain. Found the tumor 6 months ago. Got on meds. Lost 40 pounds. T is high normal. New man again.

There's amazing gyms on every corner with cheap memberships. The Ninja Creami exists. GLP's exist and let you control your appetite and are affordable. AI can customize a world-class training plan for you in minutes to tell you how to hit any goal. YouTube has full workouts and demonstrations of every kind of exercise. Costco has many amazing, clean, cheap bulk protein options as well as giant bags of organic frozen fruit and veggies for cheap. The "Zero" sodas exist and taste exactly like sugar ones. Apps can help you track your calories in seconds per day. Hormones are easily available and affordable so you can get your Testosterone, Estrogen, etc. all perfectly dialed in with minimal cost and effort. Apps can help you track lifting, running, anything you want to see your progress on easily. Chicken is like $2/pound in grocery stores. Eggs are cheap again. Being out of shape is 100% a choice. There's no excuses. You can even eat ice cream and drink some delicious soda as you get more and more jacked. There's never been a better time to get fit. This is the golden age!

3. Fractional Services & Coaching: On-demand execs, specialists & high-impact coaches.
Companies want elite talent without full-time overhead. Flexible, strategic, and scaling fast.

2. AI Everywhere: Niche software creation + systems automation consulting. 
Businesses are desperate for vertical AI tools and agentic workflows that actually save time & money.

🚀 Aspiring & existing entrepreneurs — the 3 biggest market waves you can ride (and profit from) RIGHT NOW in 2026: 1. The “New” Healthcare: Health optimization, preventative care, peptides, longevity, and Direct Primary Care (DPC). 
Sick care is out. Optimization & prevention is exploding.

@shawngorham 🤫, but give me and @BenRowell717 a shout if you visit!

A cycling friend has been in Bentonville all week riding bikes - he has raved about it Are we sleeping on Bentonville?

@ClintFiore 🤯

Another CPA firm (<5M EBITDA) just got an IOI at 12X. 80% cash at close. Twitter still in disbelief. They didn't believe me last time when one sold at 10X and won't believe it again this time at 12X. Meanwhile, if you have a firm that's dialed in and doing 7-figures of EBITDA, let me know if you want to sell! I know who is paying.

@mitchellvii x.com/scott_vectorfi…

What we really need in Iran is an IRGC General who actually cares about the Iranian people to lead a coup against the Ayatollah and his mullahs. That's the only way we're going to get regime change here. It has to happen from inside the military. Thoughts? ⬇️

Trying to be hypercurious about AI. In doing so, I created customer software. 2 for 2 on things I never thought I'd ever be doing my life, right behind plumbing.

@ClintFiore Congrats. Similar journey the last 6 months after getting hormones fixed. Down 40 lbs with 10 new pounds of muscle. Feels great. Working and active like my early 20's again.

oh and DEXA result for my fitness journey update: - 18.1% BF - 30+ more pounds of muscle than an average dude my height - leaner body fat than 7/10 dudes my age already (but want to keep my cut going and get leaner and into the 10-15% BF range) I was 33% BF 2 years ago for reference and am down about 65 pounds since my heaviest. Super weird realizing, even though I'm still pretty thicc, I've got less fat on me now than most people do. Having a lot of fun getting myself sorted out health-wise and have been ditching clothes that are too big for me all the time lately. Went from 2XL shirts to now L and maybe even a M on some.

I've spent the last few weeks going all-in on AI. Analysis. Presentations. Research. Financial models. Client reports. Here's what I've actually learned: 1. It's not going to replace me. 2. But those who adopt it will be 2x better than those who don't. 3. I do better work, faster. 4. My expertise is the guardrail. My experience is the QC. That last one is what most people miss. Everyone talks about speed. Fewer people talk about what determines the *quality* of AI output — and the answer is the human behind it. AI didn't make me a better CFO. It removed the friction so my judgment could operate at higher volume.

@trentjhughes 🤫

Most underrated cities I've ever spent time in Bentonville, Arkansas Draper, Utah Boulder, Colorado Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Tampa, Florida Dallas, Texas Nobody talks about these as top places for jobs or entrepreneurship All of them surprised me

Anyone in SMB M&A land have a Deal Stats subscription I can talk with for 15 min?

@BenRowell717 @ClintFiore @BenRowell717 you trying to get your share of my life insurance early?

@ClintFiore @scott_vectorfi road trip?

What if... I organized a trip somewhere for a group of us to hang out for a week in a big house on a beach, and take paramotor lessons and all learn how to fly them, and share SMB knowledge, stories, and connections over dinner every night? Would you be interested in joining? If so, comment below and I may start a waiting list for this. I've been wanting to learn how to paramotor forever and this is how I think I can justify it... let's make it an SMB meetup thing. If you don't know, Paramotoring is safe, super fun, and the most smiles per gallon of any kind of aviation. You don't need a license to fly powered parachutes and you can become competent to fly one in less than a week. If you want to buy your own full setup and fly when you return home whenever you want, it's only about $10K to be fully kitted out with an engine and wing and accessories, and operating costs are on par with like a lawnmower. My friends that paramotor all swear by it being the most fun, purest form of flying you can get addicted to.