Jerod Pierce: From Foster Care to HVAC Roll-up Exit And Family Office

Jerod Pierce’s story reads like a movie script. Born in Seattle to a mother struggling with addiction, Pierce spent his early childhood bouncing between foster homes, hotels, and sleeping in cars. Fortunately, by the age of 10, he found stability in Missoula, Montana, but his early life was defined by survival.

Today, Pierce is the Founder and Managing Partner of Olympic Holdings Investments, his own family office. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and recently exited an HVAC roll-up for a sum he says has secured him generational wealth.

Pierce’s climb began with a pivot from sports to finance. After walking on to the football team at the University of Montana, he transferred to Seattle University, graduating Cum Laude in 2008. His hustle in an investment club led to an internship and eventually a role in investment banking at D.A. Davidson & Co.

From there, he moved to New York to work for GenNx360 Capital Partners, a middle-market industrial private equity firm. It was here that mentors encouraged him to apply to business school. He was accepted to Harvard Business School (Class of 2015), where he was first exposed to the concept of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA).

After HBS, Pierce joined Wincove Private Holdings in Boston. However, he quickly realized that being a junior partner in a small PE firm meant doing all the work with limited upside.

"Everything was flowing downhill to me. I wasn't doing a very good job. I was in over my head," Pierce admitted in one appearance on the Acquiring Minds podcast.

He decided to leave the East Coast, move back to Seattle, and launch a self-funded search.

Using what he describes as a "scrappy" proprietary search method (writing down phone numbers from vans and cold-calling owners), Pierce found Mercurio’s Heating & Air Conditioning in 2017.

The Details:

Pierce refused to take outside investors, betting his entire net worth on the deal. This decision to own 100% of the equity became the single most profitable decision of his life.

Pierce didn't just buy the business; he embedded himself in it. He worked from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day for five years. He learned to size furnaces, ran sales calls, and managed digital marketing campaigns himself to save on agency fees. He built a culture of excellence, comparing his team to the University of Alabama football program—a dynasty that expected to win.

Under his leadership, Mercurio’s grew from $3.5 million to over $35 million in revenue and nearly $7 million in EBITDA. He achieved this through organic growth and strategic add-on acquisitions, including G&G Heating & Air Conditioning, Vet Electric, and Quality Heating & Electrical.

By 2022, the HVAC market was white-hot. Pierce received unsolicited offers, eventually entertaining a bid near $95 million. Although he didn't accept the highest offer due to closing certainty concerns, he exited in late 2022 for a sum that allowed him to pay million-dollar bonuses to key employees and launch his own family office.

Pierce operates his family office out of Houston, Texas, where he resides with his wife and two daughters. The holding company invests in real estate and operating businesses with a long-term view.

However, his second act has proven that lightning doesn't always strike twice.

"Nightmare" Acquisition

Looking to replicate his success in home services, Pierce and his former GM from Mercurio’s acquired ST Glass & Window Specialists (formerly South Tacoma Glass).

This deal has been a struggle. Unlike Mercurio’s, where Pierce was present daily, he attempted to manage ST Glass remotely from Texas.

"It has been nothing but a nightmare. We are just now breaking even to making money," Pierce says.

Despite the struggles, Pierce has aggressively restructured the company, rebranding, implementing ServiceTitan, and overhauling the staff. He views it as a humbling reminder that in small business, there is no substitute for boots-on-the-ground leadership.

Despite this challenge, Pierce has made other great acquisitions, including Riverview Manor, a senior living facility in Central Washington. This $5 million business has been stable, cash-flowing, and possesses a strong team.

If anything, Jerod Pierce’s story is one of resilience. He moved from dumpster diving for food as a child to managing a nine-figure portfolio. He is now focused on teaching his children the value of money (using what he calls a "save, spend, share" piggy bank system) and building Olympic Holdings into an entity that can provide opportunities for his family for generations.

He remains active in the community, having served on the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce Board and being recognized as a 40 Under 40 honoree by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

His advice to searchers is simple: "If you are going to buy a company, you have to be present... fully invested and committed to its success more than anybody else."