The Eagle in the Capital: Bruce Vann’s Reclamation of Ownership

Bruce Vann’s resume reads like a paradox. He holds an economics degree from VCU and an MBA on a full-ride scholarship from UVA’s prestigious Darden School of Business. Yet, in a span of four years post-graduation, he was fired or laid off from three different jobs.

He found himself pigeonholed into accounting and audit roles that demanded a rigid adherence to controls he found stifling. He describes himself during this period as an "eagle among ducks". He was capable of flying, but he was surrounded by creatures content to paddle in the water. When he tried to fly, he looked crazy to them. When he tried to swim, he drowned.

The psychological toll was immense. After the third termination, Vann hit a nadir so deep he contemplated suicide. He had done everything right. He had the degrees. He had the work ethic. Yet he was unemployed, burning through savings, and feeling like a structural mismatch for the modern workforce. The problem, it turned out, was that he wasn't meant to be an employee. He was meant to be an owner.

In February 2020, Vann acquired Luxout Stage Curtains, a manufacturer of theatrical drapery. He closed the deal on Valentine's Day, exactly one month before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down every theater, school, and stage in the world.

But Vann navigated the crisis immediately upon arrival. He built a multi-million dollar net worth and found redemption in the capital of the Confederacy.

Long before he bought a business, Vann mastered the art of delayed gratification. After business school, he worked for ExxonMobil in Houston. While earning a high corporate salary, he lived like a pauper to pay off approximately $85,000 in student and car debt in just three years.

"I had an apartment with no furniture. I slept on a mattress, and I had a box spring... I didn't want to just live paycheck to paycheck," Vann told Paul A. Henderson on One Day At A Time.

He worked from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, often staying until 11:00 PM, and even worked through vacations at a Denny’s on Christmas Eve. This extreme financial discipline provided the seed capital that eventually allowed him to put a down payment on a business without relying on investors.

In 2019, after his string of job losses, a contact mentioned "search funds" to Vann. Unlike the traditional model, where searchers raise capital from investors to fund their salary while looking for a deal, Vann did a "self-funded" search. He moved back in with his parents at age 34 and treated the search like a job.

He scoured listings on BizBuySell, eventually finding Luxout in Richmond, Virginia. The business had been around since the 1940s. The broker had listed the cash flow based on net income after the owners paid themselves, rather than adding back that discretionary earnings (SDE). This accounting error allowed Vann to buy a growing business for roughly 2x EBITDA; a steal in the world of M&A.

Vann took over Luxout in February 2020. By March, the world had stopped. However, the specific mechanics of the stage curtain industry saved him.

The Long Sales Cycle: Schools and construction companies often order stage curtains up to two years in advance. This backlog meant that even though new orders dried up in Q2 of 2020, Luxout had months of work already in the pipeline.

Working In the Business: When the labor shortage hit in 2021, Vann couldn't find installers. He had to trade his CEO hat for a hard hat. "I definitely had to do that. I actually went out on and did some installs of stage curtains myself because during the labor shortage, we couldn't get guys to come to work to save our lives," Vann recounts.

Despite the pandemic, the business actually grew. In 2020, profits were up by a third compared to 2019.

Vann has adopted a strategy of "thinking big by thinking small." He is expanding Luxout not just by selling more curtains, but by acquiring complementary assets.

The Ribbon Weight Machine: In the curtain industry, weights are sewn into the bottom of the fabric to make it hang correctly. Most use lead (which is toxic) or chain. Luxout uses a steel "ribbon weight." Vann found a competitor in Atlanta retiring and bought their unique ribbon weight machine for less than $300,000. "What that thing is replacing... would be somewhere around, definitely somewhere north of one and a half million if I had to replace it... I've kind of built a little bit of an economic moat around my business," Vann shared in one appearance on the Acquiring Minds Podcast.

Vertical Integration via Retail: Vann also acquired Blinds & More Inc, a small retail window treatment dealer. His thesis is simple: Luxout sends installers all over the Mid-Atlantic to hang heavy curtains. By acquiring small, retiring dealer shops in different geographies, he gains a local installer base, reducing travel costs and expanding his footprint.

Vann’s journey is also deeply personal. Born in Hampton, Virginia—where the first enslaved Africans arrived in 1619—Vann overcame a childhood disability involving a dislocated hip and surgeries that left him unable to walk for two years. He credits his resilience to his faith and his parents' unyielding support.

Today, he operates a manufacturing plant in Richmond, Virginia.

"The place that I have my business is in the capital of the confederacy... these people made an entire country to keep people like me from doing what I'm doing right now, and I just feel elated that I'm able to do that and realize the dream," Vann says.

For him, business ownership isn't just about cash flow; it is about autonomy, legacy, and proving that an eagle doesn't need to swim to survive, it just needs to find the right sky.