Turning around businesses is in Todd Hagopian’s blood, and so is helping others pick winners. Todd started out in finance as a financial adviser, becoming one of the youngest bank managers in Michigan at age 25. Todd later earned his MBA at Michigan State University — with a dual major in marketing and finance — and began working at Whirlpool, where he moved his way up quickly, eventually becoming a senior manager.
Then he moved on to Illinois Tool Works, building a marketing department from scratch for the company’s weigh/wrap division in the B2B space. Under his leadership, he grew the company from $40 million to $67 million, moving up to global marketing director when Illinois Tool Works merged with its European counterparts, and eventually moving up to Business Unit Manager where he ran the division.
Next, Todd moved on to Berkshire Hathaway, where he oversaw its shopping cart division in Oklahoma, taking the company from $50 million to $65 million. He brought jobs back, to Oklahoma, from China and Virginia.
Hagopian always knew, though, that he was meant to buy and broker his own businesses. He started Cash Flow Acquisitions Inc. and set out to build a portfolio of businesses. As he says on Cash Flow’s website, he decided he no longer wanted to make other companies millions of dollars while being paid hundreds of thousands.
He bought his first company in October 2020, Witt Lining Systems, a B2B plastic liner manufacturer specializing in corrosion control. A year later, he purchased Superior Wood Floors & Tile.
He became a Managing Director with Lion Business Brokers managing the Oklahoma operations out of the Tulsa office. The reason Todd made the transition to Lion Business Brokers, was his own experience buying businesses. “I looked at over a hundred businesses in Tulsa,” he said, and “I never got a packet over three to four pages. It was usually a Word document kind of thing.” Lion Business Brokers confidential business reviews and memorandums are impressive, he said, chockful of detailed information.
“As I started my own business, I thought that maybe I wanted to be a broker,” Todd said. “I talked to a few, and there was never really a good fit. When I saw what Lion was offering, I knew this was something I could do.”
Outside of business, he is married with four small sons all under age 10 “That keeps me pretty busy,” he said. “They are essentially my hobbies.”
