Hey, I'm Devin.
My name is Devin Byrne and I'm a business strategist, operator, and consultant based in Portland, Oregon.
About Me
I grew up working for a 100+ year old family-owned waterplant nursery in New York. I did a lot of manual labor and hand-to-hand retail sales. I also did a lot of side jobs. I got my boat captains license at 16 years old so I could shuttle rich people to their yachts on the weekends.I got a degree in Environmental Science and spent a decade running remediation projects for energy companies, national laboratories, municipalities, and real estate developers.I was also a natural gas pipeline engineer in New York City few a couple of years where I designed and managed dozens of capital construction projects and help build the processes for this newly formed unit.In late 2019 my Wife and I left New York and moved to Portland, Oregon. She's a physical therapist and COVID happened, so we started home physical therapy business together - We served 100+ patients in 3-years. All sorts, but our typical patient was elderly and couldn't physically get themselves into a traditional clinic. It was a feel-good, profitable, mom + pop shop (just the two of us) and it was our introduction to self employment.We networked with a lot of other physical therapy clinics and doctors offices. I started helping some of these businesses, and eventually working on other business opportunities in and outside of healthcare.I collect smart questions, pay attention to incentive structure, look for leverage and margin, and obsess over unique operations and sales strategies.I pursued something called a "Searchfund" in 2022. It's a financing vehicle to acquire an existing operating business. I signed hundreds of NDA's, met many owners, and looked under the hood at their P&L's. While I may not have found the right deal, I firmly believe this is the best damn MBA you can earn and don't have to pay for - I got dozens of reps. Saw how real leadership works. Learned about dozens of operating models. And began to understand what things really matter - where a dollar comes from, when it comes in, how it comes in, and what happens to transform it inside of a business.I love stories of the Old West. I'm a trend-hunter, and a public records junkie. I like dissecting industry dynamics and relish finding the things that allow companies to succeed for a long time.Some of my work is included below.
Let's talk.
I'm a surfer, a hiker, a golfer, and am always working with a number of businesses.Shoot me an email if you need help or are building something cool!