How to Buy a Business in an Industry You Know Nothing About

Ben Wespi had no background in construction. No experience in mechanical insulation. No idea how to wrap pipes and ducts for HVAC systems.

He bought a mechanical insulation company anyway.

"We were interested in finding a business in a niche industry that was growing," Ben explains. "We found a unique opportunity where the owner was growing the business and had to step out for health reasons. It aligned with what we were looking for and we jumped right into it."

One year later, he's running multiple crews across eastern North Carolina, bidding on data center projects, and growing the business his predecessor built.

I find this kind of story fascinating because it mirrors my own experience. When I started my gym, I had no idea what I was doing. Knew nothing about running a gym or any of that stuff. But it seemed like an exciting start, and it worked.

Here's what Ben taught me about why.

Step 1: Find the Right Kind of Business

Not every business is suitable for an outsider to acquire. Ben looked for specific criteria:

A niche industry. Mechanical insulation isn't sexy. Most people don't know it exists. That's a feature, not a bug. Niche industries have less competition, more specialized customers, and higher barriers to entry for new competitors.

A growing market. Ben didn't want to buy into a declining industry and fight over a shrinking pie. Mechanical insulation is tied to construction, data centers, and infrastructure—all growing sectors.

Existing leadership in place. This is critical. Ben didn't need to know how to install insulation because the company already had foremen who did.

"We were fortunate that we had leadership in place, expertise in place, to where I didn't need to go out and do mechanical insulation. I had to run a crew and run a business."

This last point is huge. In my research talking to contractors, I see a lot of owners who are still the best technician on their team. They're stuck doing the work instead of running the business. Ben avoided that trap from day one.

Step 2: Know What You're Actually Buying

When you acquire a business in an unfamiliar industry, you're not buying the technical capability. You're buying:

Customer relationships
A trained workforce
Operational systems (even imperfect ones)
A reputation in the market
Cash flow

Ben's job wasn't to become an expert insulator. His job was to lead the people who already were, maintain customer relationships, and grow the business.

"It's more of a skill to learn and apply to that industry rather than learning something more technical," he says.

This is liberating if you let it be. You don't need 20 years of experience. You need to understand people, processes, and numbers. The technical knowledge lives in your team.

Step 3: Use Modern Tools to Close the Knowledge Gap

Ben admits he uses AI tools like Perplexity constantly. When he needs to understand something about his industry, his competitors, or his customers, he researches it.

"It's an exciting time because there's so much opportunity. You can jump into something that you know nothing about and still use all the tools we have available now—the AI and whatnot—to become an expert. Or at least enough of an expert to make sure you can run that business."

He's not pretending to have 20 years of industry experience. He's using available tools to learn what he needs, when he needs it.

When Ben decided to pursue data center projects, he didn't have existing relationships with those contractors. So he researched who was building data centers in the region, found their contact information, and started calling.

"A lot of that's AI-driven. Just doing the research using those tools to learn—hey, what else are they working on? Who else is bidding on these projects?"

I wouldn't have thought data centers for a mechanical insulation company, but Ben made the connection: his team does high-spec work on military bases. Data centers need that same quality. It's a logical jump once you see it—but you only see it if you're actively researching.

Step 4: Apply Transferable Skills

Ben spent 20 years in the Marine Corps. He didn't learn mechanical insulation, but he learned:

How to lead people under pressure
How to manage complex operations
How to solve problems with incomplete information
How to build teams that perform

Those skills translate directly.

"Most of the success in business comes from two things," Ben explains. "Leadership—getting a crew to do more than you could possibly do on your own, getting people to work together as a team. And creative problem-solving."

The technical stuff? That can be hired. Leadership can't.

I've noticed this with every veteran entrepreneur I talk to. We all feel like we don't have "real" business skills. But leadership and problem-solving are the hard skills. Everything else is learnable.

Step 5: Find a Complementary Partner

Ben bought the business with his wife, who has a background in tech and banking. She took on the CFO role and became the lead estimator. He focused on business development and crew management.

"There was a big portion of that job that would have normally been in one owner that we could split up into two. My focus was on business development and crew management. Hers was administrative operations and estimating."

This division of labor let each of them focus on their strengths rather than struggling with their weaknesses.

I'll dig into this more in a separate article, but the short version is: don't look for a partner who's like you. Look for someone who's strong where you're weak.

The Reality Check

Ben doesn't sugarcoat it: buying a business in an unfamiliar industry is hard.

"Know that it is not as easy as it looks. You're going to work hard. It wasn't really a surprise to me. I just didn't really fully internalize that yes, it will be difficult."

But difficult isn't impossible. You adapt. You learn. You figure it out.

And if you're buying a business with good bones—existing expertise, loyal customers, a growing market—you don't need to know everything on day one.

You just need to lead.