Radiation Detection Company and Long-Term Hold: A Short Road to a Long Journey

We first met Ryan in the fall of 2018. Ryan had just served for seven years in the US Navy as a Submarine Officer, and he had recently enrolled in Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. We were immediately drawn to Ryan’s experience as a leader and his conviction in pursuing entrepreneurship. We were further impressed when Ryan took a year off during business school to gain revenue leadership experience at a fast-growing startup and also meet with prospective search investors in person.

After graduating with his MBA, Ryan launched his search fund in July 2020. One of his investment theses focused on services to the dental industry due to the market’s strong secular tailwinds and increasing non-cyclical demand. Ultimately, Ryan’s past experience managing the radiation detection program on a submarine led him to RDC. RDC’s seller was already receiving offers from private equity firms, but he was drawn to Ryan’s humility, leadership values, and personal experience with radiation detection services. Due to Ryan’s fit with the business and his relationship with Ryan, RDC’s seller decided to sell the company to Ryan. Within five months of launching his own search fund, Ryan had become a CEO.  

Ryan steeped himself in the business immediately, learning as much as he could about Radiation Detection Company. He worked at the warehouse receiving and loading packages, handled customer service requests, and visited customers to learn about their needs. At the same time, he built out RDC’s leadership team to further professionalize the company. Within three years of the acquisition, RDC had rapidly gained market share, developed a deep talent bench, completed acquisitions, and navigated competitive dynamics successfully.  

We were not the only ones to notice Ryan’s success. By summer 2023, Ryan started receiving unsolicited offers to acquire the company. However, Ryan was reluctant to sell; he knew that it was still the early innings of his entrepreneurial journey, and he wanted to continue building RDC. Based on prior experience with Pacific Lake’s Value Creation Team, Ryan sought out Pacific Lake Long-Term Hold (LTH) as a thought partner for deciding what he should do next. Over the next several months, Ryan and the LTH team worked together to map the market, identify idiosyncratic tailwinds, and assess RDC’s capital needs. By the end of the process, Ryan and LTH had co-created a five-year growth plan and an optimal transaction structure that was a win-win for him, RDC’s existing investors, and the company’s employees.

LTH closed the recapitalization of RDC in May 2024. We are excited to deepen our relationship with Ryan as he continues his CEO journey and grateful that Ryan chose to work with LTH. We look forward to supporting his vision of building RDC into a leader in radiation detection services over the next decade and beyond.  

You can learn more about our Long-Term Hold strategy here or reach out to Chris Hendriksen or Dice Takeda for more information.