Building a $2.2B Aerospace Business From Scratch with Bryan Perkins (#415)

Building a $2.2B Aerospace Business From Scratch with Bryan Perkins (#415)

May 19, 2026 · 1h 23m · Episode 415

About this episode

Bryan Perkins discusses building a successful aerospace business and insights on the industry's future.

In this episode, Chris sits down with Bryan Perkins, Founder & CEO of Novaria Group, a Fort Worth-based aerospace manufacturer he started in 2011 and sold to Arcline last November for $2.2 billion. Bryan didn't set out to be in aerospace. He needed a job. But once he was in, he saw a niche nobody else wanted - high-mix, low-volume, esoteric parts that go under the radar - and spent 15 years rolling up 27 companies into one of the biggest businesses most people have never heard of. His North Star from the start was TransDigm, a company he'd been studying since his 20s. Chris and Bryan unpack the full operator's playbook behind that arc, how his thinking has evolved across a family office, KKR, and now Arcline, and where the entire aerospace ecosystem is headed by 2030. They discuss: Why you can't outmanage a bad capital structure - and what most lower middle market PE gets wrong about underwriting How Bryan built a roll-up that produces 80-90% proprietary deal flow, and the patience it takes to do that Why commoditization is an immediate no, and how the "layer cake" of process IP, material science, and unit economics creates moats most people can't see What an arranged marriage…

People in this episode

Host: Chris Powers

Guest: Bryan Perkins

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Novaria Group, Arcline, TransDigm

Places: Fort Worth

More episodes of POWERS

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the POWERS podcast page.