Our Story
Our story.
Neither of us came to this from finance. We came to it from inside businesses, the kind of work where you are managing people, handling problems as they come up, and learning what you are doing by actually doing it. Between the two of us, we have managed hundreds of employees and overseen tens of millions of dollars of capital projects. Together, we have direct experience owning and operating businesses in Northern New England.
We also have real ties to this part of the country. Justin's family spends much of the year in Vermont. Stephen grew up outside Boston. The Northeast is not a market we picked off a list, it is where we live, and the businesses up here are why we started this firm.
Together
Partners, long before this.
We met in college in Ithaca in 2013, both of us already more interested in running businesses than studying them. Our first jobs were at the same company. The careers diverged after that. The friendship did not.
Justin officiated Stephen's wedding last year. We spend summers on Cape Cod and winters in Vermont. After thirteen years, the friendship has been the constant.
The firm itself started the way most things between us do. Justin sent Stephen a business he thought was worth a look. Stephen dove in without hesitation. That conversation turned into the next, and the next, and eventually into Long Trail Partners.
When you sell a business to a partnership that has held together for thirteen years, you can be reasonably sure the partnership will still be holding together when the work is finished. Most buyers cannot say that. We can.
Meet the Team
The founders.
Justin Bredahl
Co-FounderJustin grew up in Southern California and came east for college, where he stayed. His family now spends much of the year at their place near Mt. Snow, Vermont.
His career has always been operational. He has worked through every part of the businesses he has been in, from staffing and vendor management to renovations and guest experience. He went on to run operations for a national platform where he was responsible for more than forty general managers and their teams. The common thread is that he is the person in the building, not the person reading the report about the building.
Stephen Goodwin
Co-FounderStephen grew up just outside Boston and has spent his whole life in the Northeast.
He has spent his career working with businesses at close range, not just reviewing numbers, but sitting with owners and managers, understanding how things actually operate, and figuring out what would make them better. He has managed 20+ businesses and overseen $250 million+ of capital projects, and done enough of the hands-on work to know what questions to ask and which answers actually matter.
What we have done.
We have been at this in the Northeast for years. We acquired the Hideaway Inn at Mt. Snow and On The River Inn in Woodstock, Vermont. We funded the renovations, managed them ourselves, and ran the operations day to day.
The results were strong on every measure that mattered to us: the inns are meaningfully more profitable than when we bought them, the team that was running the Mt. Snow property the day before we took over is the team running it today, the leadership at On The River has stayed with us as well, guests notice the difference, and our investors have done well. That is the version of operating we are trying to replicate, business by business.
We are now bringing the same approach to other founder-led businesses across the region.
“They look at the business with fresh, objective eyes. They spot areas of opportunity without emotional attachment, and when they see something worth fixing, they have a clear vision and plan.”
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