Robert Aguirre

## PROSPECT INFORMATION: Name: Robert Aguirre Title: Founder Fund: Bellator Trust Background: Robert Aguirre is an independent operator and acquisition entrepreneur focusing on lower middle-market B2B industrial product and services businesses in South Texas, specifically seeking businesses with $500K–$2.5M EBITDA in the San Antonio metro. He has two decades of experience in B2B industrial technology, including roles in business development, GTM strategy, product management, and private equity-backed leadership. Robert has built and scaled AI-enabled platforms in compliance and energy and has led cross-functional teams through product launches, integrations, and exits. His approach integrates hands-on operational experience with AI-enhanced workflows for deal sourcing, due diligence, and financial analysis. He is interested in industrial field services, B2B services with recurring revenue, compliance-driven or regulated industries, and technician-led service businesses. Robert holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC). He is an alumnus of Tesla and Boeing. He speaks Spanish. **Key Skills:** Due Diligence, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Product Management, Software Product Management, Product Launch, Product Design, Utility Industry, Batteries, Lithium Batteries, Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), Battery Testing, Battery Replacements, Asset Management, Solution Selling, Software as a Service (SaaS), Customer Segmentation Strategy, Operations, Sustainability, International Sales, International Business, Brazilian Portuguese, Mexico, Automotive Aftermarket, Director level, Setting Strategic Direction, Consulting, Business Acumen, Electrification, Electric Vehicles, Financial Analysis, Partner Relationship Management, Negotiation, Business-to-Business (B2B), Executive Management, Sales Processes, OpenAI, Leadership, Marketing Strategy, Sales, Process Improvement, Engineering, Project Management, Business Development, Strategic Planning, Manufacturing, Analysis, Cross-functional Team Leadership. **Recent Professional Experience:** * **Independent Operating Partner at TXE Partners (2025-2026):** Collaborated on AI-enhanced deal sourcing for lower middle-market industrial acquisitions in South Texas ($500K–$2.5M EBITDA). * **General Manager, Software at Renewance, Inc. (2024-2025):** Building and launching RenewanceConnect. * **Managing Director at XPEL (2023-2024):** First general manager for Latin American region, responsible for a 14-person international organization and $10M P&L, with a vision for a $100M business unit. * **Growth Advisor at Catalant Technologies (2022-2023):** Consulted on sales, marketing, M&A, channel-strategy, and International Go-to-Market strategies for B2B Software & Services companies. * **Managing Director and Founder at Bellator Trust (2019-2022):** Fundraised over $500K for a lower middle-market investment vehicle and led due diligence and fundraising for acquisitions. * **Director of Commercial Sales, North America & Strategic Product Marketing at Proterra Inc (2014-2018):** Grew commercial sales from zero to $30MM in revenue and implemented Go-to-Market Strategy for new product offerings. * **Head of Sales for North America - Fleet and Commercial Business at Tesla Motors (2012-2014):** Developed the B2B/fleet program into an eight-figure order book and built relationships with C-level end-users. * **Corporate Development Manager at Danaher Corporation (2011):** Conducted market due diligence in medical equipment and evaluated marketing investments. * **Engineering Lead at Boeing Satellite Systems (2007-2010):** Led project management and engineering for satellite manufacturing, testing, transport, and launch equipment. * **Account Executive, Boeing-Sponsored Loaned Employee Program at United Way of Greater Los Angeles (2008):** Managed campaign strategies for corporate accounts, producing over $5M in donations. * **Structural Analysis Engineer/Scientist at Boeing (2005-2007):** Designed and analyzed aerospace structures and co-led Boeing Young Engineers Team’s university relations initiative. **Notable LinkedIn Posts:** * **January 9, 2026:** Reshared a post about an open office to rent in a coworking space in San Antonio, adding, "For SA professionals looking for a cool workspace, reach out to Michael Girdley." * **December 9, 2025:** Reshared a post about the Gravy Wealth 2025 Annual Ownership Survey, which aims to understand how professionals move from earner to owner. * **December 5, 2025:** Reshared a post about "freedom" through ownership, adding context about Gravy Wealth. * **September 23, 2025:** Commented on an Electrek article about Orange EV and Freewire tech, stating, "Glad to see this great concept be tied to heavy-duty EV … by reducing the vast use cases inherent in public charging of light-duty vehicles to private charging of specialty commercial EV, the battery buffered concept has the ability to deliver on its promises of seamless operations and compelling TCO." * **September 15, 2025:** Reshared a podcast interview with Eric R. Calderon, owner of TXE Partners, expressing, "Super proud of Eric R. Calderon for his work in building TXE Partners, give the pod a listen!" * **August 26, 2025:** Reshared a post about the "Parable of the Talents" and ownership mindset, commenting, "The story of the talents is my favorite biblical parable. Read at my 8th grade graduation … back then, I had no idea that I would internalize it the way I have, bringing my faith and my career together as one through ownership." He also recommends Brandon William Jones’ Gravy community. * **August 7, 2025 (18:52 UTC):** Reshared a post about living through a paradigm shift with AI, commenting, "Wow, I’ve been feeling like this for most of this year and I know there are many more feeling like this for far longer. There are however, even more people that are running the other way. Today should be the day they they do an about face … or risk getting over-run." * **August 7, 2025 (18:46 UTC):** Reshared a video about finding purpose, adding, "🥹 hard to practice in the moment but oh so very true." * **August 6, 2025:** Shared a blog post from TXE Partners titled "3 Key Trends Shaping the TIC Industry Today." * **August 5, 2025:** Endorsed Ethan Carbaugh, stating, "Can’t find a better proposal manager than Ethan Carbaugh in the cleantech industry." * **August 4, 2025:** Reshared a post by Kwame Owusu-Kesse on the privilege of leadership, commenting, "Great thoughts from my classmate, Kwame Owusu-Kesse on the true hard work required to have the privilege of leadership." * **August 1, 2025:** Shared an article from Y Combinator about AI enabling founders, noting, "[AI tools are enabling founders to scale faster with a lot less capital, enabling the best companies to have small, high-agency teams won’t get bogged down in the politics, excessive meetings and lack of focus that grinds huge companies to a halt] Great points Y Combinator!" * **July 29, 2025:** Reshared a post from USC about their new undergraduate degree in AI, commenting, "Speed always wins. FIGHT ON USC Viterbi School of Engineering!" * **July 24, 2025 (22:32 UTC):** Reshared a post by Rob Snyder about building products, highlighting the quote: "Stop doing LARPy 'discovery interviews' searching for 'pain points' and actually go in-person to do their job with them, to figure out what the real opportunity is." * **July 24, 2025 (20:53 UTC):** Promoted a free coffee meet-up for local deal makers in San Antonio. * **July 23, 2025:** Reshared the Harvard Business School MBA application announcement. * **July 21, 2025:** Announced his new position as Operating Partner at TXE Partners, stating, "I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Operating Partner at TXE Partners!" * **July 9, 2025:** Reshared Clint Fiore's post about helping the Kerrville community after floods. * **July 2, 2025:** Reshared a post from Aaron Levie about AI's impact on jobs, commenting, "With AI, the opportunity for new small businesses or existing ones to adapt quickly is unprecedented. The wild part is that this is not a tomorrow thing but a right now thing. If you are a small business owner, pick up a tool and go see for yourself." * **July 2, 2025:** Reshared a post by Rob Snyder emphasizing direct sales for startups over "validation exercises." * **June 23, 2025:** Reshared a post from Aaron Levie about becoming an AI-first company and the importance of cultural transformation, noting: "AI-First isn’t just a strategy—it’s a cultural transformation.… As someone leveraging AI to build tools for technical field teams and industrial operations… I’ve seen firsthand how early AI adoption flourishes not by proving ROI on day one, but by embedding AI into the hands of the doers." * **May 30, 2025 (19:27 UTC):** Shared news about Bubble for Native Mobile Apps launch. * **May 30, 2025 (13:49 UTC):** Reshared a post by Rob Snyder about inverting the approach to entrepreneurship, agreeing with the idea that founders should focus on who *would be weird not to buy* their product. * **May 24, 2025:** Reshared a post by Aaron Levie on enterprise AI Agents, noting, "AI-First isn’t just a strategy—it’s a cultural transformation." He also highlighted the importance of securing data boundaries, how AI co-pilots enable junior employees, and that "culture change is the long pole." * **May 16, 2025:** Encouraged attending the Renewance, Inc. team in Arizona, stating, "Make sure to catch the Renewance, Inc. team in Arizona next week!" * **May 12, 2025:** Shared a job opportunity for someone in fintech, real estate, and AI. * **April 24, 2025:** Shared Renewance, Inc.'s participation at #ACTExpo 2025. * **April 17, 2025:** Encouraged connecting at #ACTExpo 2025. * **April 1, 2025:** Announced his upcoming attendance at #ACTExpo 2025 with Renewance, Inc., looking forward to discussing fleet electrification and battery lifecycle management. * **March 25, 2025:** Shared Sean Voigt's insights on clean energy in Texas, encouraging Texans to listen. * **February 18, 2025:** Announced his attendance at the #naatbatt conference, representing Renewance, Inc. * **November 27, 2024:** Reshared Renewance, Inc.'s announcement about launching a Registered Apprenticeship Program for skilled battery technicians. * **November 21, 2024:** Reshared Renewance, Inc.'s post about the Battery Asset Management Summit Series, emphasizing "End-of-life starts at the beginning of life." * **November 15, 2024:** Reshared Renewance, Inc.'s post about the Battery Asset Management Summit Series USA 2024, highlighting co-founder Sander Jacobs' insights. * **September 8, 2024:** Reshared Ethan Evans' post about "founder mode" vs. "manager mode" in business, commenting, "Like other entrepreneurs, I’m a big fan of 'founder mode,' i.e., ownership and the competency to go deep into the business when needed. Ethan Evans makes a great point though that I think is more universally applicable across employee populations, where it’s really about ownership and creating organizations that embrace and enable it." * **June 13, 2024:** Shared an article about how to vote at Tesla, writing, "Vote. Tesla." * **May 1, 2024:** Reshared a list of no-code tools for building MVPs, commenting, "Excellent list. No coding skills necessary to get at least 80% there!" * **April 3, 2024:** Reshared a video of Jensen Huang on leadership, commenting, "“Empower people all over the place” Simple but powerful leadership message and tactic." * **October 13, 2023:** Reacted to the launch of Tesla's developer API, stating, "I remember being at Tesla talking about API access in the early days of Model S and the fleet business - glad that the time of finally right to roll out the API and see what people build to make a world class product set even better within the fleet (and even consumer apps)!" * **October 6, 2023:** Commented "Timing … is everything" on a post about the Tesla Model Y becoming the best-selling car in the world in 2023. * **September 30, 2023:** Posted an analysis of the UAW strike and Tesla's position, arguing that "timing, sometimes is everything." He suggests that the UAW should focus on retraining workers for automation. * **September 29, 2023 (20:00 UTC):** Expressed excitement for Javier Saade. * **September 29, 2023 (14:55 UTC):** Asked, "What kind of 'lucky' are you?" in response to a post about the four types of luck. * **September 22, 2023 (23:41 UTC):** Commented "FIGHT ON!" on a post about USC's new computer science department. * **September 22, 2023 (03:45 UTC):** Praised Frances Frei's framework on building and rebuilding trust from Harvard Business School. * **September 20, 2023:** Asked followers for suggestions on what to share regarding #ev, #evcharging, #evcharginginfrastructure, #evchargers, and #evbattery. * **September 15, 2023:** Shared his emotional response to watching the movie #AMillionMilesAway featuring Jose M. Hernandez, relating Hernandez's story of perseverance to his own journey to Harvard Business School. * **August 15, 2023 (07:07 UTC):** Commented "Pretty sweet if true!" on a post about a possible Tesla Project Highland Update. * **August 15, 2023 (00:10 UTC):** Shared a personal reflection on wrestling, resonating with "The lessons learned from digging deep and pursuing a goal transcend space and time." Fund details: - Description: Bellator Trust is an operator-led private investment firm committed to acquiring and managing a single, high-quality company. Our strategy is not cutting costs or eliminating jobs; we seek to preserve a business owner's legacy by prioritizing relationships, above all else, while still targeting sustainable growth. ​ We aren't a big corporation, and we aren't a Private Equity firm looking to add you to our portfolio. At the end of the day, we are a team of devoted entrepreneurs, all with our own unique experiences and a diverse skill set across industries. Our top priorities are the adoption of your vision and preservation of your legacy. - Website: https://www.bellatortrust.com - Location: Palo Alto, California, United States - Lead qualification: Research: - Query: =Bellator Trust Robert Aguirre recent investments fund thesis - Answer: Bellator Trust Robert Aguirre recently invested in Bellator MMA, focusing on its Champions Series events. His investments aim to capitalize on Bellator's growing market presence and competitive MMA events.