Speaking with Ray Chery on a Teams call, I told him I found the backstory of his life pivot with his wife, Dana, from high-powered jobs in the investment banking and tech industries toward ownership of portable sink company Monsam “kind of funny.”
“We think it’s funny every day,” Ray said, smiling.
Did the Chreys ever imagine they’d be owners of a company like Monsam? That answer is no.
Both have MBAs — Dana from Northwestern, and Ray from the University of Chicago — and were well down the path of successful careers, Ray’s in investment banking (Brown Brothers Harriman in Boston, Robert W. Baird in Chicago and Jefferies in San Francisco) and Dana’s in tech marketing for Salesforce and Samsara.
But “entrepreneurship was always in the back of our minds,” Ray said. Their change in perspective came amid a tough labor market where increasingly more people are disillusioned with the upper crust of employers, especially in the finance and tech worlds, where there is often little regard for personal lives or well-being. At the same time, an entire generation of Baby Boomers is retiring, but the owners want to see their businesses live on.
Having watched startup founders closely during their time in San Francisco, the Cherys knew entrepreneurship through acquisition would be a better avenue for them. They contracted with a broker listing businesses for sale and began studying hundreds of opportunities.
“It represented a chance at autonomy, an opportunity for us to own something, and it just felt like the right time to go for it,” Ray said. “We were looking for companies that were historically profitable, close proximity to our home, and a retiring owner.”
They ultimately landed on Monsam, a portmanteau of the names of the previous owners’ kids. The 27-year-old business was established, had practical and varied uses cases (handwashing is pretty foundational), and was profitable.
The Cherys thought there was more growth runway for the business, too, in education, health care and construction, as well as sports venues. In the latter, Monsam portable sinks can help venue operators leverage dead space without installing formal plumbing.
“I love portables,” said Ravens Chief Growth and Innovation Officer Moon Javaid, a friend of Chery’s and a fellow Chicago MBA grad. “Portables are great, because you can add more points-of-sale and you can do it in a more thoughtful way. It’s great to have somebody with [Ray’s] kind of background to solve problems.”
The Cherys closed on the Monsam acquisition in May 2024 (for an undisclosed price). They split Monsam’s corporate responsibilities and have eight employees and a Bay Area workshop. They deal with delivery drivers, craftspeople and installers, basically an entire blue-collar side of the economy they hadn’t encountered.
“I live in the Bay Area. There is a lot of sexy, high-flying, AI stuff, and [Monsam] was an opportunity to step away from that and connect with the broader economy,” said Ray. “There is this notion of boring businesses, they’re becoming more popular. Sleepier businesses that people might not appreciate for how important they are or valuable they are.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.sportsbusinessjournal.com ’
