Minus One Industrial acquires and operates Fire safety and compliance businesses across Australia for the long term. We protect the people, customers, reputation, and standards that founders have built while supporting steady operational growth.
HOW WE THINK ABOUT OWNERSHIP
For founders considering succession, Minus One Industrial offers a long-term ownership approach focused on continuity, disciplined operations, and the lasting value created through years of service.
We work with owner-operators who want more than a transaction. Minus One Industrial carries forward the operating knowledge, customer commitments, team capability, and reputation that made the business worth acquiring.
OUR MISSION
WHAT WORKING WITH US INVOLVES
01
Conversations between us stay private. Financial and operational information is handled under the Essential 8 framework, the Australian Cyber Security Centre's standard for protecting business data.
02
In a service business, the team is the business. Our intention is to protect the people you spent years hiring and training. Pay, conditions, and roles are respected, and the culture you shaped is something we actively work to preserve.
03
Some founders walk away after six months. Others stay involved for four or five years and wind down their day to day gradually. We work to whatever pace lets you hand over with confidence.
04
We make offers we can complete. We have strong investor and lender relationships and don't put a number in front of you unless we're serious about closing.
A mechanical engineering graduate and Sydney-based founder and operator who has built and scaled sales teams and led 50+ staff in safety-critical operations as Acting General Manager, Australia.
Scientist turned analyst, he leads Minus One Industrial's market research, target assessment and deal-sourcing, backed by a PhD, an MBA with Distinction, and research experience from ANU, Tokyo and Cornell.
A Commerce student at the University of Sydney with a background in M&A strategy, deal sourcing, AI software, consulting, and valuation.
A Commerce student and Dalyell Scholar at the University of Sydney, passionate about understanding businesses and the people who drive their long-term success.
HOW A HANDOVER WORKS
Every business is different and the timeline can stretch from a few months to a few years. The shape of how we work usually looks like this.
STEP
01
We meet under an NDA. You tell us about the business and where you are at. There is no decision to make. Many of the founders we talk with are years away from a sale, and that is fine.
STEP
02
If there is interest on both sides, we work quietly with you and a small group of your trusted advisors. Staff are not involved unless and until you choose.
STEP
03
We make offers we can complete. We have strong investor and lender relationships and don't put a number in front of you unless we're serious about closing.
STEP
04
Six months. Two years. Five years. The handover runs to a timeline you set, with you as involved or as hands off as you would like to be.
An extension of our knowledge
Chair, Advisory Board
Peter Israel is an advisor and company director with more than 30 years of leadership across the energy, infrastructure and investment sectors. He has held executive roles at Worley Consulting, Origin Energy and PNG Energy Developments, and served on corporate and joint venture boards in Australia and internationally. A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, he brings sound judgement and deep experience in capital-intensive industries.
Advisory Board Member
Kristian Bischoff is a commercially driven executive and advisor with CEO, General Manager and senior finance experience across the fire protection, mining, manufacturing and safety sectors. A CPA and AICD Company Directors Course graduate, he has led PE-backed businesses through growth, transformation and M&A, including as CEO of United Safety & Survivability Corporation (Australia/Pacific). Through Kinetic Business Strategies, he now advises boards and leadership teams on strategy, digital automation and sustainable growth.
Advisory Board Member
Kristian Bischoff is a commercially driven executive and advisor with CEO, General Manager and senior finance experience across the fire protection, mining, manufacturing and safety sectors. A CPA and AICD Company Directors Course graduate, he has led PE-backed businesses through growth, transformation and M&A, including as CEO of United Safety & Survivability Corporation (Australia/Pacific). Through Kinetic Business Strategies, he now advises boards and leadership teams on strategy, digital automation and sustainable growth.
Routine inspection keeps thousands of buildings compliant every year. The small businesses doing this work are the backbone of an industry few people see.
Founder & Operator
Based in Sydney · Operating across AU
If you are reading this page, you have probably spent more years than you can count building a business that keeps people safe. You know your customers' first names. You know which of your staff is having a hard year. You can probably recite your books from memory.
I started Minus One Industrial because I think the way most companies get bought and sold underestimates how much that handover matters. When the goal is to flip a business in five years, the new owner has every incentive to cut staff, raise prices, and squeeze the operation for short term return. None of that is what built the business in the first place.
We are trying to do the opposite. We buy companies with the intention of operating them for the long term, which means we need them to keep working the way they always have, run by the people who already know how. Your team. Your culture. Your customer relationships. We want to inherit them.
If that resonates, even years before you would think about a sale, I would like to meet.
Michael Masters, Founder
AFTER YOU SELL
Founders who join our portfolio" or remove the line entirely and let the three options speak for themselves.
OPTION 1
Some of our exited founders sit on advisory boards that meet for around six hours a year. We get the benefit of your judgement, you stay loosely connected to the business you built.
OPTION 2
Roll a portion of your sale proceeds into the holding company. You get diversification across the wider portfolio instead of being concentrated in a single business.
OPTION 3
Spend time with other owner operators who have gone through the same handover. Informal, useful, and built around shared experience rather than a structured agenda.
GET IN TOUCH
ALL CORRESPONDENCE TREATED IN STRICT CONFIDENCE
There is no need to be ready for a sale today. A first conversation is a quiet way to talk through your business, where you are at, and what a good handover could look like when the time is right.
