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The IC-DISC Show

The IC-DISC Show

Written by: David Spray
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Join host David Spray, as he interviews business owners and industry leaders about the IC-DISC program. Insights and anecdotes to help you increase your after-tax income.© 2026 David Spray Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Ep075: Running Toward the Minefield with Scott Abels

    Ep075: Running Toward the Minefield with Scott Abels
    Jun 18 2026
    The biggest opportunities often sit in the work everyone else is afraid to touch. In this episode of the IC-DISC Show, I sit down with Scott Abels, a CPA and business valuation specialist in Austin, to talk about why he built his practice around estate, trust, and gift valuations, the one area most professionals avoid. Scott spent 25 years in corporate finance at Dell and Motorola before launching his own firm. He moved from CFO consulting into valuation, then narrowed further into estate and trust work, an area with its own IRS code sections, examination rates above 20% on large estates, and the highest error rate he's seen. He walked through the landmines, retained rights and marketability discounts among them, where a single mistake can wipe out a client's discounts entirely. What struck me was his case for getting the valuation expert in during planning, not after, when it's often too late to fix anything. The same logic shows up in his turnaround standard of 30 to 45 days and the dozen questions he tells attorneys to ask before hiring anyone. Scott also revealed a project he'd been quietly working on, a plain-English book for Texas attorneys, and his answer for how the busiest professionals actually want to be helped. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS * The riches really are in the niches: narrowing from CFO work to a field with fewer than 10 true specialists turned a commodity service into a moat.* The IRS examines large estates more than 20% of the time, because it knows that's where taxpayers try to avoid taxes, so the valuation has to hold up.* Get your valuation expert involved during estate planning, not after; retained rights and other landmines often can't be fixed once the structure is set. * A buy-sell agreement signed and executed perfectly still won't bind the IRS, which weighs economic reality over legal form every time.* Overstep on discounts and the penalty isn't just losing them; the IRS can throw out your whole valuation and re-value with no discounts at all.* Before hiring a valuation pro, ask their guaranteed turnaround time and whether they offer audit defense; vague answers signal it's a side service, not their focus. Contact Details LinkedIn - Scott Abels LINKS Show NotesBe a Guest About IC-DISC AllianceAbout ETG Valuations TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Good morning, Scott. Welcome to the podcast. Scott: Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to visiting with you. Dave: Sure. So where are you located today? What part of the world are you calling into from today? Scott: I'm in Austin, Texas. Cloudy, Austin, Texas this morning and just up the road from you a bit. Dave: Okay, well, that sounds good. So I've been really excited to have you on here. You were a guest a while back. You've kind of had some updates that I want to talk about. So why don't we just talk out. Scott: Talk. Dave: Give me a little bit of your background, you know, where are you from, what you're, you know, how'd you get to this point in your career? Scott: Sure. So I'm a Texas boy, born and raised. Went off to college, majored in accounting, got my accounting degree at the University of Houston and went, went straight into industry. Got my CPA shortly after. After I graduated and went into industry. And I spent about 25 years in what I call corporate America. Dell, Motorola, in corporate finance. And you know, most of my background is running a business division of a larger business. So it's really understanding how businesses work, how the day to day operation works, how's. How does the business model work from a financial perspective? Because I did that for about 25 years. Started my own consulting business about 15 years ago now. Dave: Okay. Scott: Initially, I started out as a CFO consultant, just kind of using the things that I learned in corporate America for smaller businesses in the. Mainly in the Austin area. And really quickly I, I had a client early on who needed help with business valuation, wanted to buy out a minority partner, and so I went away and got the valuation credential, the cva. It's essentially a CPA for business valuation. Dave: Okay. Scott: And I did a couple of these business valuations and I realized several things really quickly, Dave. I realized that these are like business valuation is like a puzzle. It's like a little business puzzle. And it's just perfectly suited to my background in understanding how businesses work. So I really, I like the work and it's well suited to my background. Other things I realized is as a CFO in Austin, I'm probably one of a thousand. Lots of competition, really. A commoditized service at the time that I started out, probably still is. As a business valuation professional, though, I'm probably one of 15 or 20. Okay. And there's probably only, you know, there's probably fewer than 10 of those that specialize and do nothing but business valuation. It's much more of a niche and you know...
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    47 mins
  • Ep074: Fifty Years of Precious Metals with Larry Drummond

    Ep074: Fifty Years of Precious Metals with Larry Drummond
    May 18 2026
    The strongest industries are built on relationships that outlast individual transactions. In this episode of the IC-DISC Show, I sit down with Larry Drummond, Executive Director of the International Precious Metals Institute (IPMI), to talk about what fifty years of industry collaboration has taught him about trust, transparency, and building lasting business connections. Larry shared how IPMI started in 1976 when a group of New York-area scientists came together to share data across competing precious metals companies. After 25 years at Engelhard and a leadership role at Metalor, he came out of retirement in 2018 to lead the organization he had served as a volunteer board member and past president. What struck me most was Larry's description of an industry where someone can be your customer, vendor, and competitor at the same time. He shared examples of refiners picking up the phone to ask competitors for help during operational setbacks, knowing the favor would be returned without losing customers in the process. The conversation reminded me that even in commodity-driven businesses, transparency and verified trust create the foundation for everything else. With IPMI's 50th annual conference coming up in Orlando, Larry's perspective is a great preview of what makes this industry tick. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS * In precious metals, the same company can be your customer, vendor, and competitor at the same exact time.* IPMI was founded in 1976 by New York-area scientists who recognized the value of sharing data across competing companies.* When operations go down, refiners call competitors for a week of help, knowing the favor will be returned without customer poaching.* Record-high gold prices flooded refiners with material, but financing costs and capacity limits turned some lots into losers.* IPMI memberships pay for themselves through the price discount on a single annual conference registration.* Portable x-ray guns have transformed the industry, letting even small operators verify what they have before shipping it up the chain. Contact Details LinkedIn - Larry Drummond LINKS Show NotesBe a Guest About IC-DISC AllianceAbout IPMI TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Larry Drummond: Unique things about this industry is that someone can be your customer, vendor, and competitor at the same exact time. Those relationships, even with your competitors, I can't say there's any kind of big precious metal company that something hasn't gone wrong in your operation at some point in time. I've personally been involved in situations where you could pick up the phone and call your competitor and say, "Listen, I need help for about a week." And they will handle some of your materials and not steal your customer because they know one day they may pick up the phone and call you. David Spray: Good morning, Larry. How are you this morning? Larry Drummond: Very good, David. Good morning. How are you? David Spray: I am great, thank you. So you are, I believe, the executive director of the International Precious Metals Institute, is that correct? Larry Drummond: That's correct. David Spray: And I guess the organization goes by the initials, right? IPMI? Larry Drummond: Yes. Everyone refers to it as IPMI. When we do legal documents, we use the full name, but for the most part we just use IPMI. David Spray: Okay. So can you just tell me a bit of the history of IPMI? Has it been around very long? Larry Drummond: Yeah. Well, we've been around very long and it's very appropriate we're doing this podcast today because we're celebrating our Jubilee year this year. So we were formed in July of 1976 and the history is that a group of scientists in the greater New York area where there was many major precious metal companies had formed, got together because they saw the need to share scientific data. And what's important about this is the pathway that they set still lives on today where people, member companies openly share a lot of information. Now again, they don't share their total trade secrets, but they share information where collectively the industry gets to benefit from that. David Spray: Okay. So Larry Drummond: It was started by a group of scientists and we've grown from there and we'll talk more about that during the course of the podcast here. David Spray: Okay. Well, that is great. And so when did you join the organization? Larry Drummond: So I joined in the late '90s, around 1997 I think was my first PMI. And the IPMI is really founded on volunteerism. There's actually only two of us that are employees and the rest are volunteers. So I was one of those volunteers and very early on got involved with the board of directors. I worked for Englehart Corporation for over 25 years and Englehart was one of the cornerstone founding members. Now it's owned by BASF. So in 2002, I joined the board and the executive committee and before we had term limits, I served on that for over 13 ...
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    33 mins
  • Ep073: From One-Room to 40,000 Pounds a Day

    Ep073: From One-Room to 40,000 Pounds a Day
    Apr 27 2026
    Today on the IC-DISC Show we're talking with John, Clive, and Kelly Hess from CompuCycle in Houston. John started in the metals business in South Africa back in 1966, came to the US in 1986 to run a brass and copper distribution company, and spun off a small scrap division that eventually became CompuCycle. Clive joined in 1996 fresh out of U of H. Kelly came aboard in 2013 from the nonprofit world and now runs the company as CEO. Three decades later they're processing 40,000 pounds a day and hold more certifications than any other electronics recycler in Texas. In this conversation, the Hess family talks about the moment the Basel Accord shut down their entire plastics market overnight, why they think scrap metal companies handling electronics is now a liability risk for corporate customers, and how they built their own plastic washing line to solve a problem the rest of the industry was still struggling with. Kelly also shares a partnership they've built with Pearland ISD that turns scrap dismantling into job training for autistic students ages 18 to 22. Whether you're in recycling or not, the Hess family's thinking on running a multigenerational business, earning certifications most competitors won't bother with, and treating customer problems as a moat instead of a cost is worth your time. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS How John Hess went from manufacturing copper ingot in South Africa in 1966 to building Houston's largest electronics recyclerWhy being R2 certified isn't enough, and what Compu-Cycle did after watching certified downstreams still send material to landfillsThe day the Basel Accord shut down their entire plastics market overnight, and how they engineered their way outWhy scrap metal companies handling electronics has become a liability risk for their corporate customersThe partnership with Pearland ISD that turns scrap dismantling into job training for autistic studentsWhat changed when Kelly came in from the nonprofit world and the family started hiring people smarter than themselves Contact Details LinkedIn - Gordon Driscoll LINKS Show NotesBe a Guest About IC-DISC AllianceAbout CompuCycle John HessAbout JohnKelly HessAbout KellyClive HessAbout Clive TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dave: Well good morning. So this is my first time. I've had three guests on the podcast at one time. We have John Hess, we have Kelly Hess, and we have Clive Hess. So where are you all, calling into from today? what part of the world are you all in? Where now? John: We, I'm a responder. We're in Houston, Texas. Dave: Okay. And so am I. So that's, that is good. what I wanna talk about, and the reason we're doing the three person interview is the company Compus Cycle has been in business a little over 30 years, is that right? Kelly: 30 years to this? 2026 is our 30th anniversary, so we're really excited. Dave: That is awesome. and so what I wanna do, I want to go to the far origin of comp cycle, which really starts with John. So what I'd like to do is just start off with a little background on John and his entrance and experience in the scrap metal industry. So John, where are you? What part of the world do you hail from? John: Originally South Africa and have been in the metal business all my life. started in, at the age of 23 in 1966. Go back a long way. Dave: Okay. And, and then you're in the metals business, Ferris, non Ferris, John: right? we, I was, we were ingot manufacturers. We manufactured copper and aluminum based ingot for the foundry industry. And, got into the. Computer business, way back in about 1975 when we imported a, a machine for stripping cables and Okay. This machine also had the capability of shredding,computers of the old mainframe computers. Of course, there were no PCs at that time. Yes, of course. So that was my introduction to computers. Dave: Okay. So you're,you're getting into the computer, so we're talking if I'm doing my math right, that was about 50 years ago that you're involved in the shredding, chopping cable, shredding mainframe computer components. Is that about right? John: That's about right. Yep. Dave: Okay. And then how did we get from there to Compu cycle? John: Well, in 19. In 1966, I was offered an opportunity to come to, sorry, I'm getting myself messed up. It was 1986 that I had an opportunity to come to the United States to manage a company that distributed bras and copper bars and rods. Dave: okay. John: And we, while whilst there, I started a scrap division and that scrap division eventually became Compus Cycle. Okay. Right. Dave: Okay. So did, so was Compus Cycle like a literal spinoff from that company or was, did the idea come to you while you were there and you started a completely separate company? John: Well, we started it as a spinoff of that original company and, after a few years of running that business, I decided to leave the parent business and, get comp cycle going on its own. comp cycle...
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    54 mins
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