Kevin James Barry

Founder & Principal, Kirby Ventures · Co-founder, Second Nature & FilterEasy. I buy and operate Carolina home-service businesses — and hold them forever.

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By the Numbers

A track record built from the ground up — from a dorm-room idea to a Series C, and back home to Main Street.

2012

Co-founded FilterEasy

Later became Second Nature, one of the fastest-growing companies in North Carolina.

300K+

Subscribers at Second Nature

Built from zero — subscriber by subscriber, filter by filter — into a nationally recognized brand.

$38M

Raised

Institutional capital that validated what we built starting with nothing but a good idea and hard work.

3

Carolina Brands Owned Today

Home-service businesses I operate personally through Kirby Ventures — bought to be kept, not flipped.

My Story

I left NC State in 2012 to build FilterEasy with my co-founder — an air-filter subscription company that a lot of people told us was too boring to back. Within two years, we had 10,000+ subscribers and more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue. That was enough to prove them wrong.

The company became Second Nature, grew to over 400k+ subscribers across the country, raised a $40m, and sold for $200m. It was a genuine venture-scale outcome — the kind of thing that earns you a Forbes 30 Under 30 nod and a few TechCrunch mentions. I'm proud of all of it.

But the chapter I'm most excited about started when I came home to Main Street. Kirby Ventures — named after my Corgi, Kirby — is a permanent-capital holding company. We buy home-service businesses from Carolina founders who are thinking about retirement or succession. We never sell them. There's no exit plan, no PE sponsor waiting in the wings, no brand refresh on day one. What we offer is continuity: your people stay, your name stays, and the business you built keeps serving the community that made it matter.

Three Ways to Work With Me

Whether you're a customer looking for reliable home services or a founder exploring what comes next — there's a place for you here.

What I Own & Operate

Carolina based brands - each run with the same values: show up, do the work right, and treat people well.

  • SteamPro — Professional carpet services

I Buy Businesses

For founders thinking about retirement or succession: I'm not a private equity firm. I'm an operator who grew up building something, and I understand what it means to hand off something you spent decades creating.

When Kirby Ventures buys a business, your brand stays intact. Your team stays employed. Your customers keep getting the same service they've always counted on. And there is no exit plan — because there is no exit. We hold what we buy, permanently.

If you've built something worth keeping, I'd like to talk.

Musical Artist's Business Partner

For artists ready to turn their brand into a business

  • You make the music. I build the business — numbers, deals, costs, the noise.
  • No retainer. Equity share only. I get paid when you do.
  • Built to run without me. Not a permanent fixture.
  • Hands-on, a few at a time. Personal, not a portfolio play.

Best for: established artists (or their managers) with a name that carries weight and no time to run a company.


What We Look To Buy

We're not chasing deal volume. We're looking for the right businesses — ones we can steward well for a long time. Here's what that typically looks like.

Home-Service Businesses

Landscaping, cleaning, outdoor power dealerships, and adjacent trades in North Carolina. We understand these businesses because we operate them every day.

Sellers Who Care About Legacy

Founders who want to know their people will be looked after and their name won't get erased. If the culture and reputation you built matter to you after the sale — you're talking to the right buyer.

Carolina Roots

We're not a national roll-up strategy. We're focused on the Carolinas — communities we live in, relationships we maintain, markets we actually understand from the inside out.

Businesses Built to Last

You don't need hockey-stick growth projections to talk to us. If you've built a steady, profitable, well-regarded business and you're wondering what comes next — that's exactly the conversation we want to have.

As Seen On

The Second Nature story earned some outside attention along the way. Here's where it landed.

Forbes 30 Under 30 – Energy (2017)

Recognized for building a subscription model that changed how American households manage home air quality.

TechCrunch (2015)

Featured coverage of FilterEasy's $1.2M raise and early traction — the beginning of what became Second Nature.

Let's Talk

If you're a founder, broker, CPA, or attorney and this sounds like the right home for a business someone has spent their career building — reach out. There's no pitch deck required, no formal process to kick off. Just an honest conversation about whether it's a fit.

I'm easy to find and I respond personally. No form submissions, no intake coordinators, no automated follow-up sequence. Just email or LinkedIn, and I'll write back.

Email

kevin@kirbyventures.com

Best way to reach me for business inquiries, acquisition conversations, or anything else. I check it daily and respond within a business day.

LinkedIn

linkedin.com/in/kjbarry

Connect with me on LinkedIn for updates on Kirby Ventures, the businesses we operate, and the occasional thought on what it actually looks like to build something durable in the Carolinas.


© Kevin James Barry · All rights reserved