Gabby Montagnese on Selling New Age Caravans, Buying Bruder RV, and What Founders Learn After Letting Go

What happens after you build a business, bring in a major partner, lose control, walk away, and then choose to come back into the fire? In this episode of Built to Sell | Built to Buy, Sam Penny sits down with Gabby Montagnese to explore one of the most fascinating founder stories in the Australian caravan industry.

The Australian caravan and RV market is one of the most interesting manufacturing sectors in the country. It sits at the crossroads of lifestyle, engineering, customer service, design, dealer networks, finance, and founder-led ambition. At its best, it creates products that become part of family memories for years. At its worst, it exposes weak operations, poor customer support, and a race to the bottom on price.

That is exactly why this conversation with Gabby Montagnese matters so much.

She is not speaking as a commentator watching from the sidelines. She is speaking as a founder who has built one of Australia’s best-known caravan brands, partnered with major capital, exited, lived through the emotional fallout, and then stepped back in through the acquisition of Bruder RV.

The New Age Caravans Story Began with the Customer

Long before New Age Caravans became one of the leading manufacturers in Australia, it was simply a small business built on observation, listening, and execution. Gabby explains that from the beginning, her edge was not some grand mystery. It was a relentless focus on the customer.

She went to caravan parks. She walked through competitor vans. She attended caravan shows. She spoke to buyers directly. She asked what they liked, what they disliked, and what they wanted improved. That mindset became the heartbeat of the business.

Many founders talk about customer obsession. Far fewer live it in practical terms. Gabby did. She was not afraid to stand in front of customers and ask hard questions about the product. That takes conviction. It also takes confidence in the quality of what you are building.

From that base, New Age began to scale.

Gabby described the early formula as a blend of customer focus, customer service, process, technology, automation, lean manufacturing, and the belief that the caravan industry had real room for growth. She saw the opportunity to professionalise a sector that had often been run with far less structure than its economic significance deserved.

By the middle of the last decade, New Age had become a serious player. At its peak, the business was reportedly producing 45 caravans a week. Gabby recalls a factory with around 250 staff, 100 vans on the line, and a culture that knew exactly what it was there to do.

If you are a founder reading this, there is a lesson hiding in plain sight. Rapid growth is rarely random. It usually comes from combining a sharp market read with disciplined execution over a sustained period. That is what New Age did.

Why Walkinshaw Came In

One of the most compelling parts of the interview is Gabby’s explanation of why Walkinshaw became involved. On the surface, many people would have looked at the partnership and thought it was unusual. Walkinshaw was known for motorsport, performance vehicles, and advanced automotive capability. New Age was a caravan manufacturer.

But strategically, the logic was there.

Walkinshaw had experienced shifts in its automotive relationships and was looking for diversification. New Age had already built brand momentum, operational scale, and a strong market position. Gabby saw the potential for world-class OEM innovation to flow into the caravan sector. Better product development. Better manufacturing controls. Better systems. More sophistication.

From a distance, it looked like the kind of partnership founders dream about. The founder gets support, the business gets capital and innovation, and the next phase of growth begins.

Yet as Gabby makes clear in the episode, growth capital never comes free.

What Founders Feel When the Business Is No Longer Theirs

This is where the conversation gets especially powerful.

Gabby is honest about the fact that the day the deal was done, she felt relief. Owning and scaling a business can be lonely. The pressures sit on your shoulders. Decisions are yours. People rely on you. The idea that someone capable is joining the journey can feel like support has finally arrived.

But relief is only one side of the story.

There is also grief.

There is also identity loss.

There is also the subtle, unsettling moment when you realise the business no longer feels like yours.

Gabby describes driving into the office and feeling the passion had gone. That is such a crucial founder moment. It is the kind of thing that can be hard to say publicly because it sounds like a personal admission, not a strategic insight. But it matters. Because many founders keep going long after that moment arrives.

She also says something many exited founders will recognise immediately: after a sale, you learn very quickly who was there for you and who was there for the business. That is one of those truths that lands like a punch to the ribs. Business changes relationships. Exit exposes them.

Gabby’s reflection on this period is unusually candid. She says that if she had her time again, she would handle the deal differently. She would trust her intuition more. She would speak up more strongly around the board table. She would not surrender the parts of the business she understood deeply in favour of assuming others always knew better.

That is a high-value lesson for any founder negotiating capital, partnerships, or an exit.

Expertise matters. Advisors matter. Capital matters. But if you built the business, your instinct about the customer, the people, and the market is not something to casually mute.

What Has Changed in the Australian Caravan Industry?

One of the strongest sections of the interview is Gabby’s read on the broader Australian caravan market.

Her diagnosis is blunt and insightful.

During COVID, demand surged. Vans sold fast. Businesses did not have to sell as hard. Once that demand wave passed, the market shifted. Consumers changed. Imports increased. Some local players lost their footing. Others chased volume at the expense of margin. Discounting intensified. In many cases, customer service deteriorated.

Gabby’s view is that too many manufacturers forgot the basics. Finance 101. Marketing 101. Customer service 101. They competed on price without protecting margin. They sold product without building the systems required to support owners after handover.

That matters because in this category, the sale is not the end of the customer relationship. It is the beginning. These are major purchases. For many families, the caravan is the second biggest purchase they will make after a home. Customers do not just want a product. They want confidence, support, responsiveness, and a brand that stands behind its word.

Gabby believes that part of the industry has gone backwards in that respect. And the frustration from customers is one of the reasons she felt pulled back into the sector.

That is a telling point. Her comeback was not purely about commercial opportunity. It was also about unfinished business.

Why She Came Back

Most founders exit and stay out. Gabby did not.

Why?

Because too many signals kept arriving at once.

Former customers reached out asking her to manufacture again. Former team members told her they would come back if she started another venture. Suppliers encouraged her to return. Advisors saw a spark in her whenever the conversation returned to caravans. On top of that, she had growing philanthropic ambitions tied to manufacturing, housing, and social impact.

In other words, the market kept knocking.

Gabby’s explanation is revealing. She realised that if she did not go back, she would regret it. Not because the opportunity guaranteed success, but because fear would have been the reason she stayed away.

That distinction matters.

Founders often overanalyse whether something is risk-free. It never is. The better question is whether not acting would leave a bigger scar.

Why Bruder RV?

This is the part of the story that will draw plenty of listeners.

Why Bruder?

Bruder sits at the premium end of the market. It is known for distinctive design, engineering credibility, off-road capability, a highly engaged audience, and vehicles that stand apart from mainstream caravans. It is also a brand with serious international intrigue.

Gabby explains that when she met Toby and Dan and looked closely at the product, she was genuinely impressed. After years of watching the industry, she felt Bruder was one of the few brands doing something truly world-class. The innovation, engineering, and product ambition stood out immediately.

But as with many founder-led businesses, there was a tension between product brilliance and business scalability.

The products were exceptional. The founders were deeply capable in innovation and brand. Yet the business was under pressure. Cash flow on high-value units is demanding. Multiple priorities had to be managed at once. Commercial opportunities existed. Customer orders had to be fulfilled. Growth required structure. The founders needed support in areas beyond product creation.

That is where Gabby saw the fit.

She did not come in to replace the core magic. She came in to build the infrastructure around it.

Toby and Dan remain in the business, with Toby focused on brand and Dan on innovation. Gabby’s role is to provide leadership, scale, operational clarity, structure, and the financial and strategic support required to unlock what Bruder can become.

That is a very important distinction for anyone interested in acquisitions.

Great acquisitions are not always about removing founders. Sometimes they are about giving founders the environment they need to do their best work.

Was Bruder Broken or Just Under Pressure?

Sam asks directly what many people were thinking: from the outside, it looked like Bruder was under pressure. What was the truth?

Gabby’s answer is measured and credible.

Building products priced in the hundreds of thousands of dollars creates enormous cash flow pressure. Expansion takes capital. Overcommitting in some areas while other plans do not land as quickly as expected can quickly create strain. Add the complexity of commercial work, customer orders, and running the broader business, and the pressure compounds fast.

Her take was not that the product was the problem. Quite the opposite. The product was world-class. The issue was the surrounding structure.

That is often what founders and buyers miss.

A business can have a brilliant product and still be commercially stressed. A business can also look messy from the outside while still containing immense strategic value on the inside.

That is exactly the sort of opportunity seasoned operators learn to read.

Buying Versus Building

One of the most useful sections for founders is Gabby’s comparison between building from scratch and buying something that already exists.

Her answer may surprise some people.

She says that in many ways, buying is harder.

When you build from scratch, you get to define the foundation, the culture, the strategy, the team, and the standards from day one. When you acquire, you inherit history. You inherit habits. You inherit emotional residue. You inherit systems that may not fit your style. You inherit the need to align people, reset culture, and preserve trust at the same time.

In Gabby’s case, there is the added twist that she is doing both. She is acquiring Bruder while also building a broader group structure around it.

This has become Destination Unknown Group, a house of brands and capabilities that will extend beyond a single product line or single category. That includes RV products, commercial applications, imported and distributed lines, and the integration of social impact through the Frank Montagnese Foundation.

So this is not simply a one-brand turnaround story. It is a platform story.

Purpose, Social Impact, and the Frank Montagnese Foundation

Another dimension that makes this conversation stand out is the philanthropic thread running through it.

Gabby’s father, Frank Montagnese, played an important role in her life and in the business. After his cancer diagnosis and passing, Gabby established the Frank Montagnese Foundation, which now supports work across cancer, homelessness, domestic violence, and mental health.

What is especially interesting is that Gabby does not treat philanthropy as something separate from commerce. She sees the business as part of a broader ecosystem that can generate both profit and positive impact.

That philosophy is shaping the next chapter. She speaks about building products, creating jobs, giving opportunities to young people, and redirecting a portion of profits into meaningful causes.

For some founders, that kind of integration will feel unconventional. For others, it will feel like the future.

The key point is that Gabby’s definition of success has changed.

In the first chapter, success may have looked more like scale, awards, output, and financial achievement. In this chapter, success is more layered. It includes showing up well, improving lives, lifting standards, creating opportunity, and building businesses that mean something beyond the transaction.

What Founders Can Take from This Conversation

There are several founder-level lessons worth underlining from this episode.

1. Do not lose your voice in your own deal

When outside capital or sophisticated partners come in, it is easy to assume they always know better. Sometimes they do. Often they bring genuine value. But if you built the business, your instinct about product, customer, people, and positioning remains a strategic asset.

2. Customer service is not a department. It is strategy.

Industries do not usually lose credibility because of the brochure. They lose it because of what happens after the handover. This is true in caravans, software, healthcare, agencies, trades, and almost every other market.

3. Building and buying are different skill sets

Founders often assume that because they can build, they can also buy. The truth is that acquisition requires a different muscle. It is part strategy, part psychology, part culture work, part patience, part negotiation, and part operational discipline.

4. Self-awareness compounds

One of Gabby’s strongest points is that founders need to know who they are, what they value, and why they are doing what they are doing. That clarity becomes the filter through which better decisions are made.

5. A comeback can be smarter than the first run

The second version of a founder is often more dangerous than the first. Not because they are more reckless, but because they are more refined. They know what mattered, what broke, and what to protect.

Final Thoughts

This episode with Gabby Montagnese is about far more than caravans.

It is about what happens when ambition meets scale. What happens when the deal that looks right on paper becomes more complex in reality. What happens when a founder leaves something behind and then realises they are not done yet.

It is also about judgement.

Sam closes the conversation by saying that the best operators do not just build businesses. They build judgement. That is exactly the right lens for this story.

Gabby’s journey from New Age to Walkinshaw to exit to Bruder RV is not a neat founder fairy tale. It is more useful than that. It is real. It contains wins, pain, regret, growth, conviction, and a second act shaped by deeper self-awareness.

If you are building something, thinking about bringing in capital, considering an acquisition, or wrestling with whether to step back into a sector you once left, this is an episode worth sitting with.

Because sometimes the biggest business decisions are not about spreadsheets first.

Sometimes they begin with a much more confronting question:

Why am I doing this at all?

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