Yes, you could potentially gain power in one company and use that as a platform to acquire others, a strategy often referred to as a *platform acquisition*. Here's how it could work:

### 1. **Gain Control of the Initial Company**
   - **Buy a Significant Stake**: Start by acquiring a significant equity stake in a company, ideally one that is undervalued or has growth potential, like ACCO or a smaller player such as SNFCA. This gives you a say in shareholder meetings and potentially a board seat.
   - **Board Influence**: Use your stake to push for a position on the board of directors. This can give you greater influence over strategic decisions, including the potential to pursue acquisitions.
   - **Expand Your Stake Over Time**: Gradually increase your ownership percentage, possibly working with other like-minded investors to gain majority control.

### 2. **Use the Company's Resources for Acquisitions**
   - **Leverage the Company’s Balance Sheet**: Once you control the initial company, use its cash flow, assets, and creditworthiness to secure financing for additional acquisitions. Banks and investors are often more willing to lend to an established company than an individual.
   - **Issue Debt or Raise Capital**: Use the company's ability to issue debt or new equity to raise funds for acquiring other companies. This is common in leveraged buyouts (LBOs), where the acquired company’s assets are used as collateral for the debt.

### 3. **Strategic Acquisitions Using the Platform Company**
   - **Buy Complementary Businesses**: Focus on acquiring companies that have synergy with your platform company. For example, if you start with ACCO, acquiring SOFI could help with integrating digital payment solutions into the supply chain.
   - **Diversify Revenue Streams**: Aim to acquire companies in different sectors to create a diversified holding, such as adding CVS for healthcare stability, GOOS for luxury retail, and SOFI for digital financial services.
   - **Asset-Heavy vs. Asset-Light Balance**: Be strategic about balancing acquisitions between asset-heavy companies (like CVS with its retail stores) and asset-light companies (like SOFI’s digital platform). This can help manage debt levels while growing the asset base.

### 4. **Maximize Synergies & Restructure for Efficiency**
   - **Streamline Operations**: After acquiring the additional companies, focus on finding efficiencies, such as shared services or combined logistics, to improve profitability.
   - **Integrate Financially**: Use centralized treasury management to optimize cash flow across the acquired companies, making sure to prioritize debt repayment or reinvestment into growth areas.
   - **Brand Independence with Central Control**: Keep each company's brand independent to maintain market trust while centralizing strategic decisions and oversight at the holding company level.

### 5. **Leverage Market Perception**
   - **Reinvest in the Platform Company**: Show that your strategy is adding value, which could increase the market value of your platform company. As its valuation rises, your ability to make further acquisitions becomes easier.
   - **Use Stock Swaps for Acquisitions**: If your initial company becomes more valuable, you could use stock swaps to acquire other companies. This means offering shares of your company instead of cash for acquisitions.

### Example Path:
   - **Step 1**: Acquire a stake in **ACCO**, gain a board seat, and push for improvements.
   - **Step 2**: Use **ACCO’s** improved financials to secure debt financing or raise capital through equity offerings.
   - **Step 3**: Acquire **SOFI** using a mix of cash and ACCO’s shares, leveraging SOFI’s growth potential in digital finance.
   - **Step 4**: Use the combined entity’s cash flow to make further acquisitions, like **SNFCA** for insurance services or **GOOS** to diversify into luxury retail.
   - **Step 5**: Eventually, pursue a larger acquisition like **CVS** to stabilize the conglomerate with a strong revenue base.

### Key Considerations:
   - **Risk Management**: Taking on too much debt or overpaying for acquisitions could backfire, so it’s crucial to carefully assess the financial health and growth potential of each target.
   - **Market Timing**: Timing is critical, as the ability to secure financing and market appetite for new acquisitions can vary depending on economic conditions.
   - **Regulatory Approvals**: Each acquisition, especially in regulated industries like healthcare or finance, will require careful navigation of regulatory requirements.

This approach, though challenging, has been used by many successful investors and companies to build large conglomerates, starting from a relatively small base. With strategic execution, it's possible to leverage the initial foothold into larger acquisitions.