Acquiring Minds

Michael Arrieta's holdco has made 3 acquisitions since 2020. Sales & culture, not tech, have proven to be the key levers.  Topics in Michael’s interview:        How he built the holding company Garden City Why he is drawn to service businesses His experience with fast-growth startups in Silicon Valley How he almost doubled EBITDA in less than a year The mistakes he made with his first acquisit...

After a rollercoaster year in his appliance repair business, John Schooler returns with scars, wisdom, and optimism.  Topics in John’s interview: John bought an appliance repair business 14 months ago How he runs a repair business without having repair skills The disaster that took away 20% of revenue overnight Why running a business is harder than a marathon The pros and cons of working with home...

Andrew Hitchings bought a $250k SDE cooling biz. It has grown 3x and will now fund a 2nd acquisition, with more to come.  Topics in Andrew’s Interview: Andrew and his wife bought a home ventilation business in April 2020 How 7 months on a motorcycle prepared them for running a business together His history in the Army, business school, and McKinsey & Company How his business partner Max improv...

Andrew Sieve saw his life implode after COVID. Buying a highly profitable 40-year-old restaurant turned things around.  Topics in Andrew’s interview:  Andrew’s family history of owning and operating restaurants Why he prefers smaller restaurants The tragedies of 2020 that led to him exiting his family’s business Moving from Minneapolis to Colorado to start over How a chance meeting led to him buyi...

Paul Quirk acquired a $800k EBITDA window & door business in the UK, continuing to live with his family in Switzerland.  Topics in Paul's interview: Paul’s experience with JP Morgan in Geneva 3 biggest differences between acquisition in the UK vs the US The variety of ways Paul reached out to businesses during search His decision to start the Buy and Build podcast How he decided to buy a windo...

Shortly after his first interview in June, Jason Andrews sold his business to a strategic buyer for a life-changing sum.  Topics in Jason's interview: Jason's recent exit of the group purchasing organization (GPO) he acquired in 2016 How he had grown the business 50-60% without increasing staff The downside of buying a super-niche business The advantages of acquiring a bigger business How his sale...

Chirag Shah applied systems from his days as a product manager to find & acquire a dog-training business with $600k SDE.  Topics from Chirag's interview: Chirag’s background as a small business underwriter His experience in the Acquisition Lab How a virtual assistanct and a Notion database helped narrow his search His decision to buy a Sit Means Sit franchise Why 2021 was a banner year for dog...

Brian Beers, owner of 30 Midas locations, teaches how to acquire an empire with seller financing for retiring owners.  Topics from Brian's interview: How Brian’s family got him into owning Midas franchises What makes the auto repair industry unique What kind of person would enjoy running a franchise Questions to ask before buying a franchise How seller financing is different with franchisees Servi...

Tyler O'Connor bought a 20-year-old golf school he found on BizBuySell doing mid-7 figures with 35% margins.  Topics in Tyler's interview: Why Tyler decided to buy a business How he got his wife on board with buying a business The two books he recommends to every searcher Why he decided against buying a “boring” business The one worry that kept him up at night Why he had to decline an investor at...

Patrick Dichter returns to update us on a productive first year as CEO of a bookkeeping business he bought in late 2021.  Topics in Patrick's interview: How Patrick acquired a bookkeeping business without an accounting background Three factors that led to 60% revenue increase in year one Why there’s a shortage of accountants and how that affects his business What makes tax prep difficult to offsho...

Multiple perspectives today as Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab moderates a panel with 3 women who bought businesses.  Topics from the panel: Cassie Niekamp bought the first company she looked at: a 40-year old fencing company How she dealt with a $200k valuation gap What went well with the transition and what didn’t go well Anne Ristic left a 30-year career in law to buy a business How her col...

Jacob Lee signed up for 10 locations in the Scenthound franchise after deciding it was a better opportunity than search.  Topics in Jacob's interview: Why starting franchise locations makes more sense than buying a business Return on equity in franchising vs. search Getting over pride when choosing to franchise How Jacob selected Scenthound from 4,000 franchise options Other franchises Jacob consi...

Jules Brenner searched for 2.5 years before buying a manufacturer with great tailwinds and a path to $100m in revenue.  Topics in Jules' interview: Jules's background in mechanical engineering & California startups Starting out with Searchfunder.com The difficulty of searching during COVID The 4 tiers of manufacturing companies What type of manufacturing business to buy His deal with an archit...

Sarah Romer bought a large but tired hair salon in Austin for $80k. Her first year as owner was the hardest of her life. (This is a rebroadcast from November 2021.) Themes from Sarah's interview: The formula for estimating the value of a salon or beauty business What to do when sellers overestimate the worth of their company Where to cut costs after you’ve made an acquisition  Underestimating the...

Twitter-famous Wolf of Franchises on why & how you should buy existing franchise businesses, including lots of examples.  Themes from the conversation with Wolf: Pros/cons of acquiring an existing franchise business Why buy 1 franchise business (even if SDE is just $100k) Opportunity & perils of rolling up franchises If you can grow from 1 to 2 locations, magic How to assess health of a fr...

Online course businesses have dazzling margins but a key weakness. Dom Wells explains how to acquire one & make it work.  Topics from the interview with Dom: Opportunity for acquisition entrepreneurs to buy a course business What to look for when acquiring a course The role a course founder's personal story plays How to ease the founder's face out of the brand Why faces of successful students...

David Page bought a Bay Area wine business in 2010, against the advice of colleagues. 12 years later, it's 5x larger.  Topics in David's interview: Don't avoid "buying a job"... because you ARE buying a job Buying a business before "search" was well known Buying a circus business (almost) Humble, scrappy beginnings after acquiring Buying in cash, no loan Inevitable surprises you find post-acquisit...

Chris Williams was a guest in 2021, just after his acquisition. He returns to share how it's going now, 14 months later.  Topics from Chris's interview: System Six's growth in the first 14 months What Chris wishes he had done differently during transition Hiring challenges and how to hire from within How he has learned sales Why he likes to serve searcher-acquired businesses The first step in bein...

Key findings from SIG's new study on self-funded search: financial outcomes, deal costs & terms, search lengths & more.  Topics from the interview with SIG: What is the self-funded search study & why it matters Effect of self-funded search on entrepreneurs' net worths Search performance: how many acquisitions saw EBITDA shrink, maintain, or grow  How much is too much to pay for legal f...

How Bradley Roofner & Logan Brown transformed a tough, project-based landscaping biz into a recurring revenue machine. (This is the second part of a 2-part interview.)  Themes from the interview with Bradley & Logan: Buying, growing, and selling a local service business for $20m+ Why landscaping still has lots of opportunity How to transform a project-based business into a recurring-revenu...

How Bradley Roofner & Logan Brown transformed a tough, project-based landscaping biz into a recurring revenue machine.  Themes from the interview with Bradley & Logan: Buying, growing, and selling a local service business for $20m+ Why landscaping still has lots of opportunity How to transform a project-based business into a recurring-revenue business How to build a sales function in a loc...

A husband & wife bought a therapy practice for $120k, almost dumped it, then grew it for 8 years when PE came knocking. (This is a rebroadcast from November 2021.)  Themes from Neil's interview: Growing a mental health practice from $615k/year to $2M.  How working in your acquired business (not on it) can save you Owning a business with your spouse Equipment leasing as a solution to keeping ov...

JD Klein bought a print shop for $100k, thinking such a small acquisition carried little risk. The opposite was true. (This is a rebroadcast from December 2021.)  Themes from JD's interview: Running a strong-growth, low-margin business Selling your house to make ends meet Why very small businesses come with higher risk Acquirers should hire a financial planner Pivoting your strategy when uncontrol...

Acquiring Minds will start publishing twice per week. Host Will Smith explains the rationale for this decision.  Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program: Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory: The Acquisition Lab Connect with Acquiring Minds: See past + future interviews on the YouTu...

When Fraser Voll first learned about buying businesses, he couldn't stop reading about it. That passion paid dividends.  Topics in Fraser's interview: What working for a boutique M&A advisory taught him about buying businesses Anatomy of a self-funded search deal WITHOUT an SBA loan How to get a good multiple (3x) on a $600-800k EBITDA business What Fraser bought: revenue, margins, price, term...