Acquiring Minds

After a successful military career, Don Gourley saw buying a business as the best means to "lead a unit" as a civilian.  Topics in Don’s interview: Having a “plan Z” as a searcher Importance of being crystal clear about what you want to buy His rigorous approach to a geographic search How to recruit & manage 10+ interns Cultivating brokers About Boston Tree Preservation Digital transformation...

AJ Wasserstein, Peter Mistretta & Mike Horowitz distill the selection of a franchise brand into 10 essential criteria.  Topics in today’s interview with A.J., Michael, and Peter: Why you should (and should not) buy into a franchise system Likelihood of becoming a billionaire, centi-millionaire, or deca-millionaire by acquiring franchise businesses The importance of defining what success looks...

Collapsing sales, unhelpful sellers, and a GM who quit. But 1 year later, Chris Jones is contemplating acquisition #2.  Topics in Chris’s interview: Buying a foundation repair business Finding discrepancies in QuickBooks  His chaotic transition to CEO The GM leaving to start a competing company A dispute over money the seller owed Burning through cash the first winter Restructuring roles in the bu...

Connor Pera shares how taking incremental steps led to buying his first business much sooner than expected.  Topics in Connor’s interview: Trade-offs of a part-time search Importance of taking action Competition in the web-to-print industry Pros and cons of an SBA loan The appeal of managing people His mistake of not accounting for working capital adjustments Feeling anxious before closing Transit...

Josh Medow brought a mindset to his search that he would reshape whatever business he bought into a high-growth company.  Topics in Josh’s interview: Calling over 1,000 business owners during search Buying a business with no money down How EOS transformed his business His 10-20 year outlook Comparing his military experience with business leadership Laser focusing on one target market Building thei...

Tim Ericson brings lessons from 13 years as a startup founder to the $4m printer rental company he recently bought. Topics in Tim’s interview: His experience in a VC-backed startup Searching for a remote-friendly business Using his sales skills to find a business Buying Short-Term Copier  The types of customers they serve Comfort running a remotely-managed, multi-city business His vision to double...

August Felker did a search fund, then later a self-funded search so he could own & build his business for years to come. Topics in August’s interview: Buying a business without an MBA How cold calling led to his first deal Buying an “elevator asset business” Early lessons in leadership What he loved about traditional search The resiliency of the insurance industry The normalcy of 3-year earnou...

HoldCoConf co-founder Kelcey Lehrich shares key findings from a survey of 100+ holdco operators about their businesses.  Topics in Kelcey’s interview: How HoldCoConf started Why holdcos are so popular Arguments against holdcos The “everything tastes like chicken” layer of business Surprising survey results What becomes possible at $50M in revenue Hiring leadership in holdcos Debating centralized v...

Nick Akers had a vision for supportive, employee-first leadership. Buying a business enables him to realize this vision. Topics in Nick’s interview: His background as an inventor How the TV show Succession mirrors real life Why he chose Swiss search accelerator Novastone What motivates him more than money His focus on building a positive company culture The MSP industry and its appeal for searcher...

Nick Wheeler reflects on investing countless hours to buy a beautiful business, only to have the seller kill the deal. Topics in Nick’s interview: Finding a commercial landscaping business Winning the sellers’ trust How he interpreted early red flags  Lessons learned about due diligence Conflict with sellers over working capital Why the deal fell apart The financial cost of the broken deal  The em...

George Goates bought a small shuttle business that he's grown 4x in 8 years, partly by running buses for municipalities.  Topics in George’s interview: Buying a transport/bussing company Pivoting into operating city buses Importance of relationships in securing contracts Impact of Covid Government corruption in urban transit Promotion opportunities for his employees  Nasty cost of doing business i...

Sajama Mitta wanted to make strategic decisions at the head of an organization. Buying her own business was the answer.  Topics in Sajama’s interview: Using her investing background to evaluate businesses Buying an environmental health and safety consulting company How the founders made themselves replaceable  How they keep their clients in compliance with regulations The fragmented nature of the...

Manny Saxena quickly bought 3 street-sweeping businesses to become the largest player in NorCal. A big PE fund noticed.  Topics in Manny’s interview: The importance of maintaining a strong pipeline during search Why he chose a street-sweeping business during COVID The transition into running a blue-collar business and motivating the team Why he recommends in-person conversations with sellers Advic...

Karl Hughes recently bought a podcast production agency & explains why "productized service" businesses are attractive.  Topics in Karl’s interview: Starting a super-niche content marketing business The benefits of productizing a service Saying no to the wrong revenue What he learned about using cold outreach to find sellers Acquiring a podcast production company with his partner What he likes...

Mitchell Sorkin started by buying 3 ATMs in 2021. Today he has over 140 machines and is targeting $5m EBITDA in 3 years.  Topics in Mitchell’s interview: The difference between arbitrage and building a business Mitchell's journey to acquiring 140 ATM machines How to evaluate an ATM route Revenue and margins in the ATM business Challenges with SBA financing His most controversial Twitter thread Fut...

Chris Munn, Bakari Akil, and Bruce Vann reflect on being Black men who bought businesses & why this path is so powerful.  Topics in this interview: What inspires and motivates them as business owners The three necessary factors for capitalism to work Unclaimed opportunities for minority businesses The impact of entrepreneurship on family and future generations Changing your mentality to lead a...

Matt Huggins bought a small water & cable utility doing $200k/year. 15 years later, his holdco is on track for $20m/yr.  Topics in this interview: Matt's decision to step off the academic track Matt's career as a professional online poker player Transitioning from poker to small business Acquiring a utilities company for a group of condos The surprising complexity of running a utilities compan...

Holdco entrepreneur Chase Murdock buys very small businesses with potential for rapid growth & decades of staying power.  Topics in Chase’s interview: Starting a custom suit company with $750 Decata Group's “car wash integration process” for acquisitions Workshop SLC’s 5x growth in the first year of acquisition Getting out of the “small business death zone” ASAP The knife fight of acquiring an...

Amir Haboosheh was drawn to the double-opportunity in acquiring home services businesses: the financial, and the impact.  Topics in Amir’s interview: Why Amir wasn’t interested in a digital business Offering blue collar employees shares in the company Snowball’s plan for going public Snowball’s playbook for operating businesses How to hire a good GM for your business How to incentivize operators A...

Mark Sinatra returns to explain what to diligence from an HR perspective when buying your business.  Topics in Mark’s interview: Top 3 things to diligence in your acquisition when it comes to HR How industry associations can be a source of deal flow (once you're already acquired) "Book of business" acquisitions Best type to execute add-on acquisitions How to prioritize what to integrate in an add-...

Sam Rosati shares a framework to clarify your search criteria & reduce the months it takes to find a business to buy.  Topics in Sam’s interview: The reason search takes so long  How to speed up your search process Underwriting criteria of SBA lenders Knowing how to kill a deal Considering the fit of the searcher as CEO Understanding SBA loan framework Importance of recurring or repeating reve...

James Bloom has 8x'd a small mechanical contractor he bought only 4 years ago, despite it being a competitive industry.  Topics in James’s interview: How his background in M&A informed his due diligence process How he ensured a smooth transition Commercial HVAC vs. residential HVAC Why he funded growth out of his own pocket Reducing his weekly work hours from 100 to 60 How his business differe...

3 days into Monte Marcum's acquisition of an established franchise, key equipment breaks. Then the crises kept coming.  Topics in Monte’s interview: Buying 2 existing & adjacent franchise businesses at once How Filta’s customer pricing is structured Why commercial kitchens love his business Combining two businesses Equipment starts breaking on day three Monte’s series of fetal position moments...

Niklas James started off as a self-funded searcher, but evolved into being an independent sponsor of 7 acquisitions.  Topics in Niklas’s interview: Why he returned the funds raised for his traditional search fund How the painful challenges of his first acquisition set him up for success on later deals Why SaaS isn’t as sexy as it seems Evolution from self-funded searcher to independent sponsor Def...

Martin Bispels updates us on the DTC ecommerce business he bought in 2020 and had grown to almost $2m/yr one year later.  Topics in Martin’s interview: Using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) Building and managing a great remote team Why he doesn’t sell on Amazon The difference between buying and shopping Opportunities for bolt-on products Marks of a good ecommerce business The power of s...