The SMB Deal Hunter Podcast

Join me for a conversation with Nick Patrick, a former financial advisor turned acquisition entrepreneur. Nick bought a wedding venue and catering business, scaled it, and exited to a family office just 20 months later. After taking a breather, he dove back in. Earlier this year, Nick closed on a residential and commercial solar company in Denver after a focused off-market search. ________________...

Join me as I sit down with Grant Hensel of Entrepreneurial Capital, a fund investing millions to back self-funded searchers buying cash-flowing small businesses. Grant’s portfolio of 10+ investments includes an industrial fan motor distributor, a light manufacturing company, and a niche procurement consulting firm for schools. Before launching the fund, Grant and his wife also acquired an SEO agen...

Join me as I interview B.G. Lemmon from the Brynavon Group, a family office started by B.G.’s grandfather that focuses on management buyouts primarily in domestic manufacturing. Brynavon currently owns 4 portfolio companies. Their most recent acquisition in 2022, a stainless steel foundry, has grown from $1.25M EBITDA at the time of acquisition to $3.25M EBITDA today. _____________________________...

Join me as I interview Sebastian Gast, a former gym franchisee who pivoted into online business acquisitions. Sebastian acquired a fitness job board a year ago and just acquired an app-based SaaS platform a month ago. He also previously joined a search-fund acquired company in the oil and gas services space that exited to PE. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunt...

Join me as I interview Emmanuel Lopez, a former banker who took the leap into entrepreneurship by acquiring a fuel systems maintenance business with a partner and investors. Nearly three years later, he was asked to leave. While rare, this scenario can happen to any business buyer. In our conversation, Emmanuel shares the key lessons he learned—the red flags, the surprises, and what he’d do differ...

Join me as I interview Michael Young, a former Director at PwC who left corporate after 10 years to buy an accounting firm. After a 26 month search, Michael acquired Bay Biz, an outsourced accounting and finance firm based in Washington, DC. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newsletter: https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz 🤝 Work With Me to Help You Find, Financ...

Join me as I interview Dominick Blue, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former tech startup entrepreneur, who evaluated 2,500 deals before acquiring two businesses in 2024—an air duct cleaning company and an HVAC business. In his first summer after taking over the businesses, Dominick increased the volume of work by an impressive 40%. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB De...

Join me as I interview Khaled Azar, the founder of Livmo, a business brokerage for SaaS and digital businesses. Fun fact: One of the businesses Khaled represented was actually recently sold to a SMB Deal Hunter Pro member. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newsletter: https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz 🤝 Work With Me to Help You Find, Finance, and Acquire a Bu...

Join me as I interview Kevin, a fireman who has acquired 5 self-storage companies across 11 locations. Before getting into self-storage, Kevin bought single-family homes and rented them out to college students. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newsletter: https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz 🤝 Work With Me to Help You Find, Finance, and Acquire a Business in 6-...

Join me as I interview Eric Bauer, an acquisition entrepreneur who acquired a 35-year-old wholesale hat company, Turner Hat Company. Previously, Eric worked for Amazon in retail, logistics, and grocery roles for 10 years. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newsletter: https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz 🤝 Work With Me to Help You Find, Finance, and Acquire a Bus...

Join me as I interview Chandra Rao, an entrepreneur previously working in tech who has done 7 acquisitions primarily in the construction space. Chandra's acquisitions span electrical contractors to underground construction and fiber splicing companies. Impressively, Chandra’s companies have achieved a combined 5x growth rate in just a few years. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free...

Join me as I interview Sam Stolt, an entrepreneur who has acquired multiple e-Commerce businesses selling research compounds and peptides. He now owns 4 brands in the space with 2200 affiliates that generated over $175K last month alone. But it hasn’t been an easy journey. Because of the limitations Sam faces in this somewhat gray space, he has learned to be creative with how to market and sell hi...

Join me as I interview Garth Fasano, an entrepreneur who acquired an outsourced sales organization in the Fall of 2022. Garth’s company Raynmaker originally found a niche in dog training (selling a jaw-dropping $100K worth of dog training a day!) and has since expanded to other SMB verticals such as home cleaning and pest control. Previously, Garth got his MBA and went down the traditional consult...

Join me as I interview Jordan Evans, an entrepreneur who is rolling up language services businesses. Jordan has made 5 acquisitions since 2018 (with more to come) and his company is now on a $20M/year revenue run-rate. Previously, Jordan worked for early-stage startups while trying to build side hustles in e-Commerce and SaaS without success. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to...

Join me as I interview Dustin Fusillo, an entrepreneur who acquired a turnaround mechanical company focused on ATM parts and services. Unfortunately, Dustin wasn’t able to turn around the business, but he did find a soft landing and is now running a larger operation under Grant Victor as General Manager for NextATM, which is an ATM machine, service, and solutions provider. Dustin shares with us hi...

Join me as I interview Justin Willess, a former mechanical engineer who acquired a construction business, Iron Pony, in 2022. Unfortunately, after growing the business dramatically from $12M to $18M in one year, Justin had to shut the business down in September of 2023. Justin was generous enough to share with us his honest story of what exactly went wrong (and what he could’ve done differently) s...

Join me as I interview Chad Anselmo, a former FinTech executive who acquired Texas-based commercial plumbing business, MJ Mechanical. Within the first 6 months of taking over, Chad nearly DOUBLED the business. Previously, Chad spent 15 years in FinTech in CFO, CEO, and Founder roles and has several exits under his belt. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter New...

Join me as I interview Nick McLean, an independent sponsor who left the corporate world to acquire 8 businesses in 8 years through his company Four Pillars Investors. His current portfolio includes a steel fabrication business, a high-pressure aluminum die casting company, a sheet metal business, and a machining facility. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter N...

Join me as I interview Renan Cortez, an entrepreneur who acquired an $8M restoration business through 100% seller financing (!), and is now executing a roll-up in the space. Renan’s journey into entrepreneurship only began at 45 years old. At 20, he joined the Army as a combat medic, later transitioning into a successful 16-year career as a medical device sales rep before making the leap into busi...

Join me as I interview Jay Sunde, who began his entrepreneurial journey when he left his financial analyst role in Corporate America during his early 20s. In the decades since then, Jay has started, acquired, and sold businesses across industries including construction, pool and spa services, childcare, and fencing. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newslet...

Join me as I interview Chase Murdock, a former VC-backed entrepreneur who now owns a holding company Decada Group. Through Decada Group, Chase has made 3 acquisitions and started 2 companies in Salt Lake City–all without taking any outside investor capital. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newsletter: https://join.smbdealhunter.xyz 🤝 Work With Me to Help...

Join me as I interview Eric Pacifici, an SMB M&A lawyer and founder of SMB Law Group. Eric left his career working in Big Law to get into the small business acquisition space. In their first full year of operations, SMB Law Group did over $950M in deal volume, of which $500-$600M were SBA transactions. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Free to the SMB Deal Hunter Newsletter: https...

Join me as I interview Sam Mahmood, a serial entrepreneur who is buying paving companies in the SW through his $15MM fund, The Pave. This isn’t Sam’s first foray into entrepreneurship. At 24, Sam founded a medical device company and later completed a bolt-on acquisition for it. He has also acquired a podcast agency, an M&A law firm, and a CPA firm, among other ventures. _______________________...

Join me as I interview Nick Akers, an entrepreneur who acquired an IT Managed Service company through a traditional search fund. Nick acquired the business in May of 2023 and is on track to double revenue in 2024. Previously, Nick started a VC-backed company which he raised $30M for and exited. He also ran sales and business development for an engineering firm with 300 employees. _________________...

Join me as I interview George Tibil, an acquisition entrepreneur who bought a commercial cleaning business (and is on track to doubling it in the first year!). George was formerly a corporate employee working in risk management at M&T Bank. He decided to pursue business buying after trying both the startup and self-storage paths unsuccessfully. _______________________________ 👉 Sign Up For Fr...