Acquiring Minds

Register for the webinar:

• Overcoming Common Deal Sticking Points - Thu Aug 21st - https://bit.ly/3UrzG3F

Jeff Horn left a lucrative path to buy a $5m copier sales and service firm. 5 years later he exited for a great return.

Topics in Jeff’s interview:

• Feeling a calling to lead
• Leaving a high-paying job to search
• You have to check the character box
• Acquiring a Xerox dealership
• Spending the first 90 days building relationships
• 3 buckets of growth
• Learning to rely on great employees
• Challenges of scaling
• Growing revenue from $5m to $30m
• Exiting and becoming an investor

References and how to contact Jeff:

• LinkedIn
• Masked Rider Capital
• JD Hasley on Acquiring Minds: How to Grow Revenue 50% in Year 1

Download the New CEO’s Guide to Human Resources from Aspen HR:

• From this page or contact [email protected]

Work with an SBA loan team focused exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

• Pioneer Capital Advisory

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

• Email Nick Akers at [email protected], and tell him you’re a searcher

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Smithlist is a job board for leadership roles at small businesses. If you're not ready to buy a business but want to lead one:

• Smithlist - Operate & Lead a Business

After success as a traditional searcher, Eric Calderon started building an industry-focused holding company in 2020.

Topics in Eric’s interview:

• Accepting investment from Rick and Royce
• Acquiring through traditional search
• Commitment to community banks
• Ups and downs of the oil and gas industry
• “You gotta tell your story to anyone who’s listening”
• Emotional challenges of downsizing
• Shared services vs. decentralization
• Recruiting patient capital for a long-term hold
• Why $1m SDE is the target size for holdco acquisitions
• Evolving from operator to investor

References and how to contact Eric:

• LinkedIn
• TXE Capital
• Rick & Royce on Acquiring Minds: The 2 Professors Who Helped Start the ETA Movement
• Reid Pennebaker
• ETA Circle - Houston

Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):

• Book a call with Tim or [email protected] and mention Acquiring Minds

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter
  
  

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Smithlist is a job board for leadership roles at small businesses. If you're not ready to buy a business but want to lead one:

• Smithlist - Operate & Lead a Business

When Luis Reyes bought a small fire safety business, he saw an opportunity. 24 acquisitions later, he's at $8m EBITDA.

Topics in Luis’s interview:

• Luis’s early career
• Launching a roll-up strategy in Spain
• Identifying consolidation opportunities
• First acquisitions in poultry distribution and fire safety
• Building and leading a team for a high-velocity, high-volume roll-up
• Integrating operational-complex businesses at scale
• Leveraging AI in fire safety
• Spain’s capital markets
• Adapting acquisition criteria
• Goal for the platform

References and how to contact Luis:

• LinkedIn
• IBV
• Minds Capital Podcast

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

• Email Nick Akers at [email protected], and tell him you’re a searcher

Download the New CEO’s Guide to Human Resources from Aspen HR:

• From this page or contact [email protected]

Work with an SBA loan team focused exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

• Pioneer Capital Advisory

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter
  
  

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Register for the webinar:

• The "Plant Your Flag" Strategy: Build an Empire with ETA + Franchising - TODAY - https://bit.ly/3UH3w45

After years of corporate success, Jesus Wong yearned for something else. When he discovered ETA, he knew he'd found it.

Topics in Jesus’s interview:

• Childhood in Mexico and Canada
• Family history of entrepreneurship
• Buying a Canadian garment repair business
• Low capex, high labor costs
• Structuring his deal without the SBA
• Mitigating the risk of high customer concentration
• Value of a high-quality deal team
• Higher closing costs in Canada
• Paying 5% interest on his loan
• Answering the call of entrepreneurship

References and how to contact Jesus:

• LinkedIn
• Gear re-Store
• Vail Resorts
• Patagonia
• Scott Walton on Acquiring Minds: Building a $10m Platform from 2 Low-SDE Businesses
• Andrew Stordeur on Acquiring Minds: $700k EBITDA with No SBA, No Money Down
• Yan Vinarskiy on Acquiring Minds: From Searcher to Sponsor: How to Buy a $22m Business
• Marc Nzojibwami on Acquiring Minds: The Model for a 3-Way, Long-Term Holdco
• Haifeng Hu of Bennett Jones
• Kevin Yu of MNP
• Joey Tai of Crete Capital

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):

• Book a call with Tim or [email protected] and mention Acquiring Minds

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter
  
  

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Register for the webinar:

• The "Plant Your Flag" Strategy: Build an Empire with ETA + Franchising - Thu Aug 7 - https://bit.ly/45i7eGe

Avery Tomek bought his first little $1m FedEx route with an SBA loan. 3 years later, he has 240 trucks and $600k weeks.

Topics in Avery’s interview:

• Pivoting from real estate to FedEx routes
• Ups and downs of Covid
• Expanding his fleet
• Running his logistics business remotely
• Everything hinges on weekly deposits
• What makes a route lucrative (or costly)
• No marketing or sales. Just operations.
• Resale value of a FedEx route
• Demanding nature of the business
• “If you’re good, the world will compensate you.”

References and how to contact Avery:

• LinkedIn

Work with an SBA loan team focused exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

• Pioneer Capital Advisory

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

• Email Nick Akers at [email protected], and tell him you’re a searcher

Download the New CEO’s Guide to Human Resources from Aspen HR:

• From this page or contact [email protected]

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Smithlist is a job board for leadership roles at small businesses. If you're not ready to buy a business but want to lead one:

• Smithlist - Operate & Lead a Business

Tyler & Zach Gordon's search for an overlooked industry with good prospects led to a franchise system of thrift stores.

Topics in Tyler & Zach’s interview:

• Zach and Tyler’s backgrounds in franchising
• Looking for career fulfillment
• Formulating a search strategy
• Focusing on overlooked industries
• Discovering thrift store franchising
• Evaluating franchise opportunities
• Transitioning from franchisee to franchisor
• Structuring the acquisition and partnership
• Focusing their marketing on vendors
• Prioritizing franchisee success and future growth

References and how to contact Tyler & Zach:

• Tyler’s LinkedIn
• Zach’s LinkedIn
• Horizon Point Capital
• [email protected]
• [email protected] 
• Uptown Cheapskate Franchise
• Kid to Kid Franchise
• Buy a Franchise Portfolio: How to Choose a Brand
  
  

Download the New CEO’s Guide to Human Resources from Aspen HR:

• From this page or contact [email protected]

Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):

• Book a call with Tim or [email protected] and mention Acquiring Minds

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

• Email Nick Akers at [email protected], and tell him you’re a searcher

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Smithlist is a job board for leadership roles at small businesses. If you're not ready to buy a business but want to lead one:

• Smithlist - Operate & Lead a Business

Anica John bought a print-on-demand business to have more time with her kids without compromising her career ambitions.

Topics in Anica’s interview:

• Experience at Amazon, WalMart, and Disney Streaming
• Choosing entrepreneurship over returning to office
• Buying a publishing company for indie authors
• High capex = moat
• Diversity of their genres and clientele 
• Resurrecting a dead deal
• How DiggyPOD stacks up to Amazon KDP
• Carefully planning tech upgrades
• Award-winning customer service
• Running a business from out of state

References and how to contact Anica:

• LinkedIn
• [email protected]
• DiggyPOD
• rejigg

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Work with an SBA loan team focused exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

• Pioneer Capital Advisory

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 YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Register for the webinar:

• Working Capital for SMB Acquisitions - TODAY - https://bit.ly/4kQcGGj

At a low point in life, Raj Kankaria was served papers. But he liked the business and bought a process-serving company. 

Topics in Raj’s interview:

• From investment banking to process server
• What he liked about process serving
• Buying the company from his boss
• Building industry relationships
• What TV gets wrong about process serving
• Technology in process serving
• Making changes on day one
• Communicating unpopular changes to employees
• Trading a high salary for ownership
• Vision for business growth

References and how to contact Raj:

• LinkedIn
• Lone Star Attorney Service

Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):

• Book a call with Tim or [email protected] and mention Acquiring Minds

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Work with an SBA loan team focused exclusively on helping entrepreneurs buy businesses:

• Pioneer Capital Advisory

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Register for the webinars:

• The Math & Logic of Deal Making - July 22nd - https://bit.ly/459kJJn
• Working Capital for SMB Acquisitions - July 24th - https://bit.ly/4lBEhft

Enrique Rodriguez bought a project-based construction business (gasp) with $1.4m in revenue. One year later it's at $4m.

Topics in Enrique’s interview:

• 17 years in project-based construction
• Getting his MBA and electrician’s license
• Buying too small for an SBA loan
• Bringing a machine gun to a knife fight
• Injecting his own money during the J-curve
• Doing his own quality of earnings
• His wife and father’s roles in the business
• Disagreement with Walker Diebel 
• Assertiveness in managing employees
• Celebrating milestones with his team

References and how to contact Enrique:

• LinkedIn
• MAC General
• The ReWild Group
• Matthew Pohl on Acquiring Minds: 2 Welders and a Shop... to $3.8m in Sales
• Justin Willess
• Justin Willess on Acquiring Minds: Business Collapse After Going All-In
  
  

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

• Email Nick Akers at [email protected], and tell him you’re a searcher

Download the New CEO’s Guide to Human Resources from Aspen HR:

• From this page or contact [email protected]

Get complimentary due diligence on your acquisition's insurance & benefits program:

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron

Register for the webinar:

• Common Legal Diligence Issues (and How to Handle Them) - July 17th - https://bit.ly/4kwHlbw

Yan Vinarskiy began as a self-funded searcher but shifted his model mid-search when he found a business too big for SBA.

Topics in Yan’s interview:

• Using a buy-side broker to search and close
• Being inspired to take on a large deal
• Trade-offs of independent sponsor economics
• Board dynamics and governance
• Building a pitch deck
• Refining his investor pitch
• Expanding the business model
• Managing 2 separate businesses

References and how to contact Yan:

• LinkedIn
• Floorguard
• Calder Capital
• Niklas James on Acquiring Minds: Self-Funded Search vs. Independent Sponsorship
• Mike Okhravi on Acquiring Minds: Doing It His Way: First-Timer Buys 2 at Once

Learn more about Walker Deibel's done-with-you buy-side advisory:

• The Acquisition Lab

Get a complimentary IT audit of your target business:

• Email Nick Akers at [email protected], and tell him you’re a searcher

Get a free review of your books & financial ops from System Six (a $500 value):

• Book a call with Tim or [email protected] and mention Acquiring Minds

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

• See past + future interviews on the YouTube channel
• Connect with host Will Smith on LinkedIn
• Follow Will on Twitter
  
  

Edited by Anton Rohozov
Produced by Pam Cameron