Lisa Forrest shares key findings from a survey of 49 entrepreneurs who bought a business after a self-funded search. 

The findings discussed were based on these questions:

• How did you find your deal?
• Did you conduct a full-time search?
• How long did you search before you found the deal you closed on?
• Do you think your acquisition price valuation was fair?
• How long did it take you to discuss valuation with the seller?
• Did you have a competitive deal process where multiple buyers were vying for the LOI?
• What do you think the critical success factors were in sourcing and closing your deal?
• Did you go up or down market compared to your original expectations?

Reach Lisa at:

• lisa DOT forrest AT liveoak DOT bank
• LinkedIn

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:

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

Links & mentions:

• The report will be published at Live Oak Bank's search fund resources page... but not for 2 weeks.
• If you can't wait, email Lisa at the address above👆 and she'll get you the raw data now.

Seasonal. Nonrecurring. Key person risk. Trish Higgins recounts how Chenmark got excited about an unlikely acquisition. 

Topics in Trish's interview:

• Building a holdco versus taking a job in private equity
• What Chenmark does, why it's special
• Chenmark's founders' goals: impact, interestingness, financial
• Why isn't the holdco model taught in business schools?
• The story of Cap'n Fish Cruises
• Unit economics of a boat tour business
• Is seasonality really so bad?
• Managing seasonality
• Are boat tour businesses attractive generally?
• Finding differentiation in a crowded industry
• Bait & tackle shop framework
• Chenmark's second boat tour acquisition
• How Chenmark approaches learning an industry where they've acquired a business

Reach Trish at:

• trish AT chenmark DOT com
• LinkedIn

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:

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

Links & mentions:

• Cap'n Fish's Cruises
• Subscribe to Chenmark's Weekly Thoughts
• Episode 55, featuring the other Chenmark co-founders: 7 Years Later: Leaving Wall Street to Buy Small Businesses
• Episode 64, featuring Trish: How & When to Make Changes at Your Acquisition

Ujwal Velagapudi acquired a multimillion dollar vending empire with thousands of machines & 7 figures of cash flow. 

Themes from Ujwal's interview:

• Big vending businesses vs. small
• Building a big vending business by acquiring small routes
• Economics of vending
• Logistics of vending
• Tiny acquisitions to build confidence & experience
• Differentiating yourself as a buyer on MicroAcquire
• Using phantom equity to hire general manager
• Benefiting from OnlyFans growth
• Working with a dishonest seller
• Buying an online business
• Buying an FBA business
• Buying a small gym
• Buying a historic neighborhood sports bar
• Buying downmarket commercial real estate
• Using Craigslist for acquisition of businesses & real estate

Reach Ujwal at:

• @UjwalVelagapudi
• LinkedIn

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:

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

Links & mentions:

• Byron

A lender and a searcher explain how to quickly identify a business you should NOT buy, saving you months of wasted time. 

Themes from Ryan & Heather's interview:

• Killer #1: Valuation
• Killer #2: Stupid Margins
• Killer #3: Going Too Small
• Killer #4: Bolt-on vs. Platform
• Killer #5: Competing with Private Equity
• Killer #6: Geography
• Killer #7: Red Flags
• Killer #8: Needs to Support Leverage

Links & mentions:

• 15 Time Killers in SMB Search - full document from Live Oak
• All of Live Oak Bank's search fund resources

Reach Ryan at:

• @smbquest
• LinkedIn

Reach Heather at:

• @EndresenHeather
• LinkedIn

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Alex Michael bought a wallet brand doing $650k on Amazon. Alex delves into how FBA works & what the growth levers are. 

Themes from Alex's interview:

• Why ecommerce?
• Difficulty competing to buy an ecommerce business
• Process of a ecommerce acquisition with a Quiet Light listing
• Anatomy of the first call with a seller
• How to be a good buyer
• What to say to a seller in a competitive environment
• Diligencing an ecommerce business
• Cost breakdown of an FBA business
• Supply chain risk in ecommerce
• Promoting an FBA business on Amazon
• Amazon's PPC flywheel
• ACoS and TACoS
• Daily ad spend, net margins, revenue, SDE
• Platform risk with FBA businesses
• Adding a Shopify store to diversify distribution

Reach Alex at:

• LinkedIn

**** Register here for the live session with Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab:

• What size of business should you buy?

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Links & mentions:

• Wallaroo Wallets
• Centurica
• Quiet Light
• Stephen Speer and eCommerce Lending

Multiples for ecom businesses jumped 50% since 2018, but Quiet Light's Joe Valley says that trend is about to reverse. 

Themes from Joe's interview:

• The ecommerce buying mania of 2021
• 2 pieces of advice for acquisition entrepreneurs looking at ecommerce
• How ecommerce multiples will change
• How ecommerce deal terms will change
• Seller financing in ecommerce
• Future of the ecommerce aggregators
• History of the ecommerce aggregators

Reach Joe at:

• LinkedIn
• joe at quiet light dot com

**** Register here for the live session with Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab:

• What size of business should you buy?

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Links & mentions:

• Download Joe's book The Exitpreneur's Playbook
• Subscribe to Quiet Light listings
• Subscribe to new listing alerts from Centurica
• Thrasio
• Carlos Cashman of Thrasio
• Profound Commerce
• Syed Balkhi
• Ramon Van Meer
• Walker Deibel

How James Maxwell & his partner found a 22-year-old janitorial biz & successfully installed a GM in a city of 100,000. 

Themes from James' interview:

• Searching in a small market
• Choosing NOT to outsource due diligence
• Janitorial business pros & cons
• Partnered search
• What deal flow looks like in a 100k city
• Hiring a general manager
• Does an MBA help with buying a business?
• Why self-funded over traditional?

Reach James at:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• jmaxwell 814 @ gmail dot com

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Register here for the live session with Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab:

• What size of business should you buy?

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Business broker Clint Fiore explains how to most effectively work with brokers to find good businesses to buy. 

Themes from Clint's interview:

• Brokers' pet peeves about acquisition entrepreneurs...
• ...and how to avoid them
• Most important thing you communicate to a broker
• Life cycle of a business for sale
• Searcher branding
• The reality of the "silver tsunami"
• Seller psychology
• The master skill right now for buying businesses

Reach Clint at:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Register here for the live session with Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab:

• What size of business should you buy?

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Links & mentions:

• Clint's newsletter, Probably a Good Deal
• Texas Business Buyers

Alex Mears draws on years of experience at Carlyle & Blackstone to support and invest in searchers (70 & counting). 

Themes from Alex's interview:

• The most valuable businesses of all
• Attractiveness (or not) of home service businesses
• Seller integrity
• When to require speaking with key employees
• Thesis-driven search
• Search accelerators
• New accelerator The Brydon Group
• Alex's pivot to entrepreneurship: why now?

Reach Alex at:

• alexander dot mears @ brydon dot com
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• The Brydon Group
• Apply to the first cohort here (deadline: June 15th)

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Register here for the live session with Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab:

• What size of business should you buy?

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Links & mentions:

• Steve Ressler
• George Dutile
• Alex's session on Searchfunder: Tutorial: Live Modeling an Example Self-Funded Deal & Key Factors Involved
• Alex's session on Searchfunder: Modeling for Traditional Search Deals - Intro to Building Financial Models

Jason Andrews paid $250k to a buy-side advisor to help find & acquire his first business — and would 100% do it again. 

Themes from Jason's interview:

• Paying a premium for a good business
• Working with a buy-side advisor: price, value, what they do
• Speaking to 30 sellers
• Buying a business in your 40s
• Taking a big swing
• Where he invested his time during due diligence
• Whether he was "buying a job"
• The consulting agreement he structured with the previous owners
• Buying big or buying small
• Going from corporate to small business
• Pros & cons of group purchasing organizations (GPOs)

Reach Jason at:

• @Jandrews707
• LinkedIn

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

• Oberle Risk Strategies - Search Fund Team

Register here for the live session with Chelsea Wood of the Acquisition Lab:

• What size of business should you buy?

Connect with Acquiring Minds:

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

Links & mentions:

• The DVS Group